Esky rallies for big win against Maroons
Bruntjens shines, Frazer steps in at quarterback
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MENOMINEE -- It was a tale of two halves for both teams at Walton Blesch Field on Thursday, and unfortunately for the Maroons, Escanaba came alive in the second to steal a 26-20 Great Northern Conference victory by scoring 12 unanswered points after halftime.
Esky made some changes on both sides of the ball at the break, including feeding running back Josh Bruntjens, who finished the second half with 105 yards and two scores after mustering just 41 in a first half that was brightened up by a four-yard score on the Eskymos' first possession.
"We just questioned the kids toughness at halftime," Esky coach Dave Howes said. "Menominee drove it right down our throats in the first half, so I asked the kids what they are made of. We made some adjustments defensively and came up with a different offensive scheme to get the ball to Josh in space more and the kids played their hearts out in the second half. Menominee has some studs on their team, but credit to our kids. What a great second half."
The Eskymos drove down the field with ease on their first drive of the game, with Bruntjens breaking off a 32-yard run to set up shop at Menominee's 35-yard line. After a 31-yard completion from Brandon Frazer to Grant LaMarche moved the ball down to the Maroons' 4, Bruntjens scored his first TD to put Escanaba up 7-0 just under three minutes into the game.
Menominee took over at its own 40 when the Escanaba kickoff went out of bounds, and Keagan Monroe brought the Maroons over to Esky's 40-yard line on the first play with a 20-yard run up the middle. Three plays later, Monroe ran one in from 31 yards out, but Menominee missed the extra point so Esky still held the lead at 7-6.
On the next Escanaba possession, Monroe stepped in front of a Frazer pass and took it back 45 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back due to a block in the back penalty, and Menominee was forced to take over at the Eskymo 40.
Brendon Harris and Monroe took turns running the ball until Menominee was at Esky's 3-yard line, and although he was dealing with cramping issues, Monroe scored his second TD of the quarter to put the Maroons up 12-7 with 4:57 to play.
"Keagan is having a fantastic year," Menominee coach Joe Noha said. "He's a great athlete, but he started cramping up real early on in the game so we'll have to figure that out. But yeah, he's been a fantastic player. When he gets out in space he can really run. He's a great player, we just didn't make enough plays to win tonight."
The Maroons had an opportunity to extend their lead before the end of the first quarter but missed a field goal to give Esky back possession at its own 16.
After a punt to the Maroons' 38-yard line, Monroe and Harris again bullied Menominee all the way down to Esky's 28, and with the Eskymos expecting another run, Dante Sartorelli got free up the middle and Harris threw a perfect pass to hit him for a 28-yard touchdown. Monroe ran in the 2-point conversion and Menominee led 20-7 and held all of the momentum on its side, but the tables almost turned in a hurry.
Monroe secured his second interception of the night on the next Eskymo possession when he jumped a route near the sidelines and skied for a pick right in front of the Escanaba bench, but nothing would come of it as Escanaba's defense held steady and forced a Menominee punt.
With the ball at their own 32-yard line, Esky used a seven play drive that ended when Frazer linked up with Dayton Miron for a 28-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 20-14 heading into halftime. Frazer was 4-of-4 for 65 yards on the drive.
Frazer filled in for the injured Ethan Silverstone, and Howes commented on how well he thought Frazer performed.
"I thought Brandon played a great game tonight," he said. "He had a few mistakes here and there, but overall I was impressed with his play."
Menominee threatened to score on the next possession before half, but Esky's defense stood strong on its own 8-yard line to force a turnover on downs and kneeled out the clock to end the first half.
The Maroons fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half and Esky recovered at Menominee's 37. Bruntjens got the Eskymos down to Menominee's 17 with a couple strong runs, but Menominee held their offense in check and a huge pass breakup by John Boucher in the end zone on fourth-and-6 forced a turnover on downs.
The two teams traded punts and Monroe grabbed his third interception of the game until the Maroons' third possession of the half when some fireworks went off.
After Joe Romero-Haire completed a 36-yard pass to Dylan Oudeans down to Esky's 38-yard line, Howes was thrown out of the game for arguing with the ref. That penalty also added 15 yards onto the end of the run, so Menominee was set up at the Eskymos' 23 when it was all said and done.
The Maroons got down to the 11-yard line, but two fumbled snaps and a false start brought them back to third-and-20 from the 21-yard line, and Harris' next pass was intercepted by LaMarche just before the end of the third quarter.
Esky's next drive was kept alive by a pass interference call on Menominee, and five plays later on the third play of the fourth quarter, Bruntjens bounced off a couple of tackles and scored from 39 yards out. The extra point was missed so the score was knotted at 20 with 11:09 to play.
"We did not move the ball (in the second half)," Noha said. "After we fumble the kickoff right away the momentum switches a bit. We didn't finish in the red zone a couple times and the penalties ... I am not sure what happened tonight with those but we had a lot of them and that's very uncharacteristic of us."
Menominee turned it over on downs on its next possession when Harris was stuffed for a 3-yard gain on fourth-and-5, allowing Esky to take over on Menominee's side of the field at the 45 with all of the momentum on its side.
The Eskymos took their time and killed some clock on the drive, running wherever they pleased with Bruntjens, who had seven carries on the drive for 27 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown to give Escanaba its first lead since there was 8:05 left to play in the first quarter.
The Maroons had one last chance, but a holding call on third-and-6 backed them up, and two straight incompletions on third and fourth down gave the ball to Esky.
With 1:26 to play, Escanaba needed two yards on fourth-and-2 from the three-yard line. The Eskymos turned to Bruntjens, who plowed his way through the line and picked up the first down with 1:21 left. Two quarterback kneels later Esky improved to 2-1 in the GNC and 5-1 overall, while Menominee fell to 1-1 (GNC) and 4-2.
"We never quit. Our kids didn't quit, fans didn't quit, coaching staff didn't quit and it's a great win for us," Howes said.