2nd-quarter cave-in dooms Northern Michigan University Wildcats football team in 63-14 home loss to Saginaw Valley State
MARQUETTE — In only a figurative sense, the roof caved in on the Northern Michigan University football team over the final five minutes of the first half on Saturday afternoon.
Literally, that would’ve been a disaster in the indoor Superior Dome, but luckily it only looked that way on the scoreboard as the Wildcats lost their GLIAC opener, 63-14 to Saginaw Valley State.
NMU fell to 0-5 overall this season as it continues to look for its first win under the tutelage of second-year head coach Shane Richardson.
Things looked much better just past the halfway point of the second quarter when Northern freshman running back Jahi Wood, who was second in the conference in rushing yards entering the game, scored his first collegiate touchdown from 4 yards out with 7:03 left before halftime.
His short run culminated a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive that included a trio of penalties called on the Cardinals, two for pass interference and another for a personal foul.
That must’ve woken up this SVSU team that improved to 4-1 overall and was also playing its opening conference game. A week earlier, the Cardinals handled No. 15 Indianapolis 28-24.
Saginaw Valley proceeded to score four TDs in the final five minutes of the half to take an unassailable 42-7 lead at intermission.
The first TD in the streak came on a fairly typical four-play drive that ended with a 14-yard pass from SVSU quarterback Mason McKenzie to Joseph Walker with 4:50 left in the second. It included a 42-yard pass to Walker that also had a Northern roughing-the-passer penalty added in.
The next time NMU had the ball, Michael Karlen punted and the Cards’ Terrance Brown returned it 56 yards for a punt return TD, making it 28-7 3:23 before halftime.
The Wildcats got the ball back, but only held it for three plays when leading receiver Michael Love made a 21-yard catch before coughing it up and fumbling to SVSU’s DJ Voltz.
Despite taking over near midfield, the Cardinals needed 11 plays before punching it in again, this time on a 3-yard run by Braden Hill with 58 seconds to go to make it 35-7.
But Saginaw Valley wasn’t done. Northern took the ensuing kickoff, and on the first play from scrimmage, Wildcats QB Aidan Hoard was intercepted by the Cards’ Elijah Gordon, again near midfield.
Despite having just 44 seconds to work with, Saginaw got off two rushes before a 21-yard scoring strike went from McKenzie to RJ Manning with 18 ticks remaining.
By that time, NMU scoring the first TD of the second half made little impact on the final result.
Nevertheless, Northern made some nifty plays to score it, starting with Kade Manzo blocking an SVSU punt attempt from its own 16-yard line that set up the Wildcats at the Cards’ 3.
On the second play of the possession, Vince Martin scored his first collegiate TD on a 1-yard plunge, pulling Northern back to within 42-14 with 8:28 left in the third.
But the Wildcats wouldn’t get another first down until the final play of the period on a drive that stalled out on a failed fourth-down attempt at the SVSU 36 early in the fourth.
NMU had two more possessions that reached Cardinals’ territory, including an excellent scoring chance as time was running down. With 2:18 left, Saginaw Valley substitute QB Tanner Slazinski fumbled the ball and it was scooped up by the Wildcats’ Kennarius Chandler, who returned it 18 yards to the SVSU 12.
But Northern, which also brought in a sub QB in Duke Shovald, could only gain five yards and turned it over on downs at the SVSU 7 with 1:10 to go.
Though the Wildcats won one statistic — time of possession, 33:47 to 26:13 — almost all of the others told the story of this lopsided result.
SVSU outgained Northern 486-183, and for the first time this season, NMU lost the rushing battle, 251-64, as Wood was limited to 26 yards in 12 tries. Negaunee product and Wildcats redshirt freshman Nico Lukkarinen was limited to 16 yards on 13 rushes, while Hoard had the same 16 yards in four tries.
Meanwhile, the Cards’ Jaquon Howard rolled up 121 yards rushing in just seven attempts, which included second-half TD runs of 62 and 38 yards.
Hoard was limited to 8-of-23 passing for 114 yards and an interception, while Shovald was 1 of 5 for 5 yards and also a pick.
SVSU’s McKenzie completed 13 of 20 passes for 174 yards and three TDs, with Slazinski adding 3 of 4 for 61 yards and his own score.
Though Love had a fumble, he was also the only receiver on either side with 100 yards receiving, catching six passes for 103 yards. No other Wildcat had more than one catch and not for even 10 yards.
Defensively, Mitch Larkin led NMU with eight tackles, including a quarterback hurry, while Chandler had two tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Teammate Jason Coulter also had two tackles for loss; Justin Schiets a forced fumble; Manzo a blocked punt; Jacquille Brown, Andrew Stewart and Brady Redmer each a pass breakup; and Chance Bridgers a QB hurry.
The task won’t get any easier for Northern this weekend, when the Wildcats travel to Allendale to tackle undefeated and national No. 2 Grand Valley State for a 7 p.m. Saturday kickoff. On Saturday, the Lakers knocked off nearby rival Davenport 24-7.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.