Northern Michigan University's Noah Dobert holds the ball after a play during a recent Wildcats' game. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Not many other people can claim 243 as their lucky number.

But that could be the case for Northern Michigan University football player Noah Dobert, who gained that many yards in a game for the second time this season, each a win for the Wildcats.

And both of those performances earned the 5-foot-11, 197-pound redshirt freshman running back from Dearborn a player of the week honor, too, from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

For the second time in less than a month, Dobert was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week after leading NMU to victory, on Saturday a 47-45 quadruple-overtime win at Davenport. Three weeks earlier on Oct. 18, he led Northern to its first triumph since 2022, a 42-21 blowout of Roosevelt in suburban Chicago.

Playing Davenport in Grand Rapids this past weekend, Dobert had 33 carries to average 7.4 yards per attempt, scoring four rushing touchdowns and maybe most importantly, the difference-making 2-point conversion in the fourth OT that ended the game.

Scoring a TD in each of the first and second quarters and the first and second overtimes that ranged between one and 53 yards, he led a Wildcats’ rushing attack that accumulated 344 yards. He also made one pass catch for 13 yards.

The victory was tied for Northern’s longest game ever, matching a 4-OT loss to Tiffin in 2008, and snapped NMU’s six-game losing streak to Davenport, a team it hadn’t beaten since 2021.

In the Roosevelt game, he was joined by fellow back Jahi Wood, who rolled up 233 yards, as Northern produced a program-record 538 yards on the ground.

Dobert, who already led the GLIAC in rushing by more than a hundred yards entering Saturday, now has 1,250 yards, a 339-yard edge on his closest pursuer, Cephus Harris of Davenport, who happened to only have 43 yards on the ground in Saturday’s game.

Dobert’s yardage total is fourth in all of NCAA Division II, while his average of 125.0 yards per game ranks him fifth.

And his 11 rushing TDs are the most by any NMU back since the 14 scored by Jake Mayon in 2018, also the last time a Wildcat had rushed for 1,000 yards.

Interestingly, Mayon totaled a school-record 1,505 yards that year, meaning Dobert would need 256 yards in Northern’s final game of the season at 1 p.m. Saturday against Wayne State to break that mark.

While it might seem quite an uphill task, WSU is winless this season at 0-10 and has the third-worst rushing defense in the GLIAC, allowing 161.1 yards per game.

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