Box Score HILLSDALE – The game senior running back Chris Robinson played ran parallel to the game his Grand Valley State team played at Hillsdale College Saturday night.

He fumbled the ball early, but responded with passion and strength.

His team fumbled a bit at the start, too, allowed a touchdown to Hillsdale College on the first offensive possession for the Chargers, but responded with passion and strength.

Robinson, or C-Rob, carried the ball 22 times for 157 net yards and scored the first Grand Valley touchdown of the game on a 25-yard run to tie the score at 7. From that point the Lakers would build a 42-7 lead on the way to the 42-21 win.

"The offense and the offensive line got confidence out of Chris and his running style I think, and he got us to the point where we were not chasing the (first-down) sticks all night," Grand Valley head coach Matt Mitchell said. "We've been having a lot of third-and-10s so far this season, but tonight we had third-and-2 and that's who we are. We have to be able to run the ball."

Robinson's early fumble was erased away by a defense that pressured the quarterback and allowed just 41 yards on the last 21 Hillsdale offensive plays of the first half.
And from that point he smashed, bashed, twirled and did his C-Rob thing.

"Over all the years playing running back I've learned you have to have the mentality to learn from it and then wash it away and get back in there and play," he said. "I knew. I came to the sideline and Heath (Parling, the Grand Valley quarterback) looked at me and said, 'you're better than that, let's go."

So he was on go and the Lakers with Kirk Spencer adding 51 yards on 11 carries and Parling picking up 20 on a big scramble to set up a touchdown amassed 228 rushing yards and 464 total yards. The Lakers were on full go really for the first time this season.

"Given the quality of the opponent, it was probably our most complete game of the season," Mitchell said. "I was pleased with how we approached the game, the way we practiced and our guys came out and played with a lot of edge.

"We had a lot of edge to us. The kids were hungry. We challenged them. We were 0-3 in the last three road games, and that's not acceptable in this program. We came out with edge and we were able to get the win."

Robinson, who in high school at Ovid-Elsie set a state record with 27 consecutive 100-yard rushing games, edged up the all-time Laker rushing list to 19^th with 1,904 career yards. He passed Bruce Calhoun, and is on his way to becoming the 18^th player in GVSU history to rush for 2,000 yards in his career.

And the 157 against Hillsdale Saturday was the second best single day of his college career. He went for 175 as a freshman against Saginaw Valley.

He was needed. Fellow senior running back Michael Ratay missed the game and is having his knee evaluated, which turned the normal three-headed tailback group into at two-man show. After he fumbled, Mitchell expected a good response.

"He was the hot guy tonight, and Chris is vocal, and a positive vocal guy who plays with passion and he is such a hard runner," Mitchell said. "Over his career, he's had some ups and downs and he had a tendency before to be very critical of himself and get down. But his year he is playing at more of an even keel, playing hard, riding the wave."

The Lakers have played hard in the wake of a 0-3 start to the season. They are riding the wave at 2-3 and as Robinson said just trying to 1-0 each week.

"It would have been easy for us to go 0-3 and then come out and play without emotion the last two weeks, but we haven't done that," Robinson said.
"Things didn't work out the way we wanted it to at the start of the year, you know, we know that. So we're just going to keep fighting and try to win the next game."