Sept. 27, 2003

Box Score

Hillsdale, Mich. - The Grand Valley State football team continued its winning ways Saturday night at Hillsdale College with a workman like 37-24 victory over the Chargers before 2,500 at Frank "Muddy" Waters Field. GVSU tied the GLIAC record for consecutive wins (27) with the victory.

Hillsdale College struck first after a Laker fumble on third play of its first possession. QB Bill Skelton hit Mike Gerbasi on an 18-yard TD pass and Matt Menchinger added the PAT. The Lakers answered quickly with an efficient seven-play, 35-yard drive that Michael Tennessee finished with a seven-yard run. Scott Mackey set up the drive with a 23 yard punt return. The Lakers then scored on their next possession with a nine-play, 67 yard drive culminating with a six-yard scoring pass from Cullen Finnerty to Micah Staley. David Hendrix added the PAT for a 14-7 GVSU lead.

GVSU went up 17-7 on a 32-yard David Hendrix field goal as the Lakers drove 65 yards in 11 plays.

Hillsdale opened the second half with a 14-play, 62 yard drive that concluded when Matt Menchinger hit a 50 yard field goal. The Chargers held possession for 6:15. However, the Lakers answered with an impressive nine-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a Tennessee seven-yard TD run. The Laker defense forced a three and out and the offense drove 59 yards in :53 seconds for another scored. Mike Holloway set up the Finnerty one yard TD run with a 49-yard reception. The PAT was wide left and the Lakers led 30-10.

Hillsdale scored on a eight-play, 61 yard drive that took just 1:33 off the clock. Phil Martin scored on a five-yard run to pull the Chargers within 13 (30-17). The drive started after Hillsdale held the Lakers on a fourth down. GVSU answered again with a three-play, 44-yard drive that was all Ryan Hukill. Hukill tallied a 42-yard run and then scored from three yards out to give the Lakers a 37-17 lead. Hillsdale scored a TD with 1:05 remaining for the final margin 37-24.

GVSU tallied 552 yards of total offense on the night, 320 via the ground on 49 carries. Michael Tennessee led the way with a career-high 176 yards and two TDs on 30 carries. Ryan Hukill chipped in with 71 yards on six carries with one TD. Cullen Finnerty completed 20-of-34 passes for 232 yards and one TD. Tennessee led the Laker receivers with seven catches for 36 yards.

The GVSU defense held their fourth straight opponent under 100 yards rushing as the Chargers totaled 68 yards on 33 carries. Hillsdale quarterback Bill Skelton completed 26-of-40 passes for 238 yards and one TD. Hillsdale tallied 142 of their 302 yards of total offense in the fourth quarter.

In addition to the 27 straight GLIAC wins, GVSU has now won 30 straight regular season games, and 12 straight road games.