Click the thumbnails to see photos and video highlights, and to hear player spotlight interviews with Gladstone's Quinn Carlson and Hunter Sierpien.
GLADSTONE---The Gladstone Braves football team jumped to a 14-3 lead over the Escanaba Eskymos Friday night, but the Eskymos scored 26 straight points and held off the Braves, 29-20, at the Marble Athletic Field.
Escanaba quarterback Alex Ison threw for 211 yards in the first half, with Eli Englund and Andrew Hamlin being his favorite targets. Ison followed up on his passing with a pair of short touchdown runs as the Eskymos finished their season with a 4-5 record.
Escanaba took a 3-0 lead on a 37-yard field goal by Isaac Lambert, but the Braves controlled most of the first half with a pair of long touchdown drives.
Nick Proehl finished the first 80-yard drive drive with a two-yard touchdown run after Wyatt Forvilly set it up with a 49-yard run to the two yard-line. Forvilly ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-3. The second drive went 68 yards, with quarterback Landon Pepin converting a 3rd-and-13 situation with an 18-yard pass to Dylan Nelson.
Forvilly ended the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make ot 14-3.
But Escanaba bounced back on its next possession. The Eskymos drove 71yards, with Ison completing a 28-yard pass to Hamlin deep into the red zone. Ison scored from three yards out to bring the Eskymos to within 14-9.
After the Braves went three-and-out, the Eskymos went on another 71-yard drive on the two-minute drill. Ison threw for 68 yards to Englund, Alex Irving, and Hamlin, and then he scored from two yards out with 44 seconds left to give Escanaba a 15-14 lead.
Then disaster struck for the Braves. Gladstone could have run out the first half clock with a kneel-down, and the Braves were getting the ball to start the second half. But this is rivalry football, and Gladstone tried to drive quickly downfield. Pepin's pass was intended for the motion man (Aidan Burie) but he wasn't there.
Hamlin was, and he plays for the Eskymos. The ball went right into his hands and Hamlin, the reigning UP champion high-jumper in track, didn't have to jump. He took it to the house for a 32-yard “pick six” touchdown. Lambert made the extra point kick, giving Escanaba a sudden 22-14 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Braves got one first down but had back-to-back penalties, and Forvilly was stopped on a 4th-and-3 play at the Gladstone 39-yard line.
Three Bryce Bichler runs later (21, 4, 17 yards), Escanaba had a 29-14 lead.
Gladstone did not fold. The Braves went on a 55-yard drive, with Forvilly doing most of the work. He ended up with 169 yards rushing in the contest, giving him 1,005 for his junior season. Pepin found Nelson for the six-yard touchdown pass to bring the Braves to within 29-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Gladstone could not get the two-point conversion, so the Braves still trailed by two scores.
Late in the game, the Braves did force a punt, but it was a good one that buried Gladstone at its own five yard-line. That desperation drive ended on an interception, and the Eskymos kneeled down to end the game,
Gladstone ends its season with a 1-8 record, but there is some hope, as the junior varsity Braves team went 8-1, and allowed only 42 points all season long.
