Nico Lukkarinen

MARQUETTE — Year 2 hasn’t started so well in the Shane Richardson era in Northern Michigan University football.

After suffering through an 0-11 season last fall, the Wildcats fell in their season opener 35-7 at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth in NMU’s Superior Dome in Marquette on Thursday evening.

Last year, Richardson began his Northern career suffering a 47-10 loss to the same Bulldogs in Duluth, Minnesota.

This time around, the Wildcats made a game of it for one half before UMD starting racing away in the third quarter.

NMU trailed just 13-0 at halftime, though by game’s end, the Bulldogs held a huge 562-112 advantage in total yards as Northern committed the only turnover of the game.

Duluth was particularly potent when relying on the arm of quarterback Kyle Walljasper, who threw for four touchdowns in the first three quarters before he gave way to backup Jacob Eggert.

Despite not getting in a full game under center, Walljasper completed 19 of 27 passes for 312 yards and TDs of 12 yards to Ryder Peterson in the first quarter, 40 yards to DaShaun Ames in the second quarter, and 7 yards to Daniel Mitchell and 10 yards to Sam Pitz in the third.

The Bulldogs had already built a 35-0 lead before NMU broke through on the scoreboard for the first time this season with 4:55 left when Michael Love caught a 15-yard scoring strike from QB Aidan Hoard.

NMU opened auspiciously with a stout defensive effort.

After Duluth took the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs made a first down on a 28-yard Walljasper pass to Derrick Johnson to move into Northern territory.

But four downs later, the Wildcats’ Adam Saleh made his second tackle of the possession, taking down Walljasper for a 5-yard gain on 4th-and-10 to end the drive at the Northern 32. The Wildcats’ Jhermari Mabry also had a 5-yard sack of Walljasper two plays earlier.

Then on the third play of NMU’s ensuing possession, Hoard threw his interception to UMD’s Jarrett Bennett as the latter returned the pick to the Northern 40.

The Bulldogs marched down to score with 5:51 left in the first quarter, and after Curt Cox’s failed extra-point kick, Duluth led 6-0.

After four Northern possessions failed to mount much offense, UMD got its second score with under two minutes left in the first half. Cox’s extra point made it 13-0 at intermission.

Things went downhill for the Wildcats in the second half, however, as the Bulldogs scored on their first three possessions following the restart. They might’ve scored on the fourth except that the game ended with Duluth holding the ball inside the NMU 5-yard line.

Northern did sustain a good drive in the middle of the third, moving the ball just past midfield before giving it up on downs.

The Wildcats’ late scoring drive was easily their best sustained offense, lasting 13 plays and more than seven minutes despite going just 56 yards as NMU converted on fourth down twice.

Hoard threw a 5-yard pass to Jake Heemstra on 4th-and-4 from midfield, then the Bulldogs’ were called for pass interference on fourth down at the UMD 30.

Northern’s Mitch Larkin picked up right where he left off a year ago when he led the GLIAC in tackles. On Thursday, he had a game-high 11 tackles, nine in the first half. Tim Shannon had nine, while Mabry finished with a pair of tackles for loss, including his early QB sack.

Hoard threw all of NMU’s passes, going 6 for 16 for 56 yards and a pickoff. Negaunee High School graduate Nico Lukkarinen had a single catch for 17 yards while gaining another 20 yards on the ground in 10 attempts.

The Wildcats were whistled for just one penalty and punter Owen Halverson averaged 42.6 yards per boot as he was busy making seven of those kicks, his longest 60 yards and another that landed inside the UMD 5.

NMU will break new ground this week, playing another Thursday night game against a brand-new opponent, Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro, Kentucky, at 7 p.m.

This will be the season opener for the Panthers of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, which includes former GLIAC members Northwood, Hillsdale, Ashland, Findlay, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican, Tiffin and Malone. Last year, Kentucky Wesleyan went 4-7.

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