#12 Grand Valley State claimed a 45-28 NCAA DII Playoff road win over #3 Ashland Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 3,812 at Jack Miller Stadium. GVSU improves to 10-2 on the year, while Ashland sees its season come to an end with a 10-1 mark. GVSU will play at GLIAC rival Ferris State next Saturday (Nov. 28) at a time to be determined. 

The first quarter was not exactly what either team was looking for, throwing a combined five interceptions (3 Ashland/2 GVSU) and GVSU missing a field goal and giving the ball up on downs inside the Ashland 30 yard line. 

Ashland turned one GVSU interception into points, driving 48 yards in six plays to take a 7-0 lead at the 9:05 mark of the first quarter. QB Travis Tarnowski his RB Vance Settlemire with a 13 yard TD pass. 

The Laker defense came up big in that first quarter with three interceptions and when CB Devin McKissic returned the third pick of the quarter 32 yards to the Ashland 4 yard it appeared to be the spark that got the Lakers rolling. Grand Valley State tied it up with a 4-yard run by Kirk Spencer at the 2:56 mark of the first quarter and PK Joel Schipper tied the game at 7-7 with the PAT. 

The Lakers took a 14-7 lead following a 10-play, 65-yard drive that took 4:39 off the clock. Freshman RB Marty Carter finished the drive with a 17-yard TD run. 

The Laker defense continued to respond and forced another punt to put the GVSU offense back on the field.  Kirk Spencer raced 45 yards to the Eagle 10 yard line on the first play and QB Bart Williams hit freshman WR Nick Dodson with a 2-yard TD pass. PK Joel Schipper added his third PAT for a 21-7 Laker lead.

Ashland got on track offensively, driving 79 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown as Tarnowski hit Settlemire again, this one covering four yards. However, the Lakers continued to roll, driving 62 yards in six plays. QB Bart Williams hit junior WR Matt Williams with a 23 yard completion to start the drive and finished it with a 3-yard TD pass to Spencer with 34 seconds left in the half. 

GVSU rushed for 153 yards and passed for 128 yards in the opening 30 minutes and held Ashland to 138 total yards.

The Laker defense got a fourth down stop on the Eagles opening possession and took over at the AU 37 yard line. GVSU moved down to the Ashalnd  seven yard line and Schipper kicked a 23 yard field goal with 9:06 left in the third quarter to up the Laker lead to 31-14. 

Ashland continued to battle, driving 80 yards in 11 plays as Settlemire scored his third TD of the day to pull within 10 (31-21) with 49 seconds left in the third quarter. 

The Lakers answered again with an impressive drive 75 yard, 7-play scoring drive that took 3:42 off the clock. B. Williams and M. Williams hooked up twice on the drive with completions that covered 36 and 23 yards. Carter ran it in from two yards out and Schipper added the PAT for a 38-21 GVSU lead. 

Following another fourth down stop by the Laker defense, Sophomore QB Ollie Ajami ran it in from 12 yards out to conclude the scoring for the Laker offense and up the lead to 45-21.

The Grand Valley State defense dominated Ashland, allowing just 357 yards of total offense (81 rushing/276 passing). Ashland a combined 7-21 on third and fourth conversions and the Eagles completed 27-of-50 passes with three interceptions. GVSU used a balanced attack en route to the win, running for 230 yards and passing for 231 for 461 total yards. Spencer rushed for 105 yards and one TD on 24 carries, caught four passes for 28 yards and a TD and returned three kickoffs for 81 yards and 214 all-purpose yards. Carter rushed for 99 yards and two TDs on 14 carries in his first playoff game. B. Williams completed 17-of-33 passes for 231 yards and two TDs in his first playoff start. 

M. Williams hauled in five catches for 116 yards and freshman WR Nick Dodson caught five passes for 52 yards and a TD. Sophomore TE Nick Keizer caught two passes for 26 yards. 

Sophomore SS Garrett Pougnet led the Laker defense with eight tackles, a QB sack (-8) and a TFL (-8), while junior LB David Talley added seven stops. Senior DE Matt Judon picked up six tackles, two QB sacks (-9) and 2.5 TFL (-10). Junior LB Marquez Gollman and senior FS Brad Horling also tallied interceptions on the afternoon. 

Kirk Spencer is second all-time at GVSU with 5,092 all-purpose yards and seventh in all-time rushing yards with 2,845...Matt Judon became GVSU's all-time leader in career sacks with 34. Judon also tied the all-time DII single-season record for QB sacks with 20...Bart Williams now has 37 TD passes, the 4th-best single-season total in Laker football history...GVSU is now 32-6 in the NCAA Playoffs since 2001 and is 2-0 versus Ashland in playoff action.