DETROIT – The message expressed to the Northern Michigan University football team at the start of the season was “finish.”

For the most part this year, the Wildcats have done that, but that wasn’t the case Saturday against Wayne State.

Down by 11, the Warriors rallied for 14 points and scored the winning touchdown with 36 seconds left in the game to hand NMU a 34-31 loss.

The Wildcats fell to 4-3 (3-3 GLIAC) on the year, and remain winless on the road.

Quarterback Shaye Brown led NMU with 344 yards passing and three touchdowns. Defensively, NMU was led by L.J. Liston, who had 10 tackles.

The winning score came on a 7-yard pass from WSU quarterback D.J. Zezula to Will Wheat after the Warriors got two Paul Graham field goals to pull within five points of NMU.

The game was a back-and-forth affair in the first half.

NMU got on the scoreboard first on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Marcus Tucker early in the first quarter, but WSU answered with a short touchdown run with 4:27 left in the frame.

The Wildcats took the lead again in the second quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Tyler Blackburn and took a 17-13 lead into the break on a 1-yard run by Edward Christian.

His touchdown was set up after NMU defensive back C.J. Washington forced a Wayne State fumble.

After the Warriors (3-4, 2-4)took a 20-17 advantage on a short touchdown run by Romello Brown (26 attempts for 157 yards) in the third quarter, NMU bounced back with two passing touchdowns from Brown.

The first was a 58-yard bomb to Keyondre Craig to give the Wildcats a 24-20 lead, and the second was a 12-yard strike to Paris Woods to put NMU up 11 at the end of the frame.

In the fourth, things fell apart for the Wildcats as WSU began its rally and pulled off the comeback win.

The Wildcats will try to extend their home winning streak to six when they take on Ashland (Ohio) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Superior Dome.

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