Sept. 16, 2006

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

Rensselaer, Ind. - #1-ranked Grand Valley State used a dominating defensive effort to claim a 31-6 victory over St. Joseph's College Saturday afternoon in Rensselaer, Indiana. The victory was the Lakers 16th straight.

The dominating defensive effort in the first 30 minutes began from the start and the GVSU defensive line introduced itself to Puma QB Anthony Lindsey. The Laker defense recorded eight QB sacks and limited the Pumas to 36 total yards on 27 offensive plays in the opening half. The Lakers held St. Joseph's to -31 yards rushing and 67 yards via the air. Offensively, the Lakers scored 17 first-quarter points and built a 24-0 halftime advantage. Todd Carter booted a 30-yard field goal on the Lakers' second possession following a Kirk Carruth fumble recovery. Cullen Finnerty hit Eric Fowler with a 14-yard scoring pass to culminate a 6-play, 63-yard scoring drive. Carruth recovered his second fumble of the first quarter and Finnerty then hit Terry Mitchell on with a 25-yard completion for a TD on the first play to give GVSU a 17-0 lead. Finnerty drove the Lakers 36 yards in six plays before scoring on a 4-yard run with 37 seconds left in first half to give GVSU its 24-0 advantage.

"I thought we played well in the opening quarter to build a 17-0 lead, but then we turned in a lackluster performance for the next three quarters," said head coach Chuck Martin. "We didn't sustain a 60 minute performance and that is disappointing," added Martin.

Added QB Cullen Finnerty, "When we played assignment football we were able to move the ball offensively, but we didn't do enough of that today. We had our moments, but we need to put together a complete game of football."

St. Joseph's College drove 80 yards in 10 plays to open the second half and scored on a 5-yard pass from QB Anthony Lindsey to Lonnie Hurst. GVSU drove down to the Puma 12 yard line on its first second half possession, but Carter missed a 34-yard field goal attempt wide left. GVSU forced a Puma punt and Finnerty hit Fowler with a 44-yard scoring pass on the first play from scrimmage to give GVSU a 31-6 lead.

"We came out and did a nice job in the opening half defensively, but we didn't do a good job of sustaining our intensity," said Mike McFadden.

McFadden commented on tying the NCAA all-division record for consecutive games with a QB sack.

"It's a nice accomplishment and when my career is over I will probably look back at it with fond memories, but my main goal is winning football games from week to week," said McFadden.

Finnerty completed 8-of-17 passes for 138 yards and three TDs, while Astin Martin rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries. Eric Fowler caught two passes for 58 yards and two TDs and Terry Mitchell hauled in three passes for 48 yards and one TD.

Defensively, the Lakers limited St. Joseph's to 197 yards of total offense. The Pumas recorded 14 rushing yards on 36 carries. GVSU recorded 19 tackles for loss and 10 QB sacks. Jordan Munson led the defense with seven tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss (-6). Dan Skuta tallied 2.5 QB sacks and three tackles for loss (-16), while Mike McFadden recorded three tackles for loss (-13) and 1.5 QB sacks. Kirk Carruth recovered a pair of fumbles.

Grand Valley State will host Michigan Tech Thursday, Sept. 21 at Lubbers Stadium in a game that will be nationally televised by CSTV. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Notes...Mike McFadden tied the NCAA all-division record by recording a QB sack in his 17th straight game. McFadden equaled the record held by Chris Gocong of Cal-State Poly. Cullen Finnerty became the 18th player in NCAA DII history to go over the 10,000-yard total offense mark and reached another milestone by accounting for his 100th career TD (73 passing-27 rushing).

GVSU is 86-14 in its last 100 games...The Lakers' improved to 73-5 in its last last 78 games...The Laker senior class improved to 40-4...GVSU is 29-2 in its last 31 road games...GVSU held St. Joseph's to xx yards rushing, marking the 30th time in the last 44 games that a Laker opponent has failed to reach the 100-yard rushing mark.