Heller Leads Eskymos To 41-16 Win Over Braves

ESCANABA---The Escanaba Eskymos scored two touchdowns in the final 97 seconds of the second quarter and went on to beat the Gladstone Braves, 41-16, Friday night before a near-capacity crowd at the Escanaba Athletic Field.

Travis Heller threw three touchdown passes, while Cam Beversluis and Corey McInerney each scored touchdowns on the ground and through the air.

The Eskymos gang-tackle Tyler Wells.

The Eskymos may have won by 25 points, but the game was tight throughout the first half.

The Braves took the opening kickoff and drove from their own 33 to the Eskymo 12 yard-line, chewing up nearly six minutes off the clock.

But the drive stalled.

After the teams exchanged punts, the Eskymos took over on their own 16 yard-line and drove it inside the Gladstone ten yard-line.

On fourth down, Beversluis needed nine yards but got just three, so the teams were still scoreless in the second quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, the Eskymos took over at the Braves 43 yard-line and it took seven plays for the home team to get onto the scoreboard.

Cam Beversluis TD makes it 6-0

On 4th-and-3 from the Gladstone 12, Beversluis ran up the middle for the first touchdown of the game.

The Gladstone offense continued to sputter, with another three-and-out. But Tyler Wells bailed his team out with a 54-yard punt, nailing the Eskymos back at their own ten yard-line. On the next play, Beversluis fumbled the ball, giving the Braves an opportunity.

Gladstone's Justin Jurek scores a touchdown.

And Justin Jurek cashed in with a four-yard touchdown run. Jurek also added the two-point conversion, and all of a sudden, Gladstone had an 8-7 lead with 2:22 left.

But one of the smallest Eskymos stepped up big.

Corey McInerney took the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Gladstone 36 yard-line.

Jake Walker (27) gets some tough yards.

It took just four plays for the Eskymos to regain the lead as Heller threw a 17-yard strike to McInerney for a touchdown to make it 13-8.

T.J. Myrick's extra point made it a 14-8 game with 1:27 left.

Then, disaster hit for the Braves. First, big lineman (and occassional running back) Cody Malanowski got injured.

Then, quarterback Sam Pouliot went down.

Gladstone Athletic Director Matt Houle says the preliminary report suggests that Malanowski broke his fibula bone in his leg, and Pouliot hurt his knee.

These injuries add to the fact that the Braves' leading scorer, Riley Ballard, missed the game because of a concussion suffered in practice. Jalen Stenson (shoulder) and Pete Weyers (collarbone) have missed most of the season as well.

Travis Heller TD Pass to Cam Beversluis.

Escanaba forced a Gladstone punt, and went back to the hurry-up offense. And the Eskymos went 57 yards in four plays, scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Heller to Beversluis with seven seconds left.

The Eskymos led at the half, 21-8.

In the third quarter, Axel Madden recovered an Eskymo fumble, but the Braves offense could not take advantage.

The Eskymos got the ball back and drove 66 yards in ten plays, with Heller finding Myrick for the 13-yard touchdown catch and run.

That made it 28-8, but the Braves did not give up as Tyler Wells broke off a 63-yard run to the Eskymo 11.

Four plays later, Jared Hunter scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak, and then Wells scored the two-point conversion to make it 28-16.

From there, the Eskymos pulled away, scoring twice on a 28-yard touchdown run by Trevan Wendrick and a 75-yard run by McInerney.

Escanaba's Travis Heller throws a TD pass to T.J. Myrick

Escanaba (2-5) had 439 yards of total offense. Heller completed 8 of 14 passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns. Heller also had 68 yards rushing on 13 carries.

McInerney had 106 yards on eight carries, while Wendrick helped out with 64 yards on eight carries. Sean Bissell had 42 yards in seven carries. Beversluis had 31 yards on seven carries, and he left the game in the third quarter with an upper-leg injury.

Eskymos get fumble on fluke play

Gladstone (0-7) was led by Wells's 114 yards on 19 carries. Hunter completed 4 of 10 passes for 58 yards. The Braves had 201 yards of total offense.

Escanaba travels to Iron Mountain next Friday night while Gladstone hosts Kingsford the same night. You can hear the Gladstone-Kingsford game live, starting at 7:15 Eastern time, on WGKL-FM (105.5), WCHT-AM (600), and www.rrnsports.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box at the top of this page to see photos and videos from the game, and listen to radio highlights. Thanks to Nate Bellville and Mike Dagenais for taking the videos, and Ron Jurek for the photos.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

8/29	7:00 PM	at Gwinn Model Towners	6 - 18 (L)	0-1

9/7	6:00 PM	at Roscommon Bucks	12 - 36 (L)	0-2

9/13	7:00 PM	Negaunee Miners	0 - 38 (L)	0-3

9/20	7:30 PM	Menominee Maroons	6 - 56 (L)	0-4

9/27	7:30 PM	at Marquette Redmen	32 - 63 (L)	0-5

10/4	7:00 PM	Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	22 - 45 (L)	0-6

10/11	7:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	16 - 41 (L)	0-7

10/18	7:30 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	20 - 55 (L)	0-8

10/25	7:00 PM	at Calumet Copper Kings	32 - 36 (L)	0-9