Post-Game Press Conference

#3 Grand Valley State claimed a 55-7 victory over Lake Erie Saturday night before a crowd of 14,688 at Lubbers Stadium. GVSU improves to 2-0 both overall and in league action, while Lake Erie is 0-2. The Lakers will host Northern Michigan next Saturday at Lubbers Stadium to close the three-game homestand. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

It didn't take long for the Lakers to begin the scoring as sophomore RB Marty Carter raced 79 yards for a TD on the first play of the game. Carter took the handoff from sophomore QB Bart Williams and followed the lead block of C Aaron Cox untouched for the score. Carter finished a 9-play, 97-yard drive with 7:26 left in the first quarter with a 30-yard touchdown run and then completed the first quarter trifecta with a 2-yard TD reception from Williams to finish a 7-play, 66-yard drive. 

Williams hit junior WR Urston Smith with a 62-yard touchdown pass at the 10:51 mark of the second quarter and senior PK Joel Schipper added the fourth of his six PATs to up the Laker lead to 28-0. 

Senior RB Terrell Dorsey finished a 4-play, 74-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run at the 5:40 mark of the second quarter. B. Williams completed a 29-yard pass to senior WR Matt Williams and Dorsey added a 38-yard run before his score on the drive. 

The GVSU defense forced a Lake Erie punt late in the second quarter and the snap was fumbled by the Storm punter and recovered by Grant Postma. Junior WR Brandon Bean took the jet sweep handoff and scooted in from five yards out to give the Lakers a 42-0 halftime lead. 

The starters for GVSU were done for the evening after 30 minutes of action, but put up some great numbers in addition to 42 points. The offense piled up 412 first half yards on just 31 plays for a gaudy 13.3 yards per play average. The defense limited Lake Erie to just 77 yards on 35 plays in the first half for a 2.2 yards per play average. The defensive line tallied four QB sacks in the first half.

Lake Erie's lone points came in the third quarter after a 58-yard reception to the GVSU 10 yard line and then a 10-yard TD pass and catch. The Laker defense yielded just 70 yards after the lone Lake Erie touchdown.

Junior QB Ollie Ajami engineered a 10-play, 60-yard scoring drive that he finished with a 3-yard TD run. The Laker offense finished the scoring with a 6-play, 84-yard drive that Ajami closed with an 8-yard TD run. Freshman RB Bryce Young-Walls opened the drive with an 18-yard run and Ajami his freshman receiver Austin Paritee for 33 yards.

Carter finished with 144 yards and two TDs on just nine carries, while Dorsey added 55 yards on six carries. Ajami chipped in 51 yards and two TDs on 10 carries and sophomore Christian Lumpkin added 45 yards on seven rushes. Young-Walls tallied 38 yards on four carries. 

B. Williams completed 8-of-11 passes for 196 yards and two TDs. Smith led the receiving corps with three catches for 134 yards and Paritee added 49 yards on two catches. 

Senior DB Nate Cole led the defense with six tackles and a TFL (-4), while freshman LB Isaiah added six stops. Senior DE Alton Voss saw his first action of the year and tallied five tackles, two QB sacks (-12) and two TFL (-12). Fellow senior De'Ondre Hogan added five tackles, three TFL (-6) and two QB sacks (-4). The Laker defense racked up six QB sacks (-23) and 14 tackles for loss (-48).