#8 Grand Valley State claimed a 38-10 season-opening victory at Charleston (WV) Thursday evening to kickoff the 55
th season of Laker football. GVSU, 1-0, will host West Texas A&M next Thursday in the home opener for the Lakers at 7 p.m. GVSU is now 36-19 in season opening games.
The GVSU defense forced a three-and-out on the first possession of the 2026 season, however, before the Lakers could run a play action was halted due to lighting. Following a 30-minute delay GVSU drove 73 yards in four plays for a touchdown. Sophomore QB
Andrew Schuster hit senior WR
Kellen Reed with a 45-yard completion for a touchdown and PK
Mathew Bacik added the PAT for a 7-0 lead. Reed went over 1,000 career receiving yards on the play.
Two big pass plays led to Charleston's 10 points. The Golden Eagles kicked a 24-yard field goal and running back Zachariah Williams scored on a 4-yard TD run. QB Matt Frye hit WR Caleb Barringer with a 59-yard pass and catch to set up the touchdown. However, that would be the end of the Golden Eagle point production.
GVSU answered quickly after the Charleston score when TE
Evan Furtney returned the kickoff 28- yards to the Golden Eagle 32-yard line. Schuster hit Reed with a 20-yard touchdown pass and Bacik added the PAT for a 14-10 Laker lead at the half.
Grand Valley State came out in the second half and dominated on both sides of the ball. The Lakers' second drive of the third quarter resulted in a touchdown when Schuster hit RS freshman WR
Amonte Cook with a short pass that Cook took 16 yards for a touchdown to conclude an 11-play, 70-yard drive.
The defense came up big, forcing a fumble that
Torian Wyatt recovered. GVSU drove 57 yards in nine plays as sophomore RB
Kellen Russell-Dixon scored on 1-yard run. Schuster hit Reed with a fourth down pass to keep the drive alive.
The GVSU defense continued to dominate and forced a punt that the Lakers turned into a 34-yard Bacik field goal to up the lead to 31-10. The Lakers closed the game with a 7-play, 96-yard scoring drive that was all on the ground. Junior QB
Brady Drogosh finished the drive with a 26 yard touchdown run.
GVSU toted the ball 40 times for 206 yards and notched 253 passing yards for 459 yards of total offense and a 9-for-16 evening on third and fourth down conversions. The Laker defense limited Charleston to 232 total yards, including just 46 on the ground. In addition, The Golden Eagles were 3-for-11 on third down.
Schuster completed 19-of-28 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns, while Reed hauled in five receptions for 133 yards and two TDs. Cook caught three passes for 42 yards and Furtney added four receptions for 25 yards. LB's
Elijah Baker and Keagan Sell each tallied five stops for the defense. GVSU limited Charleston to 10 first downs and a 3-for-11 on third down.
