Northern Michigan University’s Nico Lukkarinen runs for daylight in the Wildcats’ homecoming football game against Alma at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Sept. 21. (Photo courtesy NMU)
HOUGHTON — The Northern Michigan University football team did a few things well at Kearly Field in Houghton on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to avert a 39-9 loss to Michigan Tech and hand the Miner’s Cup over to the Huskies for the 14th consecutive year.
Worse for the Wildcats, it left them at 0-8 this season and 0-4 in the GLIAC, and also 0-19 in Northern’s two seasons under head coach Shane Richardson. If there’s any glimmer of hope, the official GLIAC standings listing at gliac.org puts Wayne State behind NMU as each of those teams have identical 0-8 and 0-4 marks.
Northern plays WSU in Detroit to finish the season on Nov. 16, while this weekend’s game brings nationally ranked Ferris State, No. 2 in a recent NCAA Division II poll, to the Superior Dome for a 1 p.m. Saturday game.
On Saturday, the Wildcats forced four Tech turnovers while committing one themselves.
They held their own rushing the ball, being outgained in that area 162-123. Of course, the de-emphasized passing game meant the Huskies rolled up a big 257-87 yards advantage passing.
NMU also had the ball for about 37 1/2 minutes, over 15 minutes more than the Huskies, and committed one less penalty for 15 fewer yards.
But MTU finished with a 2-to-1 overall yardage edge, 419-210, and forced the Wildcats to take 10 punts while scoring the game’s only nonoffensive touchdown, a 78-yard punt return by Jaxon Lippert near the midpoint of the second quarter.
That was part of a 17-0 scoring streak by Tech in the second quarter after Northern tied the game 3-3 with a Michael Karlen 31-yard field just over a minute into the period.
It left the Wildcats in a 20-3 hole at halftime, one they couldn’t recover from.
The Huskies scored the only points of the first quarter on a 42-yard field goal by Avery Kucharaski before receiver Brandon Michalak scored his first of two TDs and Lippert got his big punt return in quarter No. 2. Kucharski tacked on a 39-yard three-pointer just 40 seconds before halftime.
Tech scored three more TDs to open the second half before the Wildcats answered with the game’s final points, a Tucker Welch 33-yard scoring run with 1:44 remaining.
It marked the longest run’s of Welch’s career and capped off an 11-play, 79-yard drive. This possession included an 18-yard pass from substitute quarterback Duke Shovald to Sam Peiffer, followed later by starting QB Aidan Hoard completing a 17-yarder to Isaac Olson.
Northern’s top yardage gainer was Negaunee High School product Nico Lukkarinen, who gained 75 yards rushing in 15 carries. Welch finished with 29 yards in six rushes, while freshman Jahi Wood added in 22 yards in nine tries.
The Wildcats, who didn’t complete a pass their previous two games, were 8 of 17 for 87 yards with no interceptions as Hoard was 5 of 10 for 59 yards and Shovald 3 of 7 for 28 yards. Olson was their top target, catching two pases for 30 yards.
Defensively for NMU, Jacquille Brown had both an interception and a fumble recovery to go with two pass breakups, while Kade Manzo also had an interception, Justin Peake a fumble recovery and Tyler Carnell a forced fumble.
Teammates Xavier Martinez and Kelby Key also had two pass breakups each, while Justin Schiets had a QB sack, Jhermari Mabry two tackles for loss, and Mabry and Jax Hertel had one QB hurry apiece. And Adam Saleh led Northern tacklers with 11, including seven solo, along with one tackle for loss and one pass breakup.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is [email protected].
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