HOUGHTON – The Northern Michigan University football team entered Sherman Field with a 2-1 record – its best three-game start since 2011, when the Wildcats went 3-0.

As they looked to continue on the path of turning around its program, they went through pregame stretches at midfield and let the Michigan Tech Huskies know they were game, on a warm Saturday night, by delivering the typical verbal trash talk that is involved in rivalry games.

By night’s end, the sounds of Sherman Field were filled with the cheers and claps of the 3,918 people in attendance that were there to support Michigan Tech, and the Wildcats had to watch in silence as the Huskies hoisted the Miner’s Cup for a sixth straight time after falling short on the final play for a second consecutive year.

Ryan LaBerge’s 45-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Tech defensive linemen senior Tanner Agen and junior Evan Mayer, preserving a 24-23 win for the Huskies.

“I’m just so happy for our team,” Huskies junior quarterback Brandon Cowie said. “It meant so much, this game. Every year it’s such a competitive game, and Northern comes and always plays so hard. Hats off to them; it was a dogfight to the very end and the score showed it.”

With 2:10 left and his team trailing by one point, NMU junior quarterback Shaye Brown drove his team 47 yards on nine plays to the Michigan Tech 28. With the clock stopped with 3 seconds left after an incomplete pass, NMU (2-2, 1-2 GLIAC) elected to call a timeout, which allowed Michigan Tech to set up its block. NMU had a 33-yard field goal blocked in Week 1 by Northwood University.

“We’d seen Northwood block one, knew we had a chance,” Michigan Tech head coach Tom Kearly said. “We were going to take a timeout to try to ice them, but they took their own timeout. We talked about taking another one, but we decided not to and we got lucky.”

During NMU’s previous four kicks (three extra points and a field goal) Agen saw an area in the NMU offensive line he thought he could exploit. His scouting paid off.

“The whole game, throughout their extra points, they had that right guard who was soft and I was able to go through him,” Agen said. “They called a right block Since I was taking advantage of that guard, me and Evan – who is 6-foot-7 – got his hand on it and I got another hand on it, so (the kick) wasn’t getting by.”

The blocked kick gave Michigan Tech (4-0, 4-0 GLIAC) its 11th win in the last 14 games between the two rivals. For NMU, none has hurt more than the last two. In last year’s game, Tech’s Garrett Mead converted on a 35-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to give the Huskies a 34-31 victory.

“Tough way to end it,” NMU head coach Chris Ostrowsky said. “This one is a tough one to take – like last year’s was a tough one to take – but we’ll go back to work tomorrow.”

The blocked field goal was the second special teams gaffe by the Wildcats that would prove pivotal in deciding the outcome.

After NMU senior safety Brandon Auguste picked off Cowie, whose errant pass bounced off the hands of senior wide receiver Andrew Clark, Auguste returned the interception 40 yards for a “pick-six.”

But LaBerge would miss the extra point, leaving NMU’s lead at 20-10 with 2:34 left in the third quarter.

Auguste’s interception return was the fourth offensive possession of disaster for the Huskies in the second half. Michigan Tech opened the third quarter with three three-and-outs before Auguste’s big play.

“We weren’t very good the first three, and they were all third-and-2’s, third-and-3’s and we just didn’t pick it up,” Kearly said. “We talked about faking a punt or something like that, or going for it, but we were within one score and I didn’t want to do it in our own end.”

Facing its largest deficit in the second half of the season, Michigan Tech responded. Sophomore running back John Williams scored on a 5-yard run to draw the Huskies within three.

NMU would then add a 33-yard field goal from LaBerge to make it 23-17 with 8:16 left. The Wildcats converted on two key third downs – on third-and-8 from their own 18, Brown found Tucker in the middle of the field against the Huskies’ zone defense for a 14-yard gain, and on third-and-6, Brown found sophomore wide receiver Keyondre Craig deep up the right side of the field for a 39-yard gain to the Michigan Tech 25.

On Michigan Tech’s most important offensive drive of the season, the Huskies went 75 yards on 13 plays, spanning 6:06, scoring on a 7-yard slant route completion from Cowie to junior wide receiver David Walter. The extra point from sophomore kicker Josh King put Michigan Tech up 24-23 with 2:10 left in the game.

“When I made that big mistake on that pick-six, those guys picked me up,” Cowie said. “We called Dave’s number and the kid stepped up. He really developed into a go-to-guy and he’s a big playmaker for us.”

Saturday’s win marked the second time this year that the Huskies have won in part because of an opponent’s missed extra point. Malone University missed a PAT kick in a 28-27 loss to Tech at Sherman Field on Sept. 12.

“I’ve always told our kids that your coin-flip games are going to even out,” Kearly said. “You flip a coin enough times and it’s going to be 50-50. And I think we’re 9-2 in the last three years in coin-flip games. Pretty soon it’s going to turn.”

Cowie opened the scoring after he faked the handoff to junior running back Kevin Miller and found sophomore fullback Alex Sherbinow, a Marquette Senior High School graduate, in the right flat for a 2-yard touchdown, capping off a 13-play, 87-yard drive.

Miller was the workhorse back with 50 yards rushing on 10 carries during the drive. Miller had just 11 yards on 13 carries in the first two games combined.

After NMU went three-and-out, Michigan Tech worked its way to the NMU 2, but the drive stalled out. Cowie’s third-down pass across the middle of the end zone was too high for Walter and the Huskies settled for a 24-yard field goal from King, making it 10-0.

NMU managed to draw within three on its final offensive possession of the first half, as Brown completed a wide receiver screen to senior Marcus Tucker, who made Michigan Tech junior safety Derek Cingel miss, and went 38 yards for the score, making it 10-7.

On NMU’s first possession of the second half, Craig beat Michigan Tech’s Cedric Jones on a fly route along left sideline and Brown completed a deep pass for a 64-yard gain.

Two plays later, Brown found Craig for a 4-yard TD on an out-route in the back of the end zone, giving the Wildcats their first lead, 14-10, with 10:15 left in the third quarter.

Michigan Tech held a 377-360 yardage advantage. Cowie completed 21 of 27 passes for 191 yards, two touchdowns and the interception. Brown was 24 of 32 with 299 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception. Craig led all receivers with nine catches for 164 yards receiving and the one score. Miller led the Huskies with 78 rushing yards on 17 carries, while sophomore running back Terrance Dye paced NMU with 36 yards rushing on five carries. NMU’s junior linebacker L.J. Liston – the leading tackler in the GLIAC – finished with 15 stops.

NMU will host Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday.