Dennis Grall | Daily Press Ezekial Strand (51) carries the Esky banner onto the field last Friday before the Eskymos beat Kingsford 39-27 in the regular season football finale. At 1 p.m. Saturday the Eskymos host Ludington in the Division 4 postseason opener.

ESCANABA — Garrett Meeker was in elementary school the last time Ludington visited Escanaba in playoff football. His brother, Boyd Meeker, was the quarterback in 2011 when the Eskymos knocked off the Orioles 35-21.

Now Garrett is the quarterback of the Orioles as they look to change those fortunes when they visit Escanaba Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Division 4 opener.

Escanaba is making its fourth straight playoff appearance under coach Dave Howes, in his fourth season as coach.

The Eskymos (7-2) tied with Marquette for the Great Northern Conference title, and have been rewarded by getting to host their first playoff game.

“The kids worked extremely hard for the opportunity to host a playoff game,” Howes said.

Escanaba won five in a row to finish the season. Howes said some changes were made after the 2-2 start.

“We changed some things up on the offensive line to try to establish our run game,” he said. “The kids bought in to our identity and that’s running the ball.”

The Eskymos are led by quarterback Craig Kamin, who won offensive player of the year in the GNC. Kamin averaged 150 yards passing per game and threw 16 touchdowns. He also ran for seven touchdowns, averaging 90 yards per game on the ground.

“This kid, in my mind, is the most versatile player in the Upper Peninsula,” Howes said. “He is for sure the most valuable and talented kid on our team.”

One of Kamin’s favorite targets is wide receiver Jared Nash. Nash caught 36 passes for 600 yards, for 16.6 yards per catch and nine touchdowns.

“His (Nash’s) playmaking abilities made our offense as diverse as it has been in a very long time,” said Howes.

When asked if the approach for this game will be any different than a regular season game, Howes had a very simple answer.

“There is no difference,” he said. “We’re treating this as a normal game. Our practice plans are all the same. We’ll have to adjust to what they do throughout the game but the preparation is the same.”

The Orioles have a lot in common with the Eskymos and Howes is well aware.

“They run for a very similar offense to what we do,” he said. “Playing Traverse City (Central) certainly helps. We just have to focus on us and what we do. That means protecting the ball, forcing turnovers on defense, doing the type of things that will help you win.”

Ludington also comes in at 7-2 and is coached by Charlie Gunsell. Gunsell has coached the Orioles for 18 years, and was the coach for the playoff game against Escanaba in 2011.

The Orioles won the Lake State Conference this season and also finished on a five-game winning streak after starting 2-2. Their losses came to undefeated Manistee and Muskegon Catholic Central.

“If you put in Escanaba film and a Ludington film, we’re both black and orange, both work spread offense,” Gunsell said. “The big difference is their power or wishbone.”

Meeker is a senior and the leader of the Oriole’s offense, throwing for 1,200 yards and running for another 1,000.

“Weather permitting, we like to put the ball in the air,” Gunsell said. “We had a lot of rain games (6-of 9). We would prefer to be 60-40 pass-run, but in the spread you look to try run alleys and get good match-ups.”

Ludington is undersized up front, but has a lot of speed at tailback. Shemar Jennings and Drew Arce helped an offense that ran for over 3000 yards this season.

“Both have good speed, we try to utilize them in a lot of zone read concepts,” said Gunsell. “Everything runs through our quarterback. Garrett has a lot of experience and we have a lot of trust in him to get us into the best possible position.”

Gunsell was very complimentary of the Eskymos, saying they are super-talented, and gave a lot of credit to Kamin.

“Kamin is faster than Garrett,” he said. “They are very similar but Kamin is probably a little better athlete, a little faster. Garrett is a little more efficient throwing the ball.”

Gunsell was also very complimentary of Escanaba’s tailbacks.

“They are very talented,” he said. “When we played them in 2011, their quarterback (Austin Young) was the focal point for everything they did.

“A lot of the same things they did then they do now. We are trying to watch as much film as we can and pick up what we can.”

One of those films they have been watching is from the Traverse City Central game.

“That was an eyebrow raiser,” Gunsell said. “Escanaba was more physical than Central. It was not a fluke deal, they beat them up, they did what they wanted to do. You can see they are grinders.”

Asked about key games for the Orioles, Gunsell said the best moment for them was the win over Muskegon Orchard View for homecoming, a game they won 28-7.

“That is when we could say, ‘hey we can start doing something. We’ve got a mature group of kids, they have done what we asked them to do in the off-season.”

This will be the fourth trip to the playoffs for the Orioles, who are still looking for their first playoff win. Two years ago they lost to Alma, 28-14.

“We have never won a playoff game. We always look to be that team that is able to crack through. That is our goal,” Gunsell said.

It will be a seven hour drive for the Orioles, and Gunsell said he is excited for the kids to get this experience.

“We will treat it like a college Saturday,” he said. “We’ll arrive Friday night and practice at 5:30. A number of our kids have never crossed the Mackinac Bridge. Our average trip is an hour. We’ll try to make it fun and educational but it is still a business trip.”

Asked how much pressure there is to get a playoff win, Gunsell said “zero, we want our kids to play. We don’t play against the opponent, we play against ourselves. The score will take care of itself. We want the kids to be themselves and play the way they have been playing the last five weeks.”