NMU football loses home opener to Tiffin, 35-7
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MARQUETTE -- A solid start by the Northern Michigan University football team fizzled in the second half as Tiffin scored a 35-7 nonconference victory at the Superior Dome on Saturday evening.
The Wildcats slipped to 0-2 after their home opener for this season and for new head coach Matt Janus.
NMU was outgained slightly more than 2 to 1, 454 to 222 yards, and also committed the game's only two turnovers.
Nevertheless, Northern pulled even at 7-7 with a Noah Dobert 11-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter and kept the game tied until the final five minutes of the opening half.
But the Dragons kept their hosts from scoring again, meanwhile tacking on two TDs barely more than four minutes apart late in the first half, then getting two short scoring runs in the second half to pull away.
Dobert tried to keep the Wildcats' offense afloat by gaining 113 yards rushing in 18 carries, a 6.3-yard-per-carry average, along with one pass catch for nine yards.
NMU was outgained on the ground, though not by a large margin, 187-149.
But the Northern passing game that started to emerge in the opener at Minnesota State-Moorhead went back into the slumber that has plagued it the past several seasons.
On this day, the Wildcats gained just 73 yards through the air compared to 267 for Tiffin (1-1), Duke Shovald and Liam Oczkowski combining to go 9 of 20 for 72 yards with an interception. With Dobert adding a completion on a single halfback pass for one yard, Shovald was 4 of 10 for 46 yards and a pickoff, while Oczkowski was 5 of 10 for 26 yards.
On the other side of the field, the Dragons QB Kyle Antoine went 21 for 30 for 267 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. Running back Cane Mack also had one attempt that was incomplete for a team 21-of-31 day.
Tiffin's Ronald Blackman stayed close with Dobert, gaining 104 yards on the ground with a TD on 13 carries.
Sebastian Boyea and Trevor Theuerkauf were Northern's top receivers, Boyea catching three balls for 34 yards and Theuerkauf, a Menominee product, making four catches for 20 yards.
Meanwhile, Antoine was spreading the ball all around, with six players making at least two receptions for at least 25 yards, even as leader Sayeed Garnett led with only four catches for 62 yards.
For Northern's defense, GLIAC First Team returnee Jax Hertel shared top tackling honors with Logan McGraw, each with seven and each with five of them solo.
While McGraw and Luc Damiani each had a pass breakup, teammate Jace Miller actually swatted away three those throws.
Six Wildcats each shared in a half tackle for a loss -- Miller, Murphy Monreal, Tyler Carnell, Isaiah Jones, Joc Hamilton and Jake Price.
NMU's Xavier Wade was also credited with a forced fumble.
Statistics mirrored the Wildcats' strong start that went awry as the first half wore on. Northern held Tiffin to just 58 yards in a scoreless first quarter, but the Dragons rolled up 213 yards in quarter No. 2 while scoring three TDs for a 21-7 halftime advantage.
After the teams exchanged punts on each of their first possessions of the evening, Shovald was intercepted on the first play of NMU's second time with the ball. The Dragons' Jeremiah Moore made his pickoff near midfield on a drive that started at the Northern 35-yard line.
Tiffin took the ball and moved to Wildcat 31 before Antoine tried to run for first down on 4th-and-7 and came up short with 5:06 left in the opening period.
But the next time the Dragons got hold of the ball, they marched 77 yards and scored on a big play, an Antoine-to-Trey West 52-yard deep pass for a TD on the first play of the second quarter.
Then NMU answered immediately, taking the ensuing kickoff with Noah Hofmann returning it 27 yards to his own 37. That set up Shovald in decent field position, and with Dobert making three runs for 17 yards, including the TD run, this QB completed four of five passes for another 46 yards.
After Mason Bratonia kicked the extra point, the teams were tied 7-7 with 11:07 left in the half.
Tiffin took over and marched into Northern territory, but on 4th-and-1, Hertel made a tackle on Blackman for no gain to end that possession.
After Northern went three and out and Tiffin returned the punt to the NMU 33 -- with help from an illegal block in the back penalty -- Blackman turned the first play of its possession into a 36-yard scoring run with 4:19 left in the second quarter.
Another three-and-out by the Wildcats set the Dragons up again. This time, though, they were at their own 30 and needed 11 plays before Antoine completed a 2-yard pass to Joey Zalewski to make it 21-7 just 14 ticks before intermission.
Tiffin tacked on another TD on its second possession of the third quarter when Cane Mack plunged in from one yard out, then on the first play of the final period, the Dragons' Daniel Weems scored on a 7-yard scamper for the final points.
The Wildcats' task likely won't get any easier this Saturday when they travel to St. Paul, Minnesota, to take on NCAA Division I St. Thomas at 2 p.m. EDT. The Tommies are 1-1 as a relatively new squad to Division I, having defeated D-II Winona State in its opener 15-9 and getting pummeled at nationally ranked North Dakota 62-26 on Saturday.
Tiffin 35, NMU 7
Saturday at Superior Dome, Marquette
Score by quarters:
Tiffin 0 21 7 7 -- 35
Northern Michigan 0 7 0 0 -- 7
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
TIF -- Trey West 52 pass from Kyle Antoine (Ben Rudolph kick) 14:51
NMU -- Noah Dobert 11 run (Mason Bratonia kick) 11:07
TIF -- Ronald Blackman 36 run (Rudolph kick) 4:19
TIF -- Joey Zalewski 2 pass from Antoine (Rudolph kick) 0:14
Third quarter
TIF -- Cane Mack 1 run (Rudolph kick) 2:32
Fourth quarter
TIF -- Daniel Weems 7 run (Rudolph kick) 14:56
Game statistics
First downs -- Tiffin 25, NMU 17
Total plays-net yards -- Tiffin 68-454, NMU 55-222
Rushes-yards -- Tiffin 37-187 (Blackman 13-104), NMU 34-149 (Dobert 18-113, Liam Oczkowski 11-32)
Comp-Att-Int-Yards -- Tiffin 21-31-0-267 (Antoine 21-30-0-267, Mack 0-1-0-0), NMU 10-21-1-73 (Duke Shovald 4-10-1-46, Oczkowski 5-10-0-26, Dobert 1-1-0-1)
Top receivers -- Tiffin, Sayeed Garnett 4-62, West 2-47, Zalewski 4-29; NMU, Sebastian 3-34, Trevor Theuerkauf 4-20
Punts-average -- Tiffin 2-46.5, NMU 5-39.0
Fumbles-lost -- Tiffin 1-0, NMU 1-1
Penalties-yards -- Tiffin 9-62, NMU 6-57
Time of possession -- Tiffin 31:34, NMU 28:26
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Northern Michigan University's Noah Dobert, right, uses some fancy footwork to get into the end zone for a touchdown in the second quarter during a college football game played against Tiffin at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Camps)