Dennis Grall | Daily Press Gladstone defensive end Christian Creten deflects a pass by St. Ignace quarterback Tucker Sheperd in Friday’s opening 26-14 victory over the Saints. Referee Joe Knauf watches.

ESCANABA — It is week two of the high school football season and the Escanaba Eskymos make their home debut while the Gladstone Braves make their first road trip.

Gladstone helps kick off the second weekend by visiting Gaylord tonight in a non-conference game. The Braves beat St. Ignace 26-14 last week and were the only Great Northern Conference team to win its’ opener.

The Eskymos are hoping to rebound from a late 30-21 loss at Alpena. The Wildcats scored the final 16 points of the non-conference game, with a clinching score with 3:12 left.

Gladstone will be without tight end Cooper Cavadeas, who suffered a leg injury last week in a game where he played a major role with four pass receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns.

Junior Michael Hagebusch will replace Cavadeas, with coach Jeff Hansen noting he is “every bit as athletic” as Cavadeas.

Hansen said he expected Cavadeas to have a big game based on expectations of the St. Ignace defense. The Braves also spent a couple of practice nights using wet footballs because of the chance of rain, which occurred most of the game. “It paid off,” said Hansen, noting quarterback Jared Crow “made adjustments and made some high percentage throws.”

The senior southpaw quarterback hit 7-of-11 passes for 155 yards and three TDs.

“I was pretty happy with how the offense performed and with the offensive line. They (the line) had the kitchen sink thrown at them (by the aggresive stunting Saints defense),” said Hansen, noting the Saints were trying to deny the run game between the tackles.

Gaylord, which faces Gladstone for the first time, has good size in the line and boasts a pair of hard-running backs. “They definitely look like a good football team,” said Hansen.

The Blue Devils fell to Lansing Sexton in their opener, in what Hansen described “as an entertaining game to watch” on film.

Facing a new opponent is challenging because there is no history like common opponents share with each other. “You get a feel for how they do things,” Hansen said of facing long-time foes. “It tightens up the game quite a bit (against old rivals). There is a tendancy to have big plays (against new opponents).”

The Eskymos will be minus a key player as running back/defensive back Josh Bruntjens will be sidelined with a slight shoulder separation sustained at Alpena. Coach Dave Howes said Kyle Krutina and Isaac Cooper will replace Bruntjens.

“Losing Josh pretty much the whole second half was a huge loss,” said Howes.

Christer Carne, who sustained a “little stinger” last week, is expected to play

Howes said two interceptions, particularly one at the Esky 15-yard line that led to Alpena’s clinching touchdown, were critical turnovers.

“Defensively they just wore us down,” he said, noting Central Michigan University recruit Logan Guthrie “is just a horse. He is the real deal.” Guthrie ran for three TDs and had excellent running mates in the backfield.

“Pretty much what we did last season (tough three-headed ground game) they did to us, They just completed one pass,” he said of an offense that ran straight-T formations, traps, sweeps and counters. “We were in the right spot but they just excuted a little better. Their size was a big factor.”

Howes said Petoskey has a similar style. “They will try to run it down your throat,” he said of an offense that uses double tight ends and a double wing set-up with some tosses. “We’ll try a different defense where we stack more people in the box and try to eliminate the C gap (inside the defensive ends) that Alpena exposed.”

Howes said the Northmen use good play action and “run, run and run and try to catch you off guard. They try to let you fall asleep and use a little play action.”

With Esky having five home games this season, “we want to protect our home field,” Howes said. “The kids are focused. It is not to say this is desparation, but we need to get a win.”