Eskomos Honor Zach Gamache – Rolls To 38-18 Win

Esko coaches and players observe a moment of scielence before Friday night’s game to honor former Eskomo Zach Gamache, who was tragically killed on Monday.
Photo: Wes Vork-NSO

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Oct 6, 2012

Kerry Rodd-NSO

On a night when high school sports was put in perspective the Esko football team rolled to a 38-18 victory over the Pine City Dragons Friday night. The game was played in Cloquet, and the host Eskomos and their fans, led a moment of silence in honor of former Esko star Zach Gamache. Gamache captained the 2004 Eskomo team and played on three state tournament teams from 02-04. Gamache died in a car accident on Monday.

The Eskomos zipped ahead 24-0 at halftime and then managed the clock the rest of the way en-route to the victory over the Dragons.

Marc Peterson got the scoring going for the Eskomos on a four-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter. While we will never know what the actual play call was, Peterson alertly noticed a large hole in the middle of the Dragons defense and slapped the center on the rear and the two of them jogged into the end zone for the score.

Esko went up 12-0 when Peterson hit Ryan Holte for a three-yard touchdown pass also in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Eskomos they were unable to convert on a conversion run on either of their first two scores leaving it 12-0 after one quarter.

It was more of the same for the Eskomos in the second quarter when Garrett Iverson zipped into the end zone on 15-yard touchdown dash making it 18-0. Nick McMillen made it 18-0 later in the quarter when he crashed in from the one-yard line. However, again the Eskomos struggled with an extra point pass on the first score and a conversion run on the second score and it stood 24-0 at the break.

The Dragons answered with a three-yard touchdown run by Austin Pavelka in the early going of the third quarter cutting the score to 24-6 after a failed conversion run.

Riley Mudek answered Pavelka’s run with a one-yard run of his own midway through the third quarter pushing Esko’s lead back up to 30-6, but the Dragon’s managed a late third quarter score on a nifty 30-yard touchdown run by Pavelka that pulled Pine City to within 30-12 after the missed conversion run.

Fourth quarter action saw the Eskomos get a two-yard score from Iverson that made it 38-12 after Iverson tacked on the only two-point conversion that was scored be either team during the game.

Pine City battled back for the final score of the game on the third touchdown of the game by Pavelka who scored on a 10 yard run that cut things to 38-18, but that would be the final score of the game.

Peterson had a strong passing game for Esko by going 7-of-13 good for 126 yards and a touchdown. On the rushing side Mudek ran for a team high 112 yards, Wyatt Begay added 87 yards and Iverson added eight carries for 78 yards.

On defense Justin Weeks made 8 solo tackles while Rick Johnson, Mudek and McMillen each made five solo tackles to lead the Eskomos.

Kerry Rodd can be sent to kerry@northlandsportsonline.com