Aaron Sims’ Alpena coaching debut did not go as planned as his Wildcats were the victim of several costly mistakes throughout the course of Thursday night’s season opening loss to Escanaba, as they fell by a final score of 24-8.

“Escanaba is a tough team, they’re big, strong, well coached and they took it to us tonight. We tried to match the intensity and physicality and I think for the most part we did, but we just have to take care of the ball and that’s what we learned tonight is that you can’t give the ball away,” Sims said.

Alpena got off to a tough start early as they fumbled on their second play from scrimmage. The Eskymos took advantage and put together an 11-play drive which ended in a three-yard touchdown run by Scout Wunder to put Escanaba ahead by seven.

The Wildcats looked poised to answer as they broke off several big plays to get themselves down inside the red zone, but a false start penalty and a sack of quarterback Lars MacArthur on third down set Alpena up four a fourth-and-long that they were unable to convert, turning the ball over on downs.

Escanaba controlled the second quarter as the Eskymos used another long 16-play drive, while avoiding some danger and took advantage of a costly Alpena mistake. The Eskymos were able to convert a big third-and-18 play halfway through the second quarter when quarterback Justin Popelka used his legs to rip off a 31-yard run to pick up the first down and keep the drive alive.

The Wildcats looked like they had made a key stop as Escanaba lined up for a field goal that was blocked, but a personal foul awarded the Eskymos an automatic first down and two plays later Escanaba cashed in and took a 14-0 lead as Wunder scampered up the middle from two yards out for his second touchdown of the half.

Once again the Wildcats came back firing down two scores, but in what was the trend the entire night, Alpena shot itself in the foot once more as Logan Guthrie took a handoff around the outside and went in for what appeared to be a long score, but a holding penalty negated the touchdown.

Alpena refused to give up, ripping off more big plays in its tight Wing-T formation that the Wildcats ran well most of the night. The Wildcats got inside the five yard line, but came up empty as Tim Taylor pounded his way between the tackles, reached for the goal line, but lost the ball in the process and the Eskymos took over ending the first half.

“We were beating ourselves in the first half. If we execute and take care of the football, we are going to move the ball and that is going to be the theme for us on offense. I though we played well defensively, our pass coverage was great and we just have to come out and play with fanatical effort every play,” Sims said.

Escanaba came out and dominated the time of possession in the third quarter, chewing up the game clock thanks to another 16 play drive that resulted in the Wildcats making a big stop on a fourth and one from inside their own 20-yard line.

Just when it looked like Alpena gained some much needed momentum after the fourth down stop, on the very next play, the Wildcats fumbled the snap, committing their third turnover of the game.

The Eskymos took advantage and added a field goal to take a 17 point lead and were able to coast to a victory on opening night.

Alpena’s lone touchdown came late in the fourth quarter on a run from Alex Arch, who ended the game with 10 carries for 40 yards and the score. Taylor led the Wildcats with 87 yards on nine carries.

The Eskymos were led by Wunder who found paydirt twice and ran for 55 yards on 17 carriers. Popelka added 93 yards on the ground and threw a 15-yard touchdown to Tyler Willette who made a tremendous leaping grab in the corner of the end zone for Escanaba’s final score of the game.

Alpena will look to cut down on the mistakes and rebound next Friday when they travel to Sault Ste. Marie to take on the Blue Devils.

“No one was really down after the game. I think the kids know that we did some things really well tonight and there is some things that we need to work on. We just have to keep getting better at what we do and aim for perfection,” Sims said.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.