———————-

MARQUETTE — They scored enough points to win plenty of ball games, but on Saturday, the Northern Michigan University football team found itself on the short end of a 44-27 decision in its homecoming game to Alma at the Superior Dome.

A pair of former Marquette County high school stars contributed mightily to the high score of the game.

NMU’s Nico Lukkarinen, a redshirt freshman after starring at Negaunee High School, twice ran it in the end zone for his Wildcats.

Northern Michigan University’s Jax Hertel yells after making a big tackle in the first quarter of the Wildcats’ homecoming football game against Alma at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

Countering that was the Scots’ Ty Lotterman, a past star receiver at Marquette Senior High School, as he made a pair of pass catches for touchdowns as a senior at Alma.

Northern (0-4) was down 30-10 at halftime but clawed its way back within 10 points twice in the second half. A fumble recovery touchdown early in the fourth quarter by Alma (2-1), however, proved to be too much for the home team to overcome.

NMU head coach Shane Richardson expressed frustration with the Wildcats’ first-half performance even while he was proud of their second-half effort.

“Our problem was just execution in the first half,” he said. “We really made some blunders and did some uncharacteristic things, where you can’t put yourself in a hole like that if you want to win the game and be successful.

“I just challenged them at halftime by saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep playing with effort. We’re going to want to get the execution cleaned up. But don’t let your body language and your sense of wanting to go out there and play hard and still believe in what we’re doing….’

Northern Michigan University’s Nico Lukkarinen runs for daylight in the Wildcats’ homecoming football game against Alma at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

“And they took that, you know, to heart.”

Opening the scoring was the Scots, an NCAA Division III power ranked in the national top 20 and coming off a D-III playoff appearance a year ago.

They scored after capping off a 12-play, 65-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Colin Coffey barely four minutes into the game. Even with a 2-point failure, Alma still led 6-0.

Following an NMU punt, Jordan Williams would again find the end zone for Alma, extending its lead to 13-0 by the end of the first quarter.

NMU got on the scoreboard in the first few minutes of the second quarter when Lukkarinen powered his way in from two yards out. With Michael Karlen’s extra-point kick, the Alma lead was cut to 13-7.

The Scots responded with a 36-yard field goal by Joshua Hernandez, then with 4:47 left before halftime, a 78-yard bomb of a touchdown pass to Lotterman.

While the Wildcats had their own answer with a Karlen 36-yard field goal, Alma had one more TD left in its first-half arsenal, another Lotterman TD catch of five yards in the final minute before intermission.

Now Northern was staring down a 30-10 deficit at halftime.

But in the second half, NMU’s defense stepped up and was able to hold Alma scoreless through the entire third quarter and half of the fourth.

“I think we did a really good job in the second half,” Richardson said. “I was taking notes as the game was going on, and we had multiple, a handful of three-and-outs, and I thought we really did a good job to give the ball back to our offense, and I just liked how we were in rhythm on defense there in the second half.”

The Wildcats came out swinging to start the second half, spearheaded by their rushing attack. After the kickoff to open the second half, NMU ran eight straight plays before being forced to punt at midfield. While that didn’t produce points directly, it pinned Alma deep, and after the Scots went three-and-out, Northern took over at the Alma 39.

After a series of simple runs and an incomplete pass, Karlen set up and made a 22-yard field goal to cut it to 30-13 with 4:14 left in the third.

The NMU defense again forced the Scots into a three-and-out after the ensuing kickoff, setting up NMU near midfield.

This time, Lukkarinen and freshman Jahi Wood made sure they would fully cash in, running three times before the fourth consecutive rush produced Lukkarinen’s 22-yard scoring run through the middle. With Karlen’s extra point, NMU had pulled within 30-20 with four ticks left in the third.

After Alma’s third straight three-and-out — all of their second-half possessions up to that point — NMU took over at its own 33 with 14:22 to go.

But on the first play of the possession, the Wildcats’ Austin Ridl, like Lotterman an MSHS product, was playing quarterback when he lost the ball on a fumble to Alma’s Brock Beaudrie, who returned it 31 yards for a touchdown.

Earlier in the half, Ridl had come into the game, gaining 14 yards on the ground in five carries and throwing an incomplete pass in relief of starting QB Aidan Hoard.

Hoard re-entered the game and did lead NMU to a TD two quick possessions later, when on the first play of the possession, he threw a 60-yard scoring strike to Michael Love. With Karlen’s extra point, NMU was again back within 10 points, 37-27.

After forcing five consecutive three-and-outs to start the second half, the Northern defense finally bent starting near the midpoint of the final period. Alma put together an 84-yard drive, culminated by a 23-yard TD pass from St. Johns to Ryan McNiff.

With just 4:21 remaining, the 44-27 deficit was just too much for the Wildcats to overcome.

NMU was outgained like it has been every game this season, but not by a huge amount, Alma holding a 469-340 yardage advantage. The Wildcats again outrushed their opponents, 176-150, while the Scots rolled up 319 yards through the air.

Wood had 78 yards rushing in 18 attempts, while Lukkarinen had 71 yards in just nine tries, including his two TDs.

Hoard was 9 of 23 passing for 164 yards, a TD and two interceptions. Love caught four of those passes for 107 yards, while Isaac Olson had two catches for 31 yards.

Ridl was 0 of 1 passing and finished with 14 yards rushing in seven attempts.

Alma QB St. John finished 20 of 33 for 315 yards and four TDs, two of them going to Lotterman, who had six receptions in all for 145 yards.

Teammate Broderick Miller had four catches for 51 yards and Ryan McNiff three snags for 50 yards.

Eddie Williams led Scots rushers with 65 yards in 14 tries as St. John gained 50 yards in 10 rushes.

Jax Hertel and Adam Saleh led Northern defenders with nine tackles apiece, while Tim Shannon Jr. had six tackles to go with two pass breakups.

Teammates Justin Schiets and Rashad Harris each had a tackle for loss as Schiets also had a quarterback hit, while Chance Bridgers had a QB sack and another tackle for loss, the pair of wrapups totaling a minus-eight yards.

The Wildcats get a week off to lick their wounds before jumping into what will be GLIAC competition for the rest of the fall season, starting with a home game against Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Caden Sierra can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 551. His email address is csierra@nmu.edu.