Northern Michigan University running back Nico Lukkarinen, center, looks for daylight around teammate Jake Heemstra against Minnesota-Duluth on Aug. 29 at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Northern Michigan University football team again played much of the first half evenly against an opponent before falling behind and dropping to 0-3 this season.

On Saturday, the Wildcats lost 35-21 at NCAA Division III power Wisconsin-La Crosse, a school that was ranked No. 6 in the nation in its division and reached the quarterfinals of the D-III playoffs last year before losing to eventual runner-up North Central College.

NMU goes for its first win in head coach Shane Richardson’s regime at 1 p.m. Saturday when another Division III power, Alma, comes to town for Northern’s homecoming. The Scots are 1-1 this season and were 12-1 last year as, like La Crosse, they reached the D-III quarterfinals.

On Saturday, the Wildcats evened the game 7-7 before the first quarter was half over, with the score staying that way until the final six minutes of the first half, when the Eagles scored twice to take control.

This time around, turning the ball over plagued Northern as it fumbled the ball five times, losing three of them.

The Wildcats played a much more even game going by yardage, only being outgained 443-405 after losing that battle by large margins in its first two games.

NMU again held sway with its rushing attack, gaining 269 yards in 43 carries, a 6.3 yards-per-rush average and the most yards rushing by the Wildcats in a single game since 2018.

La Crosse only had 103 yards on the ground, but made up for it with a lethal passing attack, gaining 340 yards through the air on 23 of 30 passes even with the game’s only interception.

After the Eagles opened the scoring less than four minutes in on a Gabe Lynch 2-yard touchdown run, NMU needed barely 90 seconds to answer. Facing third down-and-2 at their own 23-yard line, Northern running back Elizin Rouse broke loose for a 77-yard TD scamper, and with Michael Karlen’s extra-point kick, tied the game 7-7.

The big run was the cornerstone of Rouse’s 137 yards rushing as that was nearly half of the Wildcats’ run total.

Jahi Wood added 91 yards in 14 rushes, while Negaunee High School product Nico Lukkarinen finished with 21 yards in five rushing attempts.

Wood also had three pass catches for 47 yards, while Michael Love made 45 yards in his trio of receptions as quarterback Aidan Hoard was 8 of 18 passing for 118 yards.

Love, however, caught TD passes of 29 and 12 yards from Hoard in the second half as the Wildcats tried to get back in the game. This marked the first multi-TD performance by both the QB and receiver in their collegiate careers.

After Rouse’s big run, neither team scored on its next two possessions. In that time, NMU’s Adam Saleh intercepted a Zach Weir pass on the first play of the second quarter, stopping a La Crosse drive dead at NMU’s 30.

Northern looked like it would convert the turnover into the lead, driving the ball down to the Eagles’ 8 before a 3-yard loss followed by a Lukkarinen lost fumble ended that possession.

La Crosse turned it around and drove 89 yards in six plays, capped off by QB Kyle Haas’ 40-yard score with 6:01 left in the first half that gave the Eagles the lead for good.

Converting another NMU lost fumble, this time by Rouse at his own 30, La Crosse tacked on another TD with just 15 seconds left in the half on a 6-yard Haas run to make it 21-7 at intermission.

The Eagles took the second-half kickoff and scored on that, too, this time with 63-yard throw from Weir to Jack Studer to make it 28-7.

NMU answered on its ensuing possession, this one a five-play drive ending with Hoard’s 29-yard TD toss to Love that kept the Wildcats in the game at 28-14 with 11:03 left in the third.

La Crosse then put together the backbreaker later in the quarter. The Eagles ground out a nearly eight-minute drive in 15 plays that began at their own 4. Braedon Ott punched it in on a 6-yard pass catch from Weir to make it a three-score game again, 35-14.

Northern’s offense was mostly thwarted after that, managing three first downs in its next three possessions. Then with about 5 1/2 minutes to go, Love returned a La Crosse punt 30 yards, and with a 15-yard penalty tacked on, the Wildcats were set up at the Eagles’ 41.

Six plays later, five of them passes, Love caught another TD pass from Hoard, this one for 12 yards that made it 35-21.

NMU was only able to get the ball back one more time, and that ended with a fourth-down incomplete pass with 2:02 left.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.