Dec. 7, 2002

Box Score

Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State will make its second straight trip to Florence, Alabama for the NCAA DII National Championship game after rolling past Northern Colorado 44-7 in Saturday's semifinal matchup at Lubbers Stadium. The Lakers jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead and never looked back as GVSU recorded its 22nd straight home victory. Senior Harlon Hill candidate Curt Anes hooked up with All-American WR David Kircus on four of the Laker touchdowns, while Reggie Spearmon added the other two scores. GVSU, which has been ranked #1 all season, will play #2 Valdosta State in next week's National Championship on Saturday, December 14th, at 4:00 pm EST.

GVSU took the opening kickoff 65 yards in 11 plays, culiminated by Spearmon's 3-yard TD run. The Lakers drove 89 yards in 13 plays as Kircus and Anes hooked up for the first of their four pass-catch TDs. The first covered 16 yards. Kircus and Anes hooke up again, this time from 24 yards out at the 8:18 mark of the second quarter to put GVSU up 21-0. Anes scrambled around for near 10 seconds before finding Kircus. PK David Hendrix drilled a 24-yard field goal with 2:26 left in the second quarter to give GVSU a 24-0 lead. Northern Colorado drove down to the Laker five yard line with under a minute left in the opeing half, but three straight Laker QB sacks for the Bears into a field goal which Keyonta Marshall blocked.

Norther Colorado got on the board with their first possession of the second half with a 4-play, 65-yard drive. QB Mark Passard connected with Jared Jackson on a 22-yard TD. However, the Lakes answered with an impressive 5-play, 67-yard TD drive with Spearmon going the final 13 yards for the TD. Anes and Kircus hooked up with 2:58 left in the third quarter on a 21-yard TD and again in the fourth quarter, this from 5-yards out.

The Grand Valley State defense recorded nine QB sacks and limited UNC to just five yards rushing on 25 carries. Eight Lakers combined for the nine QB sacks, while GVSU also picked off three passes. Scott Mackey, Joe Ballard and Marvis Bryant each recorded a pick. Orland Williams led the defense with nine tackles and three QB sacks, while Scott Mackey and Dan Vaughn each recorded seven. Vaughn also notched a career-high four QB sacks.

Anes completed 20-28 passes for 243 yards and four TDs, while running for 22 yards on four carries. Spearmon rushed 32 times for 143 yards and two TDs, while Terrance Banks tied the GVSU single-game record with 11 receptions for 116 yards. Kircus caught seven passes for 90 yards and four TDs.

Mark Passard completed 20-32 passes for 243 yards and one TD, but was sacked nine times. Brad Pyatt caught six passes for 60 yards, while Jared Jackson hauled in five passes for 75 yards. Adam Matthews rushed 13 times for 50 yards.

Notes... Grand Valley State has now won 22 straight games at Lubbers Stadium...WR David Kircus caught four TD passes, breaking college football all-division mark of 28 he set last year. Kircus also has 73 career TD receptions, the second highest total in college football history and just two behind the all-time record of 75...Curt Anes moved past the 10,000-yard mark in career passing yards. Anes has thrown for 10,220 yards and 111 TDs in his career.