#14 Grand Valley State claimed a 28-3 Homecoming victory over Northern Michigan Saturday afternoon before an overflow crowd of 12,075 at Lubbers Stadium. The Lakers, which improve to 7-2 overall and 6-1 in GLIAC action, will hit the road for a 7 p.m. tilt next Saturday (Nov. 4) at No. 4 Ashland. 

Snow, wind, rain, 4:00 p.m. kickoff, it all seemed a bit strange for the last Saturday in October, however, when he ball was kicked off the Laker offense moved down the field quickly on a 5-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. Sophomore Bryce Young-Walls, subbing for an ailing Martayveous Carter, opened with a 12 yard rush, followed by a 15 yard completion from junior QB Bart Williams to senior WR Brandon Bean. Freshman WR Brandon Wadley took a jet sweep 21 yards to the NMU 22 yard line and Young-Walls added a rush of seven yards to Wildcat 15. Williams then hit Bean with a 15 yard TD pass and J.J. McGrath added the PAT for a 7-0 GVSU lead. 

The Laker offense moved into Northern Michigan territory on two more occasion in the first quarter, but was stopped on downs. Northern Michigan got on the board with a 15-play-, 55-yard drive that ended with a 32 yard field goal off the foot of Dalton Ray. 

The GVSU offense moved inside the NMU 50 yard line three more times in the second quarter, but turned the ball over twice and was forced to punt. The Laker defense yielded very little in the second quarter and assured Laker fans that GVSU would go into the lockerroom at the half with a 7-3 lead. Young-Walls toted the ball 10 times for 102 yards in the first half.

"The first half wasn't pretty, but we regrouped and got a big play from our senior LB Collin Schlosser that turned the tide for our team," said head coach Matt Mitchell. "From that point on I tought we dominated the game on both sides of the ball and showed some grit."

The Wildcats turned in their most impressive drive of the game after taking the second half kickoff. NMU drove 66 yards in 13 plays to the GVSU two yard line, but on first and goal NMU running back Demetrise Mullen took a big hit from GVSU senior LB Collin Schlosser that dislodged the ball. Sophomore DE Michael Pettis caught the ball in mid air and scampered 18 yards to the Northern Michigan 19 yard line. 

Grand Valley State's offense finally go on track and drove 81 yards in 10 plays for the first of three second half TD run by Dre'On Kemp. Williams hit senior TE Nick Keizer with a key third down completion that covered 15 yards and Kemp added a 25 yard run to the NMU 17 yard line. Kemp finished the drive with his first career touchdown and McGrath added the PAT for a 14-3 lead. 

NMU missed a 42 yard field goal late in the third quarter and the GVSU offense answered the bell again with a scoring drive that covered 75 yards in nine plays. Williams hit Keizer with a 27-yard pass and catch, followed by a 10 yard completion to junior WR Nick Dodson to close the third quarter. Williams and Keizer hooked up for a 20 yard completion on a third-and-12 play and Kemp went the final 10 yards for his second TD of the game and after McGrath booted his third PAT GVSU led 21-3. 

"We had some guys step up on both sides of the ball, but I thought Caleb Richard and Dre'On Kemp really made a difference for us offensively and provided some big runs for us."

The Laker defense forced a punt and GVSU embarked on a time consuming 11-play, 44-yard drive that took 5:15 off the clock. GVSU was forced to punt, but Northern Michigan fumbled the punt and Wadley recovered it at the NMU 19 yard line. Kemp went 15 yards for his third rushing TD of the day for the final margin of 28-3. 

GVSU rushed for a season-high 286 yards on 40 carries, highlighted by career-highs from Young-Walls (10-102), Kemp (14-99, 3 TDs.) and Richard (13-55). Williams completed 10-of-22 passes for 137 yards and one TD, while Keizer led the receiving unit with four catches for 78 yards.

The Laker defense limited NMU to 295 total yards, including just 111 via the ground. Schlosser led the defense with 12 tackles and a forced fumble, while RS freshman Tyler Bradfield added 10 tackles. Senior LB Garrett Poughnet chipped in eight tackles, 2.0 TFL and a QB sack, and DE Dylan Carroll tallied eight tackles, two QB sacks and two TFL.