Davenport wins 52-31
CALEDONIA, Mich. – The Northern Michigan football team racked up 324 rushing yards, its most since 2018, and put up its most points in the last two seasons, but fell 52-31 to the Davenport Panthers on Saturday afternoon.
Northern’s 324 rushing-yard total broke the previous season-best of 269 against UW-La Crosse. It was the 4th most rushing yards in the GLIAC this season while the 65 rushing attempts set a new conference benchmark. Austin Ridl gained 84, Jahi Wood followed with 83, and Vince Martin tacked on another 76 to lead the ground attack.
Davenport’s Cameren Grodhaus set a program-record with 24 tackles, also the best single-game mark in the country this season.
Martin and Kainoa Lacar converted rushing scores for the ‘Cats, while Ridl found Sam Peiffer through the air for another. NMU’s other came on a much rarer play. Attempting a short field goal in the final minute of the first half, Michael Karlen had his kick blocked, but Jake Price high-pointed the ball behind the line of scrimmage and bulldozed his way into the endzone for the unique touchdown.
Karlen also converted a field goal from 32 yards.
Davenport also focused heavily on the ground game for 278 total yards. The two teams combined for 602 rushing yards to just 179 passing yards.
The Wildcats held a 7-3 lead after the first quarter thanks to a 51-yard Jake Bilitz scramble that set up the 8-yard touchdown plunge from Martin. The tides turned quickly to start the second. Davenport found the endzone on a run, forced a fumble on NMU’s ensuing first play of offense, then ran in another on the next play to make the score 17-7 Panthers just over a minute into quarter two.
The Panthers added another score at the 3:38 mark of the opening half to make it 24-7. Price’s high-IQ touchdown with 18.5 seconds before intermission made it 24-14 at the break. The teams combined for 360 rushing yards to 15 passing yards in the opening 30 minutes.
Davenport stretched the lead to 31-14 just three minutes into the second half, but NMU answered with the next ten points. Peiffer won a jumpball contest in the endzone for a 9-yard score with 6:07 left in the 3rd and Karlen tacked on a 32-yard FG with 55 seconds left in the quarter to make it 31-21.
DU answered before the quarter could end with a 77-yard pass to make it 38-24 heading to the fourth.
Lacar’s 8-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, was sandwiched between two Panther touchdowns in the final quarter.
Up Next
The Wildcats (0-10, 0-6) will have one final crack at adding a win this season, traveling to Wayne State (1-9, 1-5) on Saturday, November 16. The Warriors just picked up their first win of the season with a 38-14 win over Roosevelt.
