Kingsford’s Nic Nora scores three touchdowns
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech football team outscored Roosevelt 35-7 in the second half to earn a 56-31 victory at Kearly Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
With two games to play, Michigan Tech has reached seven wins for the second consecutive season under head coach Dan Mettlach in his fourth season at the helm of his alma mater. The Huskies are now 7-2 and 4-1 in GLIAC play as Roosevelt falters 1-7 and 0-5 in GLIAC play.
Wide receiver Nic Nora recorded a game-high and career-best three rushing touchdowns, two coming in the first half. The Kingsford, Michigan, native totaled 59 yards rushing on three carries to go with 53 receiving yards on three catches.
“I thought we were pretty sloppy in the first half–we felt like we did everything we could to prevent a letdown today. It just took longer than I would’ve liked for us to get out of bed,” said Mettlach. “The guys know we haven’t played well at home and we needed to correct that. I thought the guys did a nice job calming each other down and played much better after halftime.”
Roosevelt outgained Michigan Tech 120 yards to 72 as the two teams scored touchdowns on their second drives of the day, starting with the Lakers’ 30-yard TD pass from quarterback Tony Chahino to Norion Espadron, with Michigan Tech’s Nic Nora answering with an eight-yard reverse for the score to make it 7-7 to complete the scoring in the opening quarter.
Nora gave the Huskies a touchdown lead with under 10 minutes to go in the second quarter with a six-yard rushing score before the duo of Chahino and Espadron answered with a 53-yard bomb to keep the game tied at 14-all. The Lakers took advantage of a muffed punt by the home team, which ultimately translated into a 31-yard field goal with 4:26 remaining in the first half to be ahead again, 17-14.
Veteran Ethan Champney executed the double-pass to perfection, finding Bryce Kurncz wide open in the endzone for a 25-yard score to once again take the lead (20-17) with under two minutes to play. Roosevelt again answered with a touchdown of their own with multiple chunk plays, setting up a five-yard rushing score by Cam Davis to head into halftime leading 23-21, needing four plays to go 79 yards in 36 seconds.
The Huskies found their groove heading out of the halftime break, as Michigan Tech rattled off 35 points while allowing just a touchdown by the Lakers in the final 30 minutes. MTU scored on five of its six drives in the second half as part of the 35-7 second-half barrage.
The defense made timely defensive plays with two fumbles forced and recovered in the third quarter, while the offense put together two touchdown drives to make it a 35-24 advantage heading into the final quarter.
Freshman quarterback Elliott Larner, making his first career start, recorded an 18-yard rushing touchdown midway through the third quarter, capping a seven-play, 41-yard drive following a fumble forced and recovered by Porter Zeeman.
The Huskies’ second fumble recovery happened on the next Roosevelt drive, this time with Connor Hindenach getting to the quarterback before pouncing on the ball. The turnover once again set up the Black & Gold, poised for a touchdown with Larner finding Nora on third and eight for a 33-yard outburst before connecting with Champney with a 23-yard strike to the endzone.
Michigan Tech amassed 103 rushing yards on nine carries in the final quarter, with Jake Rueff and freshman Cameron Cornett taking three carries for 44 yards, including a 16-yard run for his first career touchdown on the Huskies’ second-to-last drive of the day.
Roosevelt’s lone touchdown of the second half came from backup quarterback Zach Zella, converting on a fourth and one for the score, needing 13 plays to go 67 yards while eating up 4:52 off the clock.
Noah Johnson recorded a sack for seven yards to force the Lakers to punt away before the Huskies’ offense would kneel out the game for a convincing 56-31 decision.
Larner threw for 195 yards (14-for-23) and a touchdown. Chase Koch led the defense with 10 total tackles and Zeeman finished with nine.
Up Next
The Huskies will take to the road for the final time in the regular season next weekend, traveling to No. 25 Grand Valley State for Homecoming, slated for a 2:00 p.m. kickoff.
