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Another big outing: NMU switches to awesome air attack to beat Wayne St.

NMU switches to awesome air attack to beat Wayne St.

DETROIT -- This time, the Northern Michigan University football team didn't need an all-time performance from running back Noah Dobert to achieve victory.

Instead, freshman quarterback Matt Stevens almost passed his way into the all-time NCAA Division II record books in the Wildcats' 45-12 victory at Wayne State on Saturday afternoon.

This was an almost identical score to last year's 45-11 beatdown of the winless Warriors to end last season in the Superior Dome.

NMU is slowly climbing its way up the standings in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Northern improved to 2-7 overall and 2-3 in the conference, good for a three-way tie for fourth place with Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State.

The Wildcats only trail national No. 1 Ferris State at 5-0 (9-0 overall) and Michigan Tech (7-2) and Davenport (8-1) tied for second, each at 4-1.

Wayne State came out of this game winless at 0-9 overall and 0-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, but Dobert could "only" take credit for 125 rushing yards this time around after his crazy 406-yard performance last year. He did, however, punch the ball into the end zone for three touchdowns on Saturday.

While Northern's pass offense was almost nonexistent in last year's game -- 1 of 7 for 22 yards -- this time around, Stevens made his third career start a memorable one, completing his first 20 passes.

That set a program record, but he needed one more to tie the Division II all-time record of 21 in a row to start a game set by Jonn McLain of Chadron State in 2012.

Still, Stevens was magnificent in completing 26 of 27 (96.3%) for 405 yards and three touchdowns, one yard shy of Dobert's rushing total in 2025.

Interestingly, NMU QBs Duke Shovald and Liam Oczkowski in mop-up duty were even better than Stevens, at least by percentage of completions, as each was a perfect 2 of 2 for a total of another 50 yards.

In all, the trio found 10 receivers to throw to, with Wilson Ptacek leading the way with seven catches for 169 yards.

Jacob Halicek was next with six snags for 62 yards, including a TD, while Chris Battley had four snares for 53 yards.

Dobert gained his running yards in just 15 attempts, averaging 8.3 yards per rush, while Noah Hofmann had 33 yards in only four carries, an identical 8.3 yards per attempt.

In all, Northern rolled up 602 yards of offense while allowing the Warriors just 167.

Though NMU fumbled the ball five times for the second straight week, the game's only turnover was made by Northern's returning All-GLIAC defender Murphy Monreal. Last week's five NMU fumbles resulted in two turnovers during its 27-10 home victory over Roosevelt, the first win of head coach Matt Janus' tenure.

Wayne State's main QB, Nikkos Davis, was 10 of 24 for 113 yards and Monreal's pickoff, while the Warriors' D'Vaun Bentley gained 43 yards rushing in 11 tries. Jordan Bell had four pass catches for 73 yards.

In addition to Monreal, Nathan Pralle starred for the Wildcats defense as he made six tackles, had two QB sacks and a total of three tackles for loss.

Teammates Brock Gauthier and Damarcus Chappell each had a QB sack and QB hurry, while Carter Schmitt and Sullivan McManigal both had a pair of pass breakups.

Northern's Simonique Carter Jr. also had a breakup, while Luc Damiani and Jake Pepsnik had one QB hurry apiece.

NMU scored at least twice in each of the first three quarters to build a 45-0 lead.

Northern scored TDs on both of its first-quarter possessions, the first on a Dobert 1-yard run and second on a Halicek 9-yard pass from Stevens. Sawyer McLinden, who kicked a 26-yard field goal about four minutes before halftime, also kicked the first five extra points with Nicholas Gruesen making the sixth.

After the short field goal, the next time the Wildcats had the ball, Kyle McGowan caught a 7-yard scoring aerial that made it 24-0 just 42 seconds before halftime.

The drive began with a 45-yard deep pass to CJ Cunningham that included a penalty that tacked on another 15 yards, even though Cunningham in the official statistics is only listed as catching two passes for seven yards.

The third quarter in many ways mirrored the opening period, but maybe even better, as NMU hit the end zone its first three times having the ball.

On the first, Northern imposed its will with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that took almost 6 1/2 minutes off the clock and featured a number of Dobert runs, Stevens runs and Stevens passes. It culminated with Dobert's 3-yard TD run to the left that made it 31-0.

The next possession was quicker, just five plays going 80 yards that ended with Dobert's rush up the middle for a 67-yard TD with 3:18 left in the third.

With not much time remaining in the third to fit another score in, Northern did it anyway as Stevens threw a 40-yard bomb to Lachlin Acker deep down the middle with two ticks left in the period.

Wayne State scored twice in the final quarter, with Deavante Deleon scoring on a 2-yard run and Joseph Lattimore catching a 4-yard pass from backup Torrence Searcy with 2:09 left.

The Wildcats have a big challenge this week, traveling to Allendale to take on Grand Valley at 1 p.m. Saturday. Though the Lakers are tied with NMU in the GLIAC standings, they are also 6-3 overall and ranked No. 16 in Division II.

NMU 45, Wayne St. 12

Saturday at Detroit

Score by quarters:

Northern Michigan 14 10 21 0 -- 45

Wayne State 0 0 0 12 -- 12

First quarter

NMU -- Noah Dobert 1 run (Sawyer McLinden kick) 8:00

NMU -- Jacob Halicek 9 pass from Matt Stevens (McLinden kick) 4:36

Second quarter

NMU -- McLinden 26 FG 4:02

NMU -- Kyle McGowan 7 pass from Stevens (McLinden kick) 0:42

Third quarter

NMU -- Dobert 3 run (McLinden kick) 8:42

NMU -- Dobert 67 run (McLinden kick) 3:18

NMU -- Lachlin Acker 40 pass from Stevens (Nicholas Gruesen kick) 0:02

Fourth quarter

WSU -- Deavante Deleon 2 run (kick failed) 8:44

WSU -- Joseph Lattimore 4 pass from Torrence Searcy (pass failed) 2:09

Game statistics

First downs -- NMU 23, Wayne St. 13

Total plays-net yards -- NMU 62-602, Wayne St. 58-167

Rushes-yards -- NMU 31-147 (Dobert 15-125, Noah Hofmann 4-33, Stevens 5-11), Wayne St. 31-39 (D'Vaun Bentley 11-43, Deleon 10-19)

Comp-Att-Int-Yards -- NMU 30-31-0-455 (Stevens 26-27-0-405, Duke Shovald 2-2-0-34, Liam Oczkowski 2-2-0-16), Wayne St. 12-27-1-128 (Nikkos Davis 10-24-1-113, Searcy 2-3-0-15)

Top receivers -- NMU, Wilson Ptacek 7-169, Halicek 6-62, Chris Battley 4-53, Acker 2-48, Isaac Olson 2-31, Trevor Theuerkauf 4-26; Wayne St., Jordan Bell 4-73, Drew Hickmott 3-16, Lattimore 2-15

Punts-average -- NMU 3-37.3, Wayne St. 7-45.1

Fumbles-lost -- NMU 5-0, Wayne St. 0-0

Penalties-yards -- NMU 9-91, Wayne St. 8-56

Time of possession -- NMU 32:10, Wayne St. 27:50

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