It was quite the home opener for the Northern Michigan volleyball team on Friday night, as the Wildcats (2-9, 1-2) rallied to hand the Parkside Rangers (9-1, 2-1) their first loss of the season, 26-24, 17-25, 13-25, 25-21, 15-7.
The Negaunee High School girls tennis team won the Mid Peninsula Conference championship on Thursday. The Miners had 44 points, with Westwood second at 36 points. Negaunee won six of the eight championship flights: Lili Saunders, Rheana Nelson, and Addi Chapman in singles. The doubles teams of Nicole Kerkela and Clare O'Donnell; Olivia Richards and Sadie Rogers; and Paige O'Donnell and Maia Brunette also won championships. Ishpeming (20 points) finished third on the team scoreboard. Norway (14 points) was fourth and Iron Mountain (4 points) finished fifth.
A ceremony was held Tuesday night to celebrate the brand new bleachers at the Escanaba football stadium. The Eskymo Fan Club spearheaded the $450,000 project, which stripped out all of the old wooden seats and replaced them with new metal seats. They also put in 156 “stadium seats”.
The Bay College Norse volleyball team found itself in a close battle all night long as they pulled off a 3-2 victory over the Delta College Pioneers Monday night. The Norse took the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 28-26 before dropping the next two (26-28 and 20-25). They were able to come through in the end with a 15-9 win in the final set.
The Northern Michigan football team picked up right where they left off last week against St. Tomas, finding themselves in a back-and-forth game with GLIAC foe Davenport University on Saturday. Northern jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Davenport answered, making the score 7-3. NMU briefly reclaimed the lead with Noah Dobert's first touchdown of the afternoon. Ultimately, Davenport's explosive second half proved to be too much for the Wildcats, as the Panthers won 35-16.
Saturday was not Michigan Tech football's day as the No. 24 nationally-ranked Huskies fell to Upper Iowa 21-14 in front of almost 2,800 fans at Kearly Stadium for Homecoming. Michigan Tech (3-1) saw the defense record three turnovers and a 7-0 lead after the first quarter, but six penalties for 70 yards and a 21-point outburst in the second quarter by Upper Iowa (2-1) proved to be too much to overcome.
Senior running back Owen Gereau scored four touchdowns and Trevor Thorbahn scored twice as the Gladstone High School football team cruised past the Hancock Bulldogs, 57-8, on Braves Homecoming Friday night at the Marble Athletic Field.
The Northern Michigan University men's soccer team dropped its GLIAC season opener, falling 3-1 to the UW-Parkside Rangers, Friday in Marquette. In a fast paced first half, the Wildcats opened the scoring after Luca Rosen converted on a penalty kick just nine minutes into the contest. It was NMU's only goal of the game.
The NMU women's soccer team opened conference play by earning its first win of the Erin Egolf era, coming as a 4-2 decision over the Roosevelt Lakers. After a scoreless first hour of play, the floodgates opened in the second half, as the two teams combined for six goals in an explosive final half an hour.
The fall season is underway for 1,042 student athletes on 76 high schools teams participating in the Michigan State High School Clay Target League programs. The MISHSCTL is a part of the USA Clay Target League, which provides clay target shooting sports as an extracurricular activity to thousands of schools nationwide. There are two Upper Peninsula high school teams with students taking part in these actitivies: Escanaba and Norway High Schools.
Northern Michigan University announced Sunday that Steve Mariucci's No. 18 Wildcat football jersey willl be retired. The news was first revealed in a surprise video message from Mariucci's lifelong friend, Hall of Fame basketball coach and fellow NMU alum Tom Izzo, which aired on NFL Network's GameDay Morning on Sunday. Mariucci's jersey will be officially raised to the rafters of the Superior Dome on Saturday, October 11, as a highlight of NMU's 50th Anniversary Celebration honoring the Wildcats' historic 1975 National Championship team. Further details regarding the celebration weekend (October 9-11) can be found here.
Despite a tightly contested match throughout, the Northern Michigan volleyball team fell to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in straight sets, 22-25, 22-25, and 23-25. It was a highlight match for freshman Kaylie McIntosh, as she recorded 15 kills to lead all players. Her seven kills in the opening set were the most for a Wildcat in a single set so far this season. On the service line, Taylor Smaka impressed with five aces, tied for the second-most by a Wildcat over the last two seasons.
The Bay College Norse women's volleyball team split two matches at a triangular meet Saturday in Ironwood, falling to the Rainy River (Minn.) Voyageurs, 3-0 (18-25, 22-25, 23-25) before beating the host Gogebic Community College Samsons in a marathon match, 3-1 (25-11, 25-14, 27-29, 26-24).
The Northern Michigan football team held a 7-6 lead halfway through the fourth quarter against Division I St. Thomas, but two late touchdowns from the Tommies proved enough to down the Wildcats, 20-7. It is NMU's 25th straight football loss over the past three seasons.
The Michigan Tech football team once again used a full team effort to move to 3-0 on the season, securing a 34-21 victory over Hillsdale at Frank "Muddy" Waters Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Kingsford Flivvers football team jumped to a big early lead and cruised to a 25-13 win over the Gladstone Braves Friday night at the Marble Athletic Field. The game was played in Gladstone because major renovations at Flivver Field are not yet completed. Flivver senior quarterback Jack Kriegl, a Michigan Tech University recruit, rushed for a touchdown on the ground and threw two touchdown passes in the win. Kingsford's defense also scored four points on a pair of safeties.
The Escanaba High School football team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 27-10 win over the defending conference champion Petoskey Northmen Friday night in Petokey. Senior quarterback Nolan Bink threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Brody Ison and one to Alex Stalboerger. Senior placekicker Graham Johnson kicked a school-record 42-yard field goal in the win.
The Rapid River High School volleyball team won its second match of the season Thursday night, outlasting the rival Mid Peninsula Wolverines, 3-2, in a marathon match at Mid Pen High School. The scores were 23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12. The Rockets program did not win a match in 2022, 2023, or 2024.
The NMU men's soccer team played tough regional foe and reigning GLVC Champions, the Lewis University Flyers, to a 0-0 draw in Illinois Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats remain unbeaten through their first three matches as they head into Sunday's clash against a winless Lake Erie squad.
The NMU women's soccer team dropped its first match of the season on Thursday, a 1-0 decision to the Northwood Timberwolves. With the loss, the Wildcats move to 0-1-2 overall to start the Egolf era, with one more regional match looming on the horizon this Saturday.
Northern Michigan University will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its 1975 NCAA Division II champion football team with several events for alumni and campus/community members Thursday, Oct. 9, through Saturday, Oct. 11. The Wildcats achieved the most remarkable turnaround in the history of NCAA or professional sports by following a winless season with a championship.
The Bay College Norse athletic department hosted a high school cross country meet on Saturday for the first time ever, using the Farmhouse course in Flat Rock, the same venue that hosted the MHSAA high school U.P. Finals several times in recent years. Negaunee's girls (pictured) and Gladstone's boys took the team trophies.
In a blustery Saturday afternoon matchup, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats men's soccer team secured its first win of 2025, downing the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils 2-1 to round out the opening weekend.
The Northern Michigan University football team could not break its losing streak on Saturday, losing to Northwood University, 23-18, in Midland. NMU has not son a game since late in the 2022 season. NMU has lost 24 straight football games, going back to the 2023 season.
The Negaunee High School football team used its strength in the trenches to overwhelm the Gladstone Braves, 25-2, in a high school football game Friday night at the Marble Athletic Field. It was a hard-hitting game all night by both teams, a typical Gladstone-Negaunee physical battle like so many others in this rivalry.
In a non-conference competition to open the 2025 season, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats faced off against the St. Cloud State Huskies Friday afternoon. Both teams tallied late in the second half, and the clash would end in a 1-1 draw.
The Michigan Tech football team once again used a full team effort to bask in victory with a 45-9 decision on the road over South Dakota Mine at O'Harra Stadium on a windy Thursday evening. Despite the long trek to the Mount Rushmore State, the Huskies were primed and ready from the jump, with the defense forcing a fumble on the first drive with defensive tackle Pierce Miller forcing a fumble on the Hardrockers second play of the day. The Black & Gold followed that up with a blocked punt by Desmond Mullen, tracked down by Kolby Hindenach for Michigan Tech's first touchdown, setting the tone for the night defensively.
The new-look Northern Michigan volleyball team opened up the 2025 season in grand fashion, defeating (RV) Wheeling University in four sets at the SpringHill Suites Invitational in the Sunshine State. The Wildcats dropped the opening set 17-25, but once the group got into rhythm and found its identity, the Green and Gold looked like they were in midseason form, winning the following three sets 25-21, 26-24, and 25-16.
The West Virginia University Mountaineers men's golf team finished what it started on Monday, cruising to a resounding victory at the Island Resort Collegiate at Sage Run. The Mountaineers followed up Sunday's 40-under par performance with another stellar performance on Monday, shooting 15-under par to finish the tournament with a sizzling 55-under par 809 to win the 54-hole event.
The Bay College Norse Volleyball Team (4-3) lost just one set in three matches this weekend, coming out of a Minnesota trip with three wins and riding the high of a four-match win streak. On Friday they swept Anoka-Ramsey Community College (1-5) in three straight sets, before doing the same to their hosts for the evening Century College (0-5). On Saturday they travelled to Inver Grove Heights and defeated Dakota County Technical College (2-3) three sets to one.
