#12 Grand Valley State claimed a 42-7 GLIAC road win at Michigan Tech Saturday afternoon in Houghton, Mich. GVSU, which improves to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in GLIAC action, will host Northwood next Saturday (Sept. 23) at Lubbers Stadium.
The Lakers faced some adversity in the early going after forcing a Michigan Tech punt on its opening possession. GVSU took over on its own three yard line and drove the length of the field, however, on a first and goal the Lakers fumbled through the endzone and came up empty.
Michigan Tech then went on a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive that took 5:40 off the clock. RB John Williams scored on an 8 yard run and the PAT gave MTU a 7-0 lead.
"We faced some adversity in the first quarter, but I was really pleased with how we handled it," said head coach
Matt Mitchell. "We were down 7-0 and came back with a nice drive to tie it up and then we get the defensive score to go up 14-7."
GVSU's defense forced another punt and the Laker offense would not be denied again as junior RB Marty Carter took a handoff and sped 68 yards for a touchdown and after the made PAT by
Avery Echols it was tied 7-7.
The Laker defense got in on the scoring as DE
Dylan Carroll hurried MTU QB Jake Brown into an errant pass that senior DT
Demetrius Farmer picked off and ran back 28 yards for a TD. Echols added the PAT for a 14-7 GVSU lead.
The Grand Valley State defense continued to dominate the line of scrimmage and forced a Michigan Tech punt late in the first half and the Laker offense was able to put points up on the board. Williams first hit WR
Jalen Bryant with a 14 yard completion on third-and-13, followed by a 23 yard completion to WR
Austin Paritee. Carter then took a handoff and scampered 46 yards to the MTU one yard line. GVSU then used a bit of deception as Carter tossed a Tim Tebow like jump pass to TE
Nick Keizer for a TD. Echols hit his third PAT of the first half for a 21-7 halftime lead.
"It was big to get the score at the end of the first half knowing we were going to get the ball to open the second half," said Mitchell.
The Lakers took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 65 yards in eight plays for a TD. Williams distributed the ball to Paritee, Keizer and then Bean for a three yard TD pass and the Echols PAT upped the lead to 28-7 Lakers.
Following a fourth down stop by the Laker defense, Williams hit Keizer with a 16 yard TD pass and the Laker defensive line got in the mix again, this time it was defensive end
Michael Pettis picking off a pass and returning it five yards for a TD. Echols added the PATs and GVSU led 42-7.
The GVSU offense generated 420 yards on just 50 plays, while limiting MTU to just 274 yards. The Lakers rushed for 231 yards and passed for 189 yards. Carter led the ground game with 177 yards and a TD on 16 carries, while also tossing a one yard TD pass.
Bryce Young-Walls rushed for 48 yards on five carries. Williams completed 16-0f-23 passes for 188 yards and two TDs. Bean led the receiving unit with six catches for 66 yards and one TD, while Keizer hauled in five catches for 63 yards and two TDs.
Defensively, senior LB
Garrett Pougnet led the way with 10 tackles, while fellow senior LB
Collin Schlosser added nine stops, 1.5 TFL and two QB hurries. Freshman DL
Wallace Hall added six tackles. The Laker defense held MTU to just 170 yards after the first quarter.
