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Blown opportunity

NMU gridders collapse in fourth quarter, fall on road to Davenport

By Journal Sports Staff

CALEDONIA — For the past few seasons, the Northern Michigan University football team has struggled to finish teams off in the fourth quarter and emerge with victories.

Those problems continued Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats entered the fourth up by 15 points on undefeated Davenport, but ended up coughing up the lead and ended up going to overtime with the Panthers.

In the extra session after the Panthers scored the go-ahead touchdown on their first possession, NMU quarterback Latrell Giles found Benjamin Loutsis in the end zone for a 13-yard score to pull within one point of DU.

With a chance to force a second overtime by making the extra point, the Wildcats decided to gamble and go for two points and the win. However, Giles’ pass to Mayon fell incomplete and the Panthers emerged with a 31-30 victory.

The previous two weeks weren’t pleasant for the Wildcats (1-4) as they faced GLIAC powerhouses Grand Valley State and Ferris State on back-to-back weekends and were dealt two blowout losses.

However, for the majority of the game against Davenport (5-0), NMU was having its way with the nation’s top defense.

The Wildcats struck first with 5:03 remaining in the opening quarter when Giles scored on a 1-yard run. 10 seconds into the second quarter, the Panthers got on the board on a 25-yard field goal by Chris Ahmed to cut their deficit to 7-3 and the score stayed that way going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Northern kicker Daniel Riser extended his team’s advantage to 10-3 with an 18-yard field goal, but DU answered back two minutes later with a short touchdown run from quarterback Haiden Majewski.

NMU blocked Ahmed’s extra point attempt though and stayed ahead 10-9.

The Wildcats took control of the game for the rest of the quarter as running back Jake Mayon put them up 17-9 with a 24-yard touchdown, and with 2:31 remaining, linebacker Alex Hamilton returned a DU fumble for a 33-yard touchdown. With Riser’s extra point, NMU held what looked like a secure 24-9 lead heading into the fourth.

However, things fell apart after that. With 7:45 left in the game, DU’s Nate Couturier returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown and with three minutes left, Majewski found Michael Catching in the end zone for an 18-yard score. With the 2-point conversion, the game was now tied at 24-24.

The Panthers had a chance to win the game in regulation, but NMU’s Trevor Roberts blocked Ahmed’s field goal attempt to force the game into overtime.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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