Escanaba junior Alex Stalboerger (34) celebrates a touchdown catch with senior Alex Morgan (56) during a Big North Conference football game on Oct. 12, 2024 at Gaylord High School. (“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press)

GAYLORD — Heartbreak.

With 2.2 seconds remaining in Saturday’s Big North Conference football showdown, Escanaba’s 15-12 lead over Gaylord vanished with 2.2 seconds left in the game. The Eskymos suffered their four losses of the season with a 19-15 defeat to the Blue Devils.

“I looked in (the team’s) eyes after (the game), and you could tell they took this one personally,” Esky coach Bailey Lamb said. “They felt this one. I think they’re going to use this as motivation to not feel like this again.”

Esky (3-4, 2-3 Big North) possessed a 15-12 lead thanks to an 8-yard scoring rush from sophomore Brody Ison, who also scored the two-point conversion. Esky re-captured the advantage on the scoreboard with 1:15 to go. All it needed was one more stop on defense.

The Blue Devils (2-5, 2-3), who scored on their previous two offensive possessions, drove to the Eskymo 46-yard line with less than 20 seconds to go. Then a sweep to the offensive left side of the field by senior Conor Piehl created chaos.

Piehl turned the corner and bloated down the sideline. Esky senior Adam Prey finally shoved Piehl out of bounds, but Gaylord had 1st-and-goal from the Escanaba nine. But a flag flew thanks to extracurricular activities from the Escanaba sideline. Personal foul. Gaylord moved to the Esky 5-yard line with 6.6 seconds left.

One play was set to change the fate of both teams. One play to either send the Eskymos back over the bridge at 4-3 or to create a long, quiet bus ride home.

Gaylord quarterback Andrew Szymoniak rolled to his right. He found an open Kaven Cole and fired the ball down the field. The pass was caught.

Touchdown Gaylord.

With 2.2 seconds left the Gaylord faithful erupted into pandemonium. The Esky side fell silent. With a successful PAT try the Blue Devils led 19-15.

But the Eskymos had one last chance to alter the outcome of the game.

With 1.1 seconds left, junior quarterback Nolan Bink fired a backward pass to junior Graham Johnson. Johnson threw a backward pass to Bink, who immediately heaved a desperation Hail Mary to Javon Stevenson.

Stevenson caught the ball, but like a bottle of pop crunched into two cinder blocks, he was crushed between two defenders with his helmet flying off his head. A flag flew. Targeting on Gaylord.

The Eskymos had one untimed down from the Blue Devils 28-yard line. There was one last gasp.

Bink dropped back to pass. He scanned the field. But Bink, who was sacked four times on Saturday, was hit as he threw. Incomplete. Game over.

“I don’t think we executed really well. There were a lot of things we could have done better,” Lamb said. “The kids fought their butts off. They grinded to score one late to go back up, and credit to them for grinding through that. We just left too much time on (the clock) and didn’t play disciplined at the end.”

The Eskymos did have their chances to increase their lead before the fourth quarter arrived.

A first quarter field goal attempt from Johnson was blocked. Bink heaved a 50/50 ball to Alex Stalboerger on 4th-and-13 late in the third quarter, but was intercepted in the endzone.

“We talked (in practice throughout the week) about executing and performing in the moment. It didn’t work out,” Lamb said. “We’re going to have to attack that again, maybe from a different angle.”

Saturday’s game did show a strong showing from Ison. The sophomore was responsible for the Eskymos first touchdown, a pop pass to Stalboerger out of the Wildcat formation with 15.7 seconds left in the first half for a 7-0 lead .

“We needed something,” Lamb said. “It was there, so we decided to take it. Brody’s pretty good at fitting it in and Stalboerger’s really good at high pointing the football.”

The loss also puts Esky in a unique position. While the loss drops them to 3-4, the Eskymos hung tight with a team which dismantled them on their home grass a year ago. They are 1.857 playoff points away from the 32nd and final spot in Division 4 with two games to go.

They’re also are two wins away from the program’s first winning season since 2019.

“I can tell they want it. I can tell that they’re focused. I can tell that they want to get back up and practice right away,” Lamb said. “They don’t want to run away from the struggles, they want to get back to work. They want to go show what they can do.

I know we’re going to bounce back. It’s just there’s some adversity in the way.”

Esky hosts Alpena for Senior Night at 7 p.m. Friday. It will also be the final home game of the 2024 season.