The Northern Michigan University defense, left, lines up for a play against the Davenport offense in a GLIAC football game played in the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University football team got off to a good start before Davenport started piling up touchdowns later on to take a 35-16 victory in the Wildcats’ Homecoming game played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday afternoon.

NMU fell to 0-4 this season in its first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game, also losing its 26th straight game since head coach Shane Richardson took over the reins to start the 2023 season.

Also playing its opening GLIAC game, Davenport (2-1) grabbed the lead for good with a three-touchdown second quarter, then put away the result with two more in the final period.

Some of Northern’s old bugaboos popped up again. The Wildcats turned the ball over three times while Davenport never lost the handle on it once. And NMU’s passing game came up missing as it did on several occasions the past two years.

On Saturday, the Wildcats put together a solid 278-yard rushing effort in 59 attempts, but added not a single yard through the air. Quarterbacks Duke Shovald and Marquette Senior High School graduate Austin Ridl combined to go 0 for 5 passing, with Ridl making two interceptions.

Meanwhile, Davenport QB D’Wan Mathis completed 12 of 20 passes for 211 yards, a TD and no pickoffs.

Shovald and Ridl contributed to NMU’s rushing attack that was led by Noah Dobert gaining 156 yards in 23 carries. Ridl had 39 yards in 15 tries, Jahi Wood 28 yards in 12 attempts, Shovald 23 yards in two rushes and Negaunee High School product Nico Lukkarinen 17 yards in three tries.

Shovald was listed as going down with an injury in the second quarter, prompting the call for Ridl.

Cephus Harris accounted for nearly all of Davenport’s 181-yard rushing total due to some losses on other players’ carries. He had 171 yards in 11 attempts.

On defense for Northern, Mitch Larkin led the Wildcats with 10 tackles, five of them solo, in addition to adding a tackle for a 22-yard loss, a blocked kick and a quarterback hurry.

Jax Hertel and Jaylen Houston were credited with 1 1/2 tackles for loss, Hertel adding in two QB hurries, while Jeremiah Gossett had a pair of pass breakups.

The game started well for the Wildcats, with the defense forcing DU into a three-and-out after the opening kickoff. Even better was Larkin’s block on the ensuing punt, which meant the boot only traveled 14 yards.

NMU took over at the Panthers’ 44-yard-line and while only making one first down, was enough to set up Michael Karlen with a 44-yard field goal that he knocked through the goalposts with less than four minutes gone.

While Davenport didn’t have an official turnover all game, the Panthers did turn the ball over on downs on its next possession after driving it downfield to inside the NMU 10.

The drive ended with Northern’s Houston making one of his tackles for a loss, this one an 11-yard throwback that also helped get his team’s offense out of the shadow of its own goalposts.

With this Wildcats possession moving into the start of the second quarter, NMU got to around midfield before punting.

DU took over, and after a run for no gain to open the possession, Mathis completed back-to-back passes of 45 and 48 yards, the second for a TD to Evan Brown that gave the visitors a 7-3 lead.

Things still went well for the Wildcats, with the offense after the ensuing kickoff moving the ball 75 yards in six plays, capped off by Dobert’s 32-yard TD run. In fact, he gained the final 53 yards in the drive on three straight running plays. Karlen added the extra point as NMU retook a 10-7 advantage.

Then things started going south for the Wildcats.

DU took the ensuing kickoff and needed just two plays to get the lead back after Harris ran up the middle for a 57-yard TD with 8:29 left in the first half. The extra point put the Panthers back on top 14-10.

Dobert fumbled the ball away with 2:27 left in the second quarter as Northern was driving on its next possession in Davenport territory.

The Panthers’ offense wouldn’t be slowed, driving 64 yards after Harris scored on a 9-yard run with 1:11 left before halftime that made it 21-10.

The teams traded possessions without scoring to start the third quarter, though Davenport left NMU in the catbird’s seat when it muffed the snap on a punt attempt to set up Northern near the red zone.

Even better was Dobert running in for a 22-yard TD on the first play, though with a failed 2-point conversion attempt, the Wildcats trailed 21-16 with 7:39 left in the third.

The quarter ended that way, but NMU not only failed to score again, but gave up a pair of fourth-quarter TDs.

The first of those scores came on the first play of the period. Karlen’s punt was blocked and run back by Davenport’s Kevin Underwood 24 yards for a TD. With the extra point, it was 28-16.

The Panthers also scored the next time they touched the ball on another big play — Harris ran the first play of the possession 80 yards for the backbreaker TD that made it 35-16.

Ridl, known more as a running QB, was forced to put the ball in the air in an attempt to erase the three-score deficit, and that’s when he threw his interceptions on each of the Wildcats’ final two possessions.

NMU hits the road this Saturday with a 2 p.m. game at Saginaw Valley State. The following Saturday, Oct. 11, Northern is back home for the 50th anniversary celebration of its 1975 national championship team and retirement of QB Steve Mariucci’s jersey. The opposition will be Grand Valley State for a 7 p.m. contest.

Davenport 35, NMU 16

Score by quarters:

Davenport 0 21 0 14 — 35

Northern Michigan 3 7 6 0 — 16

First quarter

NMU — Michael Karlen 44 FG 11:18

Second quarter

DAV — Evan Brown 48 pass from D’Wan Mathis (Ian Jenkins kick) 11:58

NMU — Noah Dobert 32 run (Karlen kick) 9:15

DAV — Cephus Harris 57 run (Jenkins kick) 8:29

DAV — Harris 9 run (Jenkins kick) 1:11

Third quarter

NMU — Dobert 22 run (run failed) 7:46

Fourth quarter

DAV — Kevin Underwood 24 blocked punt return (Jenkins kick) 14:53

DAV — Harris 80 run (Jenkins kick) 11:43

Game statistics

First downs — Davenport 16, NMU 17

Total plays-net yards — Davenport 52-392, NMU 64-278

Rushes-yards — Davenport 32-181 (Harris 11-171), NMU 59-278 (Dobert 23-156)

Comp-Att-Int-Yards — Davenport, Mathis 12-20-0-211, NMU 0-5-2-0 (Duke Shovald 0-2-0-0, Austin Ridl 0-3-2-0)

Top receivers — Davenport, Keonta Nixon 2-53, George Sims 3-46; NMU, none

Punts-average — Davenport 3-26.7, NMU 4-30.0

Fumbles-lost — Davenport 0-0, NMU 1-1

Penalties-yards — Davenport 4-35, NMU 1-15

Time of possession — Davenport 24:30, NMU 35:30

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.