Saginaw Valley 24, Wayne State 7 - (Thursday)

Despite being out-gained and out-possessed, Wayne was in this one more than one might think. The first two Cardinal TD's came on drives totaling a mere 27 yards as a pair of Warrior special teams mistakes set SV up with short fields. "Gifts" or no, SV did what solid teams do and that's cash in on opportunities and the Cards used those and one of their better defensive games of the year to notch the home win on national TV. Two of Jon Jennings 29 completions went for scores, and the SV running game was sound (Tim Hogue, 101 yds; Ronnie Lark, 92 yds, TD) as the Cardinals led throughout. Toney Davis had 154 yards and a score for the Warriors in defeat.


Northern Michigan 38, Grand Valley 10

A midweek injury to Isiah Grimes pressed Brandon Beitzel into his first collegiate start at QB for the Lakers...and it didn't go well as four interceptions later Grand Valley only mustered 10 points and were seemingly never in the game in Marquette. Injuries at the QB position aside, Grand Valley's defensive woes persisted as they allowed multiple 100-yard rushers for the second straight week in Wildcat QB Cody Scepaniak (115 yds, 2 TD) and Casey Cotta (130 yds, 2 TD). Perhaps more alarming is the fact that Northern had only amassed 300+ yards of total offense twice in their six previous games this year, and yet they were able to generate 462 yards on Saturday. If that weren't enough, their 38 points were more than double (17) their highest output against D2/GLIAC opponents this year. With GV's remaining schedule containing teams that all have winning records, one has to wonder what can be done to avoid an epic tailspin. Kirk Spencer had his third straight outstanding game running the ball for GV with 145 yards on only 13 carries.


Lake Erie 35, Malone 24

After watching their 14-point first quarter advantage disappear, Lake Erie found themselves trailing late in the third. The Storm then rallied for two consecutive touchdown drives to grab their second straight win. Brandon Phenix led the way for LEC with 145 yards and a TD on the ground, but let's not overlook Brendan Gallagher's performance at QB. Taking over at the controls for Patrick Nicely, Gallagher threw a pair of TD passes, was not intercepted, and found the end zone twice more on the ground.


Ashland 30, Walsh 0

Another ho-hum day for the Eagles...virtually mistake-free on both sides of the ball, and another lop-sided victory. Taylor Housewright threw for 300 yards on the button, with 101 one of those yards and both of his scoring tosses going to Anthony Capasso. Jordan McCune also found the end zone twice on the afternoon via the ground for AU. The biggest star of the day, however, may well have been the Eagle defense who thoroughly stifled the Walsh O in allowing only 116 total yards...and that's without forcing a turnover. You don't see that very often. Kudos to the Eagle D's terrific performance, led by Cody Bloom's nine total tackles.


Michigan Tech 28, Northwood 21

This game suffered a case of the "sloppies" as both teams turned it over a bunch. Northwood was the first to cash in on the mistakes taking advantage of a short field (thanks to a fumble) to grab an early lead. The Woodies then built that lead into a 14-point advantage at the break. The Huskies were a bit cleaner in the second half, however, including Tyler Scarlett leading a pair of scoring drives in the last seven minutes of the game as Tech defended their home field and stayed tied atop the North standings. Scarlett threw TD passes to Matt Curtin and Brian LaChappelle to lead the way. Northwood QB Aaron Shavers threw two TD passes to Carrington Thompson in the loss, but NU's ground attack was held well below its season average by the MTU defense. The lack of leading rusher Cameron Jackson likely had a hand there as well.


Tiffin 27, Notre Dame 22

"Pitts to Dykes" was the order of the day as the Dragons never trailed and notched their first GLIAC win in more than four years. Tiffin QB Dan Pitts threw three TD passes on the afternoon (two to Jeremy Ortiz), and Obadiah Dykes was his favorite target as the wide-out hauled in 10 aerials for 194 yards and a TD. Pedro Powell had 117 yards and a TD for the Falcons in the loss.


Hillsdale 30, Ferris 20

Last week against Wayne, Hillsdale lost the turnover battle 4-1. Yesterday in Big Rapids, the Chargers won that battle 3-1 and that helped them survive the "game of runs" and stay atop the North. Much like an NBA game, these two traded scoring spurts to net the final result. Hillsdale rattled-off 14 straight in the opening quarter, only to watch Ferris blow by them with 20-point burst. The Chargers closed it out from there scoring 16 unanswered over the final 22 minutes to net the win. Anthony Mifsud was decidedly cleaner in the passing game in this one (threw for a TD, ran for another), but HC got back to basics and just fed it to Joe Glendening all afternoon. The senior RB carried it 36 times for 171 yards and two TD's to lead the way. Ferris QB Jason VanderLaan continued his excellent season with 129 yards and two TD's rushing to pace the Bulldogs.


Ohio Dominican 63, Findlay 31

I talked in my preview post that I had a "hunch" that ODU would make this one interesting. With that in mind, the fact that they won this game is hardly surprising. What made my jaw hit the floor was the lopsided manner in which they did it. This was a see-saw battle for the first 40 minutes or so, with ODU leading by only four midway through the third quarter. The Panthers basically ran away and hit after that, leveraging five consecutive TD-scoring drives in the second half to blow-out the homestanding Oilers. ODU RB Brandon Schoen continued his breakout season with 162 yards and two TD's on the ground, but despite 320 rushing yards for the Panthers in total I think I'm more impressed by what they did via the air. QB Mark Miller had his best game of the year hitting on 12-19 for 230 yards and four TD's, with two of those scoring tosses finding Ronald McCloud (5 rec, 104 yds). In the loss, Monterae Williams had 162 yards and TD on the ground. The senior RB is now only seven yards shy of becoming Findlay's all-time leading rusher.