Carnell leads Wildcats with a career-high ten tackles
ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan football team (2-8, 2-4 GLIAC) traveled to No. 23 Grand Valley State Lakers (7-3, 3-3 GLIAC) on Saturday, falling 61-14.
The Wildcats opened the game with a three-and-out followed by an 81-yard touchdown drive to lead 7-0. From there, the Lakers scored 47 unanswered points to run away with the victory. Noah Dobert ran for 168 yards and a touchdown while throwing a touchdown pass to Lachlin Acker. GVSU’s Andrew Schuster threw for five touchdowns, three of them to Kellen Reed, while Zak Olejniczak ran in two more.
The Lakers led in total yards, 522-243. The Wildcats fumbled the ball three times while the Lakers’ defense was disruptive with five sacks, all coming in the first half.
NMU’s Tyler Carnell led the game with a career-high 10 tackles.
How it Happened
The Wildcats looked strong out of the gates, forcing a three-and-out after a deflected pass on third down by Jace Miller. On their first offensive possession, NMU was able to move the ball. Wilson Ptacek came down with a contested ball to move the chains, and Northern maintained an 11-play, 81-yard drive with a strong run game, capped off by a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Noah Dobert. The Wildcats held a 7-0 lead at 8:19 of the first.
From there, the Lakers quickly flipped the script.
Kellen Reed hauled in his 20th touchdown reception on their ensuing drive to tie the game. The Lakers then got a strip sack on the second play of NMU’s drive, and found Reed again less than a minute later to take a 14-7 lead. NMU surrendered a safety on a bad snap during a punt, and GVSU’s Zak Olejniczak scampered for a 54-yard touchdown to push the Lakers ahead 23-7 after one.
It was all Lakers in the second quarter as well. Reed recorded his third touchdown grab, Grand Valley found the end zone again with two minutes left, and then connected on a 50-yard field goal as time expired to lead 40-7 at halftime.
The Wildcats missed a field goal to open the second half, and GVSU’s Olejniczak scored his second of the game to lead 47-7 after three.
In the Wildcat formation, Noah Dobert threw his first career touchdown pass, a three-yard over-the-top throw to Lachlin Acker, to make it 47-14 with 12:23 left in the game.
Grand Valley would score two more times in the fourth for the 61-14 final.
Up Next
NMU will close out the season at home against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Saturday, November 14. Kickoff from the Superior Dome is set for 1 p.m.
