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Esky offense rolls past Petoskey

Drew Kochanny | Petoskey News-Review Escanaba’s Tyler Lawson (9) breaks free from a couple Northmen defenders on a first half run Friday in Petoskey.

PETOSKEY — The Petoskey football team knew they were going to have to defend quite a few Escanaba athletes on the offensive side of the ball when the two met at Northmen Stadium on Friday night.

And for the most part, the Northmen did that. The only issue was just how many were able to make plays. When Petoskey had one in check, another broke free.

Such was the story throughout the night for the Northmen, as visiting Escanaba had a one-score halftime lead grow into a three-score advantage in the second half and an eventual 41-30 victory.

“We’ve got a lot of athletes on this team, a lot of team speed,” Escanaba coach Dave Howes said. “We just like to use what we’ve got and we can spread them out and go tight. We can do a lot of different things to keep the defense on their toes. That’s what we do.”

The Escanaba offense had the Northmen on their heals throughout the second half, as a spread it out, throw it around team turned into a drain the clock, ground and pound offensive unit, which eventually drained the Northmen.

“They’re explosive and we hung with it a little to start out with it, but then it kind of wore on us a little bit.” Petoskey coach Gavin Fralick said. “A lot of missed tackles. That’s probably two-fold. It’s tough to tackle good athletes, but part of it is just technique and getting some people in space and getting better at it.”

Petoskey (0-2) struck first on a six yard run by Brody Woods to make it 8-0, then Tyler Lawson of Escanaba (2-0) answered back late in the first quarter by taking a short pass from Ethan Silverstone and turning it into a 60-yard touchdown.

It came as a huge night for Silverstone, with the senior QB bringing in five total scores on the night, three passing and two rushing. Three of the five came from 50 yards or more out.

“He had a great one last week and he learned a lot from our quarterback last year and watched,” said Howes. “He was a good practice player too and he just put his time in over the summer too. It’s paying off right now.”

The end of the first closed in an 8-7 Petoskey lead, then Joshua Bruntjens of Escanaba ran in a 37-yard touchdown to make it 14-8.

Petoskey answered right back, however, as tight end Nate Eberly-Rodriguez took a pass from quarterback Gabe Whitmore and turned it into a 60-yard touchdown, with multiple broken tackles along the way.

“They’re a physical team and they’re going to win some games this year,” said Howes. “They’ve got some studs. That (Nate Eberly-Rodriguez) is a lot, Gabe Whitmore. They’re going to win games because they brought their physicalness, but so did we.”

That tied the game at 14-14, but Esky added one more score before the half, this time on a two-yard run by Silverstone.

In the second half, Esky drained the clock to the point of the Northmen running just five offensive plays in the third quarter, while adding a 61-yard touchdown from Silverstone to Bryant Maki and a another connection from Silverstone to Maki, this time for six yards out.

“It kind of starts up front for us right now,” said Fralick on being pushed down the field in the third. “We’re getting nine, 10, 11 guys, but we can’t string three or four of them together. That’s where it’s tough right now.”

The third closed in a 34-14 game, but the two weren’t done.

Whitmore and Eberly-Rodriguez hooked up again in the fourth, then Silverstone broke off a 50-yard touchdown through the middle of the defense, making it a 41-22 game.

Woods later added his second score of the night with around three minutes left to play, but the damage had already been done and the Northmen never saw the ball again.

For Fralick, an 0-2 start is tough to take, but in a nine game season there’s no looking back. His Northmen will next head to Cadillac on Friday, Sept. 13 to open Big North Conference play.

“The test is how you respond to it,” he said. “There’s going to be positives and bad times in a nine game season, so it’s how you respond. We open up the Big North Conference and have Cadillac. Some of the seniors know how we started the season last year and how we finished it. So a response next week would be big.”

Howes is thrilled to have two wins to start the year and two against physical Big North Conference teams. When they’ll join the league is another story though.

“We would love to join any time,” said Howes with a big laugh. “We would love to have a mega-conference with the GNC and BNC. Hopefully it’ll happen some day.”

The Eskymos will next host Sault Ste. Marie Korah Collegiate out of the Sault Canada on Friday, Sept. 13.

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