ESCANABA — The Escanaba Eskymos had trouble matching up with Sault Ste. Marie in the trenches here Thursday, dropping a season-opening 46-19 football decision to the Blue Devils on Veterans Appreciation Night.

Sault, showing a noticeable size advantage on the line, achieved what may have been its first-ever victory at the Escanaba Athletic Field.

“We checked back into the 1970s and didn’t notice any victories for our teams over here,” said Sault coach Scott Menard. “We used that as motivation. I don’t know if we ever won on this field before tonight. I thought this was a great opening statement.”

Esky got the bulk of its yardage through the air as senior quarterback Casey Bray hit 26-of-43 passes for 328 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in Bailey Lamb’s coaching debut. The Eskymos added 80 on the ground.

The Eskymos opened with three promising drives but turned the ball over twice on downs inside Sault’s 10-yard line.

Another drive stalled on the Blue Devils’ 20 after an apparent touchdown was nullified on a holding penalty early in the second.

“Casey had a great game,” said Lamb. “We were moving the ball well but couldn’t capitalize on enough chances,” said Lamb. “We left plenty of points on the field, which would be an issue for any team.”

Sault took a 6-0 lead on a six-yard run up the middle by senior Nickolas Brown with six minutes, nine seconds left in the second quarter.

The Eskymos responded quickly, gaining a 7-6 lead on Bray’s 48-yard pass to Kaiden Brown just 53 seconds later.

Sault regained the lead at 14-7 on a one-yard keeper up the middle by junior QB Callen Campbell just seven seconds before halftime.

The Blue Devils started the third stanza by keeping the ball for the first seven minutes, increasing their lead to 20-7 on Campbell’s five-yard keeper around left.

With 3:40 remaining in the third, senior Carter Oshelski intercepted a pass and returned it 73 yards for a 26-7 cushion.

“The score before the half gave us momentum,” said Menard. “We could see a little fatigue developing in their guys during our long drive in the third quarter, and Carter’s interception was huge. Although, we have to give credit to Escanaba. Their passing game gave us fits.”

Esky shaved its deficit to 26-13 on Bray’s seven-yard aerial to Trent Lawson with 20 seconds left in the third.

Sault extended its lead to 32-13 on sophomore Cale Bell’s five-yard run around left end and made it 39-13 on junior Ryver Ryckeghem’s 95-yard dash around right end midway through the fourth.

Bray added a seven-yard TD pass to Lawson, and Ryckeghem concluded the scoring on a 56-yard run off right tackle with 3:49 remaining.

“They’re a big, physical and tough team,” said Lamb. “They were pretty special up front. Once they got the lead, they were able to run the ball more. We were missing a couple guys, and they realized we had a weakness up the middle. Mental errors on defense hurt us.”

The Sault linemen were led by senior John Burke, who’s already committed to Central Michigan University.

Sault rushed for 428 yards. Ryckeghem ran 16 times for 195 yards, and Bell added 160 on 18 carries. Campbell was 4-of-7 passing for 54.

“We have a lot of hope for this year,” said Menard. “We ran the ball behind our big guys. We watched film and thought that was something we could do.”

Both teams resume Thursday with Esky traveling to Cadillac and Sault hosting Grayling.