Todd Rose | Daily Press Escanaba’s Karson Krutina (25) runs against Kewaunee, Wis. Friday in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — It was a game of shifting momentum and turnover capitalization Friday night at the Escanaba High School Athletic Field as the Kewaunee Storm (5-2) defeated the Escanaba Eskymos (1-6) 39-21.

“It’s always nice to go and get a win,” said Kewaunee coach Randy Charles. “You got to give the credit to Escanaba. They kept battling, and every time we thought we had a little bit of momentum, they came right back. … They battled hard.

“We both had some things go our way. We were lucky enough to get the ball bounced our way at the end.”

Arguably the biggest shift of momentum came in the third quarter when the Storm’s Cain Hall — a native Yooper — picked off a Casey Bray pass as Escanaba was knocking on the door of the red zone.

Hall ran the ball back into Escanaba territory, and Kewaunee scored to make it 26-7 three plays later on a 27-yard touchdown pass.

“That was a great play out of (Cain),” Charles said. “When you are backed up against a wall like we were right there, you need your guys to go out make some plays for us, and Cain did for us on that play.”

Kewaunee tallied a total of 424 yards of offense with 248 rushing and 176 passing.

For the Eskymos, coach Dave Wilson felt this week’s offensive performance was an improvement from last week’s 46-20 loss against Menominee. However, the story of trouble with turnovers remained the same for Escanaba.

“I thought we played better this week than we did last week. At least, offensively, we played better,” Wilson said. “Turnovers hurt us again, and we really struggled getting the defense off the field and stopping the run. And that’s been our Achilles’ heel all year.”

The shining spot of the Eskymos’s offense was the three touchdown connections between Bray and Scott Hiller.

Hiller also had several long kick returns throughout the night.

“Casey Bray and Scott Hiller had a great game,” said Wilson. “Scotty played well. He had three touchdown catches, and Casey put it right on him. That was a bright spot for sure.

“That first touchdown, the team was excited and ready to go. Unfortunately, it’s been the tale of our season. We can’t sustain that.”

Bray totaled nine completions on 22 passes for three touchdowns and three interceptions. He had 190 yards through the air.

Holding down the Escanaba rushing game was Karson Krutina with 11 carries for 94 yards. The Eskymos totaled 131 on 30 carries.

Kewaunee readies for a conference championship game against Brussels Southern Door next Friday at home.

The Eskymos also play at home next Friday against the Alpena Wildcats.