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NMU Football Can't Hold Early Lead; Falls To WSU
 Story, photo courtesy of NMU Sports Information MARQUETTE, Mich. - Leading 10-2 in the second quarter, the Northern Michigan football team found themselves on the wrong end of a lengthy 39-0 run from Wayne State, leading to a 41-17 defeat Saturday at the Superior Dome. Northern came out strong on its first drive, marching down the field and scoring on 52-yard run by freshman (RB) Noah Hofmann. The fast offensive start made it 7-0 at 11:25 of the first. A few drives later NMU was pinned on its own 4-yard line, leading to a sack in the endzone by a group of Wayne State defenders to make it 7-2 at 7:54 of the first quarter. Up 7-2 in the second quarter, NMU marched into Wayne State territory. Aidan Hoard would go on to connect with his TE Charlie Gerhard twice for 21 yards to make it 4th and 1 on the goal line. A sneak attempt would come up short, as the Wildcats came up empty on an impressive drive The defensives did their part finishing the opening half, as NMU tacked on a field goal from Mike Karlen and WSU countered with three of their own before the half would end. NMU led 10-5 at the break. The second half was all Wayne State. On its first drive of the half, Justin Cox connected with Dion Brown Jr. for a 34-yard score, taking the lead at 12-10 minutes into the second stanza. After a Hoard interception, Wayne State would find the endzone again just over a minute later, a 39-yard reception from Nathaniel Ebery-Rodriguez to go ahead 19-10. With the 19-10 score carrying over to the final quarter, the hits kept coming for Northern. Wayne State would score 22 points in the fourth on two runs by Kendall Williams (20 and 49 yards) as well as another rushing score to go along with a field goal. Down 41-10, Hoard connected on a deep ball to Sam Peiffer with less than a minute remaining. NMU totaled 268 yards in the contest to 328 from Wayne State. Hofmann ran for 88 yards for the 'Cats before exiting with an injury. Hoard threw for 165 yards, with the one score and two interceptions. Mitch Larkin, the GLIAC's leading tackler, totaled 14 for a game-high as he is closing in on the century mark with a season total of 95. Justin Peake added another 12 tackles. The loss drops the Wildcats to 0-9 overall and 0-5 in the GLIAC, while Wayne State improves to 3-6 on the season while leveling its conference record at 2-2. |
