Dec. 12, 2009
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Florence, Ala. -
Northwest Missouri State jumped out to a 21-0 first half lead and held on for a 30-23 victory over Grand Valley State in the 2009 NCAA DII National Championship game Saturday afternoon in Florence, Ala. The title game appearance was the Lakers' sixth since 2001. GVSU finished the season with a 13-2 record and the Lakers' senior class finished their careers with a 51-4 record. The 2009 senior class is the sixth straight to finish with 50 or more wins during their careers.
Northwest Missouri State started fast with touchdowns on their first three drives of the game. LaRon Council finished the Bearcats opening drive with a 14 yard TD run to cap a 6-play, 76-yard drive that took just 1:53 off the clock. GVSU then drove into Bearcat territory on its second drive of the game and faced a fourth-and-three from the NMSU 35-yard line. However, head coach Chuck Martin elected to punt and senior Justin Trumble pinned NW Missouri State on its own three-yard line.
"I didn't even really consider going for it and I felt pretty good after Justin (Trumble) pinned them on their own three yard line," said sixth-year head coach Chuck Martin.
Northwest Missouri State drove 97 yards in 16 plays as QB Blake Bolles finished the drive with a four yard TD run. Following a three-and-out by the Lakers, NMSU Jordan Simmons took a Justin Trumble punt back 48 yards to the Grand Valley State 17 yard line. Council followed with a 17 yard TD run to up the Northwest Missouri State lead to 21-0.
NW Missouri State was driving again late in the first half and had the ball on the GVSU one yard line, but senior LB James Wojciechowski forced and recovered a Previn Perry fumble to thwart the scoring opportunity.
"We regrouped at the half and told the guys that we needed to get a stop to open the second half and then get going offensively," said Martin.
Grand Valley State senior LB Gary Anderson provided the spark to open the second half when he picked off a Blake Bolles pass on the Bearcats fouth play of the third quarter. Iciek then drove the Lakers 48 yards in four plays and hit sophomore tight end Andrew Lorman with an eight yard TD pass with 11:22 left in the third quarter to get the Lakers on the scoreboard. Iciek hit junior WR Ryan Bass with a 16 yard completion and P.T. Gates rushed for 11 yards followed by a NMSU personal foul before the TD pass to Lorman. The excitement was short lived as Jay Jandasek's PAT was blocked and returned for a defensive safety for the Bearcats by Ryan Jones. Jones taunted the Laker defenders for the final 30 yards and ran the final seven yards backwards, but no penalty was called.
The Lakers and Bearcats traded punts, including an NCAA DII Championship record 71 yard punt by GVSU's Jay Jandasek, who was replacing the injured Trumble.
The GVSU defense continued to hold the Bearcat offense and forced a punt deep in their own territory. The Michael Stadler punt was downed at the 50 yard line to set the Laker offense up with outstanding field position. WR Blake Smolen ran 11 yards on a reverse and Iciek then hit WR Ryan Bass with a 33 yard TD pass and Jandasek added the PAT to cut the Northwest Missouri State lead to 10 (23-13). Grand Valley State's defense forced another turnover when CB Chris Crawford, playing for the injured Enrique Shaw, forced a fumble on the GVSU 29 yard line. Iciek directed an 11-play, 71-yard scoring drive that finished with a two yard TD run by Smolen. Jandasek added the PAT and the Lakers clawed back to within three points (23-20) with 12:26 left in the game.
"I looked up at the scoreboard and was trying to figure out how we only trailed by three (23-20) with 12 minutes left in the game," said Martin.
The Lakers were flagged with a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff and the Bearcats took over on GVSU 32 yard line. Bolles completed an 18 yard pass to Council on a third and 22 play, then hit Jake Soy with a 26 yard TD pass on a fourth and five play to up the lead to 10 points (30-20) with 10:00 left in the game.
"I new they would go for it and we put our best defender (Jake McGuckin) on their best receiver (Jake Soy), but Bolles just threw a perfect pass for the TD," said Martin.
GVSU continued to battle and drove 70 yards in 12 plays for a 21 yard field goal by Jandasek. The big play on the drive came when Iciek hit freshman Israel Woolfork with a 35-yard pass and catch to the Bearcat 12 yard line on third and 10.
Trailing 30-23, GVSU opted for an onside kick and thought they had recovered the ball, but an illegal touching call negated the recovery and NMSU took over on the GVSU 39 yard line. The GVSU defense held and forced a Bearcat punt that went into the end zone to give the Lakers one last drive starting from their own 20 yard line with 2:59 remaining. Grand Valley State drove 24 yards in nine plays, but Iciek's fourth down pass was incomplete with :52 seconds left to seal the win for Northwest Missouri State.
Iciek completed a career-high 28 passes for 290 yards and two TDs for the Lakers. Bass caught eight passes for 111 yards and a TD, while Smolen rushed for 45 yards on seven carries and hauled in six passes for 70 yards. Smolen tallied 189 all-purpose yards for the game. Lorman caught four passes for 23 yards and a TD, while Woolfork caught two passes for 48 yards. Senior RB P.T. Gates rushed for 36 yards and caught seven passes for 32 yards. Junior LB Justin Victor led the laker defense with 10 tackles, while senior safety Jake McGuckin, junior safety Matt Bakker and senior LB Gary Anderson each contributed nine stops. Junior DE Nick Lawrence tallied four tackles, two QB sacks and three tackles for loss. Grand Valley State finished with 381 yards of total offense for the game, including 254 in the second half, while the Bearcats tallied 116 total yards in the second half after recording 250 yards in the first half.
"I can't even begin to say how proud I am of this team and all that it accomplished during the 2009 season," said Martin. "This group of seniors did everything they could to get us to the National Championship game and in the end gave us a chance to win a fifth title. This group came together and improved every week and did everything we asked of them. For that reason I will always remember the 2009 Laker football team," concluded Martin.
Notes...Grand Valley State tallied a 122-13 (90.4%) record from 2000-2009, including a 121-9 mark in its last 130 games...GVSU won four NCAA DII National Championships and appeared in six title games since 2001...Smolen caught 57 passes for 917 yards and 10 TDs during his senior campaign...Smolen finishes his career with 5,676 all-purpose yards (2,220 receiving, 2,070 rushing, 1,386 kickoff returns)...Smolen is third all-time in career kickoff return yards at GVSU (1,386) and fifth all-time in receiving yards (2,220 yards)...Smolen is tied for 10th place in Laker history (with Brandon Langston) in scoring with 210 points
Brad Iciek finishes the season with 3,194 yards passing, the first 3,000-yard season of his career...His 3,194 yards and 35 touchdowns are both fourth-best in a single-season in Laker history...Iciek compiled 8,461 career passing yards, which is fourth all-time at GVSU and his 98 touchdown passes are third-most in program history...Iciek recorded 8,726 yards of total offense in his career, which is the fourth-best tally at Grand Valley State...In 1,068 career attempts, Iciek completed 563 passes and was only intercepted 17 times, including just three picks in 493 attempts this season
PT Gates picked up his first 1,000-yard rushing season, as he totaled 1,012 yards on the ground, which is the 14th most in a single-season in GVSU history...Gates also tallied 1,839 all-purpose yards this season
Jacob McGuckin ends his career with 295 tackles (144 solo/151 assisted), which is the eighth-best figure of all-time at Grand Valley State...McGuckin notched 13 interceptions during his four-year career, placing him fourth on the all-time list at GVSU
