Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Karson Krutina pushes through Marquette defenders to score a touchdown Friday in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Marquette Redmen played the role of the opportunist here Friday night as they handed the Escanaba Eskymos a 50-21 football loss.

Marquette cashed in two turnovers late in the second quarter of this Great Northern Conference opener en route to a 28-7 halftime advantage.

The score was tied at seven when Esky’s defense forced the Redmen to turn the ball over on downs at their 38-yard line.

On the next play, however, the Eskymos mishandled the handoff, and senior defensive back Owen Beauchamp scooped it up and dashed into the end zone for a 13-7 lead with four minutes, 11 seconds left in the second stanza.

The Eskymos then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and junior linebacker Easton Miller recovered it, giving the Redmen possession at Esky’s 37.

“Our defense made a nice stop, and we were hoping to put together a nice drive,” said Esky coach Dave Wilson. “We muffed the handoff, and Beauchamp was off to the races. Their kickoff was kind of a pop-up, and we muffed that as well. Marquette has a nice team. They scored on some big plays.”

Marquette scored again just 24 seconds later on senior Austin Ridl’s 14-yard across-the-grain pass to junior wide receiver Peter Closner for a 21-7 cushion.

“We made some good plays,” said Marquette coach Eric Mason. “We had the momentum and wanted to keep it going our way. We wanted the short kickoff to catch them off guard. Unfortunately, we could see their intensity level drop, and our guys picked it up. This week our kids played more physical than they did last week (in a 60-28 loss at Traverse City Central).”

The Redmen hiked their advantage to 21 points with 1:52 left in the second when Ridl fired a 25-yard aerial to senior receiver David Eberhard in the left corner of the end zone.

Esky lost another fumble at their 38 on the third play of the second half.

Marquette again capitalized, gaining a 35-7 advantage on a four-yard run up the middle by senior running back Desmond Mullen at 10:24.

The Redmen again took advantage of a short field midway through the third frame when they got the ball on Esky’s 28 following a shanked punt.

A short time later, Ridl tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Beauchamp for a 43-7 advantage.

The Eskymos responded, trimming their deficit to 43-14 on junior Casey Bray’s 25-yard pass to senior running back Karson Krutina at 2:18.

Forty seconds later, senior defensive back Casey Royer intercepted a pass at the 50, and the Eskymos were able to grind out another score on Krutina’s one-yard run through the middle with 9:04 left in the contest.

“We preach to the kids about playing hard till the end, and we were playing hard on both sides of the ball,” said Wilson. “I thought we had a great game plan, but we turned the ball over too many times. We’ve had turnovers the last two weeks. We ran the ball hard. We just have to clean up the mistakes.”

The Eskymos finished with 255 yards in total offense, including 190 on the ground. Krutina rushed 20 times for 79, and Bray hit 7-of-13 passes for 65.

Ridl was 11-of-18 passing for 211 yards and three TDs, including two to Beauchamp. He also threw two interceptions.

“Our quarterback is a three-year starter,” said Mason. “He’s a very talented young man. We were missing a few guys due to injuries. Fortunately, a few of our juniors stepped up.”

The Eskymos, who tied the game at seven Krutina’s five-yard run off right tackle midway through the second quarter, host Gladstone Friday.

Marquette hosts Kingsford Friday.