Oct. 20, 2012

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 Postgame Press Conference |  Rubick's View

ALLENDALE, Mich. - The 24th-ranked Grand Valley State football team got back on the winning track on Saturday (Oct. 20), taking down Northwood 42-28 on homecoming in front of 12,098 fans at Lubbers Stadium.

The Lakers are now 6-2 on the year with a 5-2 GLIAC record, while Northwood falls to 4-4 with a 3-4 mark in the conference.

The game began with Northwood getting on the board first. After a fumble by the Lakers on their opening drive, Northwood took it in from 17 yards out to grab an early 7-0 lead with 10:45 to play in the first quarter.

GVSU took control after that, getting a 26-yard touchdown run from junior Hersey Jackson to make it 7-7 only four minutes later. The Laker defense then forced a three-and-out from the Timberwolves and senior Israel Woolfork blocked a punt, then after it was picked up by the punter and ran for 18 yards, Woolfork made the tackle just before the first down line to give the Lakers the ball at the Northwood 38 yard line.

On the first play of the drive, sophomore Isiah Grimes found a wide open Brandan Green with a 38-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead.

After both teams exchanged two punts each, the Lakers put together an 11 play, 75-yard drive that included four straight runs from Jackson to end the scoring drive with a two-yard plunge that made it a 21-7 game with 6:07 to play in the first half.

GVSU threatened to take a commanding lead as it appeared the Lakers were on another scoring drive, but a fumble inside the Northwood red zone led to a 53-yard return by the Timberwolves back in to Laker territory. Northwood capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-14, the first pass that Northwood had completed against GVSU since 2010.

The Lakers got those points back quickly in the second half, going the distance on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter with a screen pass to senior Charles Johnson that went 60 yards for the touchdown, pushing the lead back out to 28-14.

After a fourth down stop on Northwood's ensuing drive, the Lakers got in to the end zone again, this time it was sophomore Keontre' Miskel who Grimes found on a crossing route with nobody in sight from 30 yards out to make it a 35-14 advantage with 9:03 to play in the third.

After another Northwood three-and-out, the Timberwolves forced another Laker fumble, but the ensuine Northwood drive was thwarted with an interception by redshirt freshman Jack Sauber on the GVSU 17 yard line.

The Lakers capitalized on the turnover, marching 83 yards down the field and capping it off with a four-yard slant route to Johnson for his second touchdown of the game to make it a 42-14 score with 13:21 to play in the game.

Northwood got in the end zone two more times, once on a 40-yard touchdown pass and once on a returned block field goal attempt, but GVSU would ultimately close out the 42-28 victory.

The Lakers rolled up 579 yards of total offense while holding Northwood to only 271 yards.

Grimes led the offense in his return from injury, completing 12 of 19 passes for 301 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Redshirt freshman Kirk Spencer led the ground game with 129 yards rushing on 15 carries, while Jackson contributed 68 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson had his fifth 100-yard receiving game and fourth multi-touchdown game as he caught four passes for 105 yards and two scores.

Junior Luther Ware was a force on defense, making 11 tackles and tallying five tackles for loss (-15 yards) and 2.5 sacks (-9 yards). Sophomore Matt Judon, in his return from injury, had eight tackles with two tackles for loss (-6 yards) and one sack (-3 yards) to go along with a quarterback hurry. Sauber finished with eight tackles, two tackles for loss (-3 yards), half a sack (-1 yard) and his first career interception.

The Lakers will now prepare for a road trip to take on Hillsdale, a team ranked in the top 25 all season long. The game on Saturday (Oct. 27) is slated for a 2:30 pm start.