2008 Escanaba Eskymos Football Schedule

Date	Result	Opponent	Record
Aug 29 Sep 5 Sep 12 Sep 19 Sep 26 Oct 3 Oct 10 Oct 17 Oct 24 Nov 1	W, 35-22 L, 7-21 W, 27-19 W, 48-13 W, 35-25 L, 28-29 L, 21-42 W, 44-32 L, 7-18 L, 41-52	GAYLORD at Alpena MERRILL, WIS. at Marquette at Sault Ste. Marie MENOMINEE at Gladstone WISCONSIN RAPIDS KINGSFORD at Bay City John Glenn**	1-0 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 4-2 4-3 5-3 5-4 5-5

Eskymos Lose; Playoffs Next For the fourth straight week, the Escanaba Eskymos started slowly, and this time, they couldn't come from behind. But because of a strong schedule throughout the 2008 season, the Eskymos will play in the state playoffs next weekend despite a 5-4 recrd. Escanaba fell behind, 12-0, in the second quarter and eventually lost to the Kingsford Flivvers, 18-7, Friday night at the Escanaba Athletic Field. The result put Kingsford into the state playoffs for the ninth straight year, while the 5-4 Eskymos had to wait and hope for an at-large bid. After all of Saturday's games were played across the state, only 237 teams qualified with six wins or more. The Eskymos clinched a playoff spot because of their high playoff point percentage, based largely on four wins over Class A teams this season. The Eskymos will travel to Bay City John Glenn (7-2) to face the Bobcats in the first round of the MHSAA Division Three state playoffs next Saturday. Escanaba High School Athletic Director Dave Wilson says the team will practice on Friday, then drive to Gaylord and spend the night in a motel. They'll finish the drive to Bay City Saturday morning, and will play at 4 p.m. Wilson says that the game time will be finalized on Monday morning. Kingsford didn't need to watch for other teams to lose because back-up quarterback Tony Wender was steady and controlled his offense under wet, muddy conditions. He was filling in for Chris Siegler, who was sick with mono and couldn't play. Escanaba's lone touchdown came in the third quarter when Jordan LeMire hooked up with Mitch Van Effen for a ten-yard strike. Kirk Millette's PAT made it 12-7. Late in the game, the Esky defense made a goal-line stand to keep the game alive, but the Eskymos started on their own 2 yard line and could not get a first down. When Kingsford took over, the Flivvers had an easy touchdown on a REAL short field, and put the game out of reach.

Eskymos Have Happy Homecoming The Escanaba Eskymos got off to a slow start, but rebounded quickly to post a 44-32 win over Wisconsin Rapids Friday on Eskymo Homecoming. After the Orange and Black rallied from a 13-0 deficit to earn the win, they set up a winner-take-all matchup next week with Kingsford. Next Friday's Kingsford-Escanaba game at the Escanaba Athletic Field will pit a pair of teams with 5-3 records. The winner gets into the state playoffs, the loser doesn't. Trailing 13-0, Paul Wakefield scored on a pair of 20-yard touchdown runs on consecutive possessions. But the Raiders still led, 20-12, just before halftime. That's when Mitch Van Effen returned a kickoff nearly 90 yards to tie the game at 20-20 at halftime. Escanaba (5-3) scored three touchowns in the third quarter to put the game away. Wakefield had two of them...one on the ground, the other on a long pass-and-catch from quarterback Jordan LeMire. LeMire later tossed another TD pass to Van Effen to build a 41-20 Eskymo lead. Escanaba cleared the bench in the fourth quarter, and the Raiders (3-5) scored a pair of late touchdowns. The Eskymos countered with a field goal from Kirk Millette for a 44-32 final score. A Happy Homecoming, indeed. Wakefield ended up with four touchdowns, including three on the ground. LeMire had two touchodwn passes, and Van Effen scored twice. Click the LISTEN Link on the left side of this page to hear a bit of the Eskymo Marching Band's performance during the Homecoming Parade on Ludington Street before the game. Escanaba's junior varsity team lost to Wisconsin Rapids, 18-14. The freshmen Eskymos lost to Stephenson on Thursday, 34-30.

Fourth Quarter Dooms Esky, 42-21 The Gladstone Braves are playoff bound after a big fourth quarter led them to a big win over their arch-rivals. Gladstone scored three fourth quarter touchdowns, all by Kyle Jensen, and the Braves beat the Escanaba Eskymos, 42-21. Jensen had five touchdown runs on the night, and his little brother Kollin scored the other touchdown. Kyle Jensen rushed for 236 yards while Kollin chipped in with 140 yards. And Kollin Jensen intercepted two passes on defense. Andy Lauscher was a perfect 6-for-6 in extra point kicks as the Braves (6-1) cliched a spot in the state playoffs. The Braves also stayed tied for first place in the Great Northern Conference with the Kingsford Flivvers. Escanaba (4-3) tied the game at 21-21 late in the third quarter on a Jordan LeMire touchdown pass to Mitch Van Effen. LeMire and Gaige St. Cyr had scored earlier touchdowns on short runs. But the Eskymos had no answer for the Jensen brothers, who took control of the game and led the purple-clad crowd into a frenzy. Gladstone plays Kingsford and Menominee in its final two games, while the Eskymos play Wisconsin Rapids first, then Kingsford in week nine.  Escanaba will need to win both games to make the playoffs, while the Braves will hope for at least a split to perhaps give them a home playoff game. Esky JV's Smoke Gladstone The Escanaba Eskymos scored two touchdowns in the first 3:23 of the game and cruised to a 39-12 win over the Gladstone Braves in junior varsity football Thursday night in Escanaba. The Eskymos bounced back from last week's loss to Menominee to improve to 6-1 on the season. Gladstone, which entered the game undefeated, fell to 6-1. Escanaba took the opening kickoff and drove 55 yards in six plays. The big play was came on 3rd-and-7 from the Gladstone 33, when Dylan Rae got loose for a 32-yard run to the one yard line. Quarterback Trent Schwalbach went in from one yard out to give Escanaba the lead, then Rae ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0. When the Braves got the ball for the first time, they fumbled. The ball was scooped up at the 27-yard line by Andy Kausak, who ran virtually untouched into the end zone. After Willie Meek ran in the two-point play, it was 16-0, and the Braves had only run two offensive plays. In the second quarter, the Eskymos took over in Gladstone territory after a shanked punt went only nine yards. A holding call moved the Eskymos back into a 3rd-and-19 situation, but Dan Larson gained eight yards on a sweep, and on 4th-and-11, Schwalbach found Meek wide open for a 15-yard pass. An eight yard pass to Kausak put the Eskymos inside the ten, then Tyler Demeuse ran through a big hole up the middle for an eight-yard score that made it 22-0. Schwalbach passed to Meek for the conversion, and it was 24-0. Gladstone's top offensive threat, Jared Stenson, got loose for a 53-yard run to put the Braves inside the Esky 15 yard-line. But the next four running plays only netted four yards, and Gladstone's best chance to score was gone. The Eskymos took over on the seven yard line and went on a crippling 93-yard, 13-play drive that put the game away before the halftime horn ever sounded. A key play on that drive was a 28-yard run by Demeuse on third down at the 43, then Schwalbach found Kausak again for a 10-yard pass to the five. Schwalbach scored his second touchdown of the game on a bull-rush up the middle. Rae's two-point run made it 32-0. The teams exchanged punts for most of the thrid quarter until the Eskymos cleared the bench and brought in its second and third string. And Pat Emery scored from three yards out on fourth down to make it 38-0, setting the clock in motion on the mercy rule. Mike Tembreull made the extra point kick. Gladstone also cleared its bench, and Eskymo Coach Terry Duvall was kind to his cross-bay rivals. He decided to go for it on fourth down from his own 15 and from his own 23, rather than punt either time. The Braves stopped the Eskymos in both of those cases, and got the ball at the 7 and the 23 on back-to-back possessions. Gladstone scored two late touchdowns, both by Peyton Jurek, to make the score a bit more respectable at 39-12. Duvall had a little bit of fun at the end. He let big Ben Kloss (5-6, 245-pounder)return a kickoff...and the crowd roared when he returned the ball 23 yards. And lineman Bill Bowden got to carry the ball twice, and got 12 yards. Rae led the Eskymos with 93 yards on 11 carries, while Demeuse added 77 yards on nine touches. Emery had 38 yards on eight carries, and Jared Dagenais chipped in with 23 yards on three carries. Gladstone got 122 yards on 16 carries from Stenson, while Jurek added 46 yards on nine carries...and those two touchdowns. Esky outgained Gladstone, 275-182.