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Eskymos throttle Colts

Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Brandon Frazer holds out the ball as he enters the end zone on a pass from Ethan Silverstone Friday at Escanaba. Escanaba’s Grant LaMarche (11) and Bryant Maki (1) celebrate while Sault, Ont. Korah’s Noah Grasley (3) reacts.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba football team faced an international opponent here Friday and rolled to a 26-0 win against the Sault, Ont. Korah Colts.

The Eskymos almost got on the board early in the first quarter, but a holding penalty called back a rushing touchdown from Tyler Lawson at the nine minute mark. However, a penalty worked in their favor on the next possession as a roughing the passer call put them at the Colts’ 25-yard line.

The first down enabled Esky’s (3-0) first touchdown of the game, a 14-yard rush by Lawson with 6:27 remaining in the first quarter.

The Colts turned over the ball on their next possession on a fumble.

With just over a minute remaining in the first, the Eskymos found the end zone again. Sitting at 4th-and-15, Ethan Silverstone delivered a 19-yard pass to Bryant Maki, and the extra point made it 14-0 entering the second quarter.

“It’s just one of those things where we utilize who we have on our team,” Esky coach Dave Howes said.

“We tried running ball tonight, but we really couldn’t run it well. So, we spread it out with some speed on the edge. Ethan had another good game tossing the ball around.”

Just seconds into the second, Lawson broke up a deep pass that could have been a Colts’ touchdown.

“That’s a heck of a football team,” Howes said. “They won their high school championship. They have a lot of guys coming back from that team. They’re some big, physical guys. I have to give us credit, our team came to play.”

Brandon Frazer was the next to receive a gift from Silverstone to earn the Eskymos another six points on a nine-yard pass with 5:47 remaining in the second. A missed PAT left it at 20-0.

With two minutes left in the half, the Colts were in Esky territory but couldn’t convert on 4th-and-5 due to a dropped pass. The Colts got the ball back after Noah Grasely picked off Silverstone just 30 seconds later. However, their drive was stymied by a holding penalty that erased a first down, eventually giving the ball up on downs.

The Eskymos scored again at the end of the third on a four-yard run from Josh Bruntjens, and a blocked PAT made the score 26-0.

The Colts had a fourth quarter offensive resurgence on the ground from Tristan O’Flynn, who accumulated 45 yards during it.

“It felt like a playoff game out there,” Howes said. “They came to win, and it’s a heck of a team and a heck of a program.”

The Colts’ momentum was killed by a set of penalties and a sack from an unceasing Esky defense, eventually forcing a punt on 4th-and-24.

“We normally play on a larger field, 12-on-12, there are special teams differences, motion rules, so we had to put work into that during practice this week,” Colts’ coach Tom Annett explained. “It was quite a bit of change, and we had to modify our offense. (Escanaba)’s an excellent team. They flew to the ball quickly. Hats off to Escanaba, (its an) excellent team, very well coached.”

Silverstone finished 16-of-24 with 195 yards, one TD and one interception. Bruntjens had five catches and 85 yards receiving and 18 yards on 11 carries and one TD on the ground. Lawson finished with 22 yards on five carries and one TD and 32 yards receiving on four receptions. Maki collected 57 yards and one TD on four catches, and Frazer notched 21 yards and one TD on three catches.

Esky’s jayvee team beat St. Ignace and its freshmen lost to Kingsford.

Escanaba hosts Marquette Friday for its homecoming and first Great Northern Conference game.

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