Flivvers beat Eskymos in season opener
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KINGSFORD -- It was a tough night on the gridiron for the Escanaba Eskymos as they fell 35-16 to Kingsford in their season opener here Thursday.
The Flivvers jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter as Blake Tomasoski rushed it in from two yards out with 7:10 to go in the first quarter then with 4:59 to go in the first quarter, Tomasoski connected with senior Bradlee Bottesi on a 15-yard TD pass.
"It felt amazing to get this one," Tomasoski said. "We had three good weeks of practice and we knew the team we had and the talent we had, we just had to come out and perform and put up a good game for us and our fans."
The Flivvers continued to take it to the Eskymos in the second quarter with 8:59 to go in the half as Tomasoski ran in his second TD of the game from one-yard out to extend the lead to 21-0 and then found Bottesi again with 1:33 to play in the first half on a 21-yard TD pass to put Kingsford up 28-0 at the half.
"I was really nervous about this one coming in," Flivvers coach Mark Novara said. "This is a good football team we played. They are going to win a lot of football games this season and our offensive line played very well tonight."
The Flivvers went up 35-0 in the third quarter as senior Jake Lockhart took it in from one-yard out with 5:21 to go in the third quarter.
The Eskymos got on the board with 4:48 to go in the game as junior Bryce Bichler ran it in from seven yards out and Alex Ison connected with Andrew Hamlin for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 35-8.
"It felt good to get that one," Bichler said. "We had been preparing all week for this game and at halftime coach talked to us about coming out more aggressive in the second half and I think we did that and I'm proud of my teammates for putting in all the hard work."
The Eskymos found the endzone again with 1:27 left in the game as Ison ran it in from five yards out to cut the deficit to 35-16 as the Eskymos conveyed on the two-point try.
"It is what it is," Eskymos coach Bailey Lamb said. "We came out and didn't execute early, had some drops but the boys fought hard and battled back and we were able to win the second half of the game."
Lockhart led the Flivvers in rushing as he carried the ball 17 times for 132 yards and a TD. Lockhart finished the night with 21 more yards rushing than Escanaba had as a team.
The Eskymos leading rusher was Alex Ison who carried the ball 13 times for 57 yards and a TD.
Escanaba will be back in action Thursday as they travel to Gaylord.