#9 Grand Valley State claimed a 21-16 comeback victory over Michigan Tech Saturday (Sept. 28) before a crowd of 2,649 at Kearly Stadium. The Lakers improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in GLIAC action, while MTU falls to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in GLIAC action. GVSU will host Ashland Saturday (Oct. 5) at 7 p.m. in the annual Family Day contest.
The game came down to the final offensive drive for GVSU trailing 16-14 with 3:25 left in the game after the Laker defense forced a three-and-out and the Huskies took just 28 seconds off the clock. RS freshman QB
Cade Peterson connected with RS freshman WR
Daevon Anderson for 22 yards to move inside Michigan Tech territory (35 yard line) on first down. Sophomore RB
Jack Provencher rushed for a 4-yard gain, but Peterson was sacked for eight yards to forced a third-and-14. Peterson rushed for six yards and then hit senior WR
Austin Paritee with a 13 yard completion on fourth-and-eight. Provencher toted the ball seven and 11-yards to the MTU six yard line to give the Lakers a first-and-goal. Following a Michigan Tech penalty sophomore RB
Aryuan Cain-Veasey scampered into paydirt and
Josh Gorball added the PAT for a 21-16 lead with 24 seconds left in the game. The Laker defense forced an incomplete pass as the clock hit 00:00 to give the Lakers the win.
The Laker defense dominated action throughout the day, limiting Michigan Tech to 217 yards (106 rushing/111 passing), including seven three-and-outs, and just nine points given up. GVSU scored on its opening possession of the game, putting together a 6-play, 63-yard drive that took 2:40 off the clock. Junior RB
Bryce Young-Walls rushed for 29 yards on the first play, followed by a Peterson 16 yard run. Peterson then hit Paritee with an 18 yard completion and Cain-Veasey's finished the drive with the first of three TD run, this one covering three yards.
Michigan Tech tied the game on special teams when a fumbled snap was recovered in the endzone with 6:30 left in the first quarter. MTU took a 10-7 lead late in the third quarter, but GVSU answered with a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took 5:02 off the clock. Peterson hit Anderson with an 18 yard completion on first down and Cain-Veasey toted the ball seven times for 38 yards and finished the drive wit ha 1-yard TD run to give the Lakers a 14-10 lead.
Michigan Tech scored its lone offensive TD with an 8-yard TD run with 5:56 left in the game to complete a 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive that set up a frantic final minutes.
Cain-Veasey toted the ball 27 times for 101 yards and three TDs, while Peterson completed 8-of-13 passes for 157 yards. Paritee caught four passes for 89 yards, followed by Anderson who hauled in three receptions for 61 yards. Senior LB
Isaiah Nkansah led the defense wit 10 tackles and a tackle for loss (-4), while junior LB
Tyler Bradfield chipped in seven stops. Senior SS
Jailyn Harden added seven tackles.
