Oct. 14, 2006

Box Score |  Photo Gallery

Indianapolis, Ind. - #1 Grand Valley State claimed a 33-6 victory Saturday night at Indianapolis, upping college football's longest winning streak to 20 games. GVSU improves to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in GLIAC action, while Indianapolis falls to 4-3 overall and 3-3 in the GLIAC.

GVSU opened the scoring with a Cullen Finnerty 1-yard TD run at the 6:34 mark of the second quarter, culminating a 12-play, 86-yard drive. Todd Carter added the PAT to give the Lakers a 7-0 lead. GVSU downed a Justin Trumble punt at the Indianapolis one and on third down Anthony Adams and Ryan Gaydosh tackled Craig Jenkins in the endzone for a safety. GVSU drove 56 yards in 54 seconds after the free kick for a TD. Finnerty hit Fowler with a 32 yard TD pass with 21 ticks left in the first half for a 16-0 lead.

The Lakers opened the second half with an 8-play, 61-yard drive that resulted in a Carter 30 yard field goal and Preston Garris hauled in a 9-yard scoring pass with 7:07 left in the first quarter to up the Laker lead to 26-0. GVSU closed the scoring when Sean Stevens recovered a Preston Garris fumble in the endzone.

"I thought we played solid football for 60 minutes against a very good team," said third-year head coach Chuck Martin. "We were balanced on offense and I was really pleased with defensive effort," added Martin.

Grand Valley State rushed for 224 yards and passed for 209. Finnerty completed 15-of-29 passes for 209 yards and two TDs, while rushing for 26 yards on five carries. Finnerty became the fourth QB in college football history to pass for over 9,000 yards and rush for more than 2,000 yards in a career. In addition, Finnerty became the all-time leader in victories by a starting QB in college football history with 43. Finnerty passed North Alabama's Cody Gross.

Astin Martin rushed for 76 yards on 17 carries, while freshman Blake Smolen chipped in 58 yards on five carries and four receptions for 35 yards. Eric Fowler eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark for the fourth time with four catches for 119 yards and one TD.

Defensively, Anthony Adams led the Lakers with 10 tackles, while Derrick Jones, Ryan Gaydosh and Kirk Carruth each added nine. P.J. Beuke tallied seven tackles, caused a fumble and recovered a fumble. GVSU limited Indianapolis to 212 total yards, 76 of which came on the Greyhounds last drive against the Lakers second team defense.

Grand Valley State will host #9 Northwood next Saturday at Lubbers Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Notes...GVSU is 77-5 in its last 82 games overall and 50-3 in the GLIAC since the 2001