Escanaba seniors Mitchell Gayle and Skylar Bittner named Homecoming King and Queen during halftime of the game againsy Gaylord on Oct. 10, 2025 at Escanaba Athletic Field. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

ESCANABA — A battle of 6-0 teams faced off in a Big North Conference football game here Friday. With the Escanaba Eskymos finding themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard as they fell to Gaylord 34-30 on Homecoming.

Gaylord took the momentum of the game midway through the fourth quarter as senior quarterback Kelsen Snyder connected with senior Mason Silsbury on a 31-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 21 to give the Blue Devils a 28-24 lead. With 5:50 to go in the fourth quarter, Gaylord running back Kaven Cole found a hole in the gap and took it 49 yards to the house to extend the lead to 34-24.

“It was two great football teams out here tonight.” Gaylord coach Matt Silsbury said. “We knew they were gonna give us a game and they did. I’m proud of all the guys on our side and the class act of the kids from Escanaba. I can’t say enough good things about them and It was a shame the game had to end.”

Escanaba found their way back into the end zone with 3:44 to go in the game on a five-yard TD run by Bink to cut the deficit to 34-30.

Escanaba tried an onside kick and got a good bounce but were unable to recover and Gaylord was able to grind out the remaining time on the clock.

“Thisa loss really stings,” Lamb said. “I think we had a lot of opportunities to take this one and thought we played really well. We made a couple mistakes but in the long run were gonna use it and it is going to make us better,”

The Eskymos scored the first 10 points of the game as Bink ran for a 33-yard TD on the opening drive to take a 7-0 lead and Graham Johnson connected on a 34-yard field goal with 11:17 to go in the second quarter to extend the lead to 10-0.

Bink had a good night on the ground as he rushed 16 times for 126 yards and 3 TDs Brody Ison had 17 carries for 67 yards and a TD.

The Blue Devils were led by cole who carried the ball 27 times for 219 yards and two scores. Snyder was good under center completing 6 of 8 passes for 84 yards and a TD.

Escanaba will travel to Alpena Friday.