#2 Grand Valley State claimd a 66-10 GLIAC road win at Wayne State Saturday afternoon and improve to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in GLIAC action. The Lakers will host Davenport (8-1, 4-1) next Saturday in the regular-season finale. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Lubbers Stadium.
GVSU dominated in all facets of the game from the start, forcing six punts and stopping a fourth down attempt, while the offense scored on its first five possessions. The defense forced a Wayne State punt on its opening possession and the offense moved down the field with a 5-player, 74-yard scoring drive. Senior QB
Cade Peterson picked up a key third down with a 50-yard scamper and then hit tight end
Gavin Cossou with a 14-yard touchdown pass. Senior kicker
Josh Gorball kicked the first of his nine PATs and GVSU led 7-0. Junior safety
Ian Kennelly blocked a punt to set up the Laker offense with a short field and senior RB
Tariq Reid went the final yard on a 3-play, 23-yard drive to put GVSU up 14-0. Grand Valley State recovered an onside kick and Peterson hit WR
Jordan Johnson with a 40-yard TD pass on the first play to give GVSU a 21-0 lead.
Peterson hit WR
Darrell Johnson with a 9-yard TD pass on the second play of the second quarter and QB
Avery Moore concluded a 9-play, 61-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to up the halftime lead to 35-0.
Tariq Reid completed a 7-player, 75-yard drive on the Lakers' opening possession of the second half with a 27-yard TD run and junior WR
Kyle Nott returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown to up the Laker lead to 49-0. Nott's punt return was the fifth longest in GVSU football history.
Khalil Eichelberger finished a 7-play, 87-yard scoring drive that took 3:27 off the clock with an eight-yard TD run and Vinnie Meschi hit WR
Donovan Johnson with a 39-yard touchdown pass. Gorball added a 40-yard field goal, his fourth of 40 yards or longer in three consecutive games.
The Laker offense tallied 515 yards of total offense, 249 via the ground and 266 through the air. Reid led the ground game with 78 rushing yards and two TDs on nine carries. Peterson completed 10-of-11 passes for 136 yards and three TDs, while rushing for 61 yards on four carries.
Syone Usma-Harper added 49 rushing yards.
Donovan Johnson caught three passes for 104 yards and one TD, while
Darrell Johnson caught three passes for 19 yards. The GVSU defense limited Wayne State to 269 yards of total offense, including 78 on the ground, while recording 12.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 QB sacks. J.T. Popp led the defense with seven tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss (-8), while
Riley Simpson added seven stops.
