D2football.com: Tony Nicolette's Week 5 Recaps
We had plenty of excitement in the first weekend of divisional
play, including several overtime finishes. As we prep for "Rivalry
Week", most of the clubs that were expected to be competitive have been
looking the part. Can they keep things going as their schedule's
continue to stiffen? Let's see how they faired on Saturday:
Findlay 43, Notre Dame 42 - 2OT
Hey...there's that Notre Dame team that we all know and love, playing in
a high-scoring track meet! After two straight week's of clunkers the
Falcons gave the Oilers all they could handle, including putting
together an 80-yard drive to tie the game with less than a minute to go.
Unfortunately for NDC, a missed FG and a missed PAT in overtime ended
up costing them a victory as Findlay held on to run their record to 3-1.
Monterae Williams led the Oiler attack by racking up 121 yards and two
scores on the ground, and Brandon Butler tallied 21 tackles to pace the
UF defense. Pedro Powell had 162 yards and three scores rushing for
Notre Dame in the losing cause.
Wayne State 21, Northwood 11
The Warriors took another step forward this week after looking sluggish
in their first two contests, as Toney Davis pounded the Northwood
defense 29 times for 159 yards and two TD's. The Woodies had their
chances, as a couple of first half drives went deep into WSU territory
only to come up empty. Once WSU took advantage and got the lead up to
21-3, NU was forced to start throwing it and that simply isn't their
strength. Beyond that, the Wayne defense was solid as they held
Northwood to less than four yards per carry, including clamping down on
NU QB Aaron Shavers (25 carries, 28 yards).
Malone 33, Tiffin 27 - 2OT
Tiffin put together a furious comeback, scoring 10 points in the last
three minutes of regulation to send this one into extra frames. The
Dragon magic ended there, however, as Malone found pay-dirt in the
second extra session to earn their first GLIAC win. Malik Felton scored
the winning TD for the Pioneers, his second on the day to go along with
130 yards rushing. Malone QB Truman Franklin tossed two TD passes
after stepping in for starter Will Szpor.
Hillsdale 44, Northern Michigan 6
I mentioned that the Chargers would likely send the staff home early in
this one, and that's exactly what happened as Hillsdale handled their
business for the fourth straight week. Nine different receivers made
grabs for Hillsdale, as three different QB's saw playing time. Starter
Anthony Mifsud threw two TD tosses in his limited time, both of which
came from long distance (38 and 75 yards). Joe Glendening was also his
typical self with 106 yards and three TD's on the ground, and the
Charger defense chipped-in by picking off Ryan Morley four times.
Prince Young had 116 yards for the Wildcats in the loss.
Grand Valley 51, Michigan Tech 43
For about 40 minutes, Grand Valley looked like the team that LakerNation
typically expects. They were up 51-14, and were consistently torching
the GLIAC's best defense. More importantly, the GV defense completely
shut down the Husky power running attack. The Tech passing game finally
caught fire from there, however, and the Huskies managed to post four
straight TD's to close the gap to a single possession. The Laker O
finished it out from there, but the GV staff has to be concerned with
another game that saw their club hold a big lead late only to watch it
disappear. Concern aside, they are undoubtedly happy about their
offense continuing to perform at a high level despite an improbably rash
of injuries. Isiah Grimes threw for 411 yards and four TD's in his
second collegiate start, and Kirk Spencer cashed in his first career
start at RB with 136 yards and a score on the ground. Charles Johnson
was once again Charles Johnson with seven catches for 165 yards and
three TD's. While the Huskies only managed 34 rushing yards on the
game, Tyler Scarlett was hot via the air in the second half connecting
for 441 yards and five TD's, including four to Matt Curtin (11 rec, 190
yds).
Ashland 68, Lake Erie 21
Ashland QB Taylor Housewright (19-30, 305 yds) made it three straight
contests with four TD passes, and Jordan McCune added 102 yards and two
TD's on only ten carries as the Eagles cruised. Lake Erie tried to
exchange punches early, but had two first half turnovers that set-up
Ashland TD drives of 20 yards or less. You can't do that against
anyone, let alone a quality team and expect to get away with it...The
Storm didn't. Anthony Capasso was Housewright's favorite target on the
evening hauling in six grabs for 93 yards and two TD's. Anthony Bilal
notched 103 yards and two TD's rushing for Lake Erie.
Ohio Dominican 24, Walsh 13
Despite racking up 537 yards of offense, ODU couldn't put Walsh away
until the fourth quarter. Turning the ball over will do that to you,
and the Panthers gave it up three times. Other than that they
dominated, possessing the ball for more than 35 minutes thanks to 297
yards on the ground. After his eye-popping performance a week ago at
Grand Valley, Brandon Shoen followed-up with another big day registering
139 yards and a TD. The Panther passing game offered nice balance as
well, with QB Mark Miller (18-21, 240 yds, TD, INT) and Abe Johnson (7
rec, 128 yds) having nice days. On the whole, the Walsh offense just
couldn't get any rhythm or cash in on the ODU mistakes. One bright spot
was the passing offense took a big step forward. Both scores (71 and 40
yds) came via the air, and WR Anthony Schrock had a great day with
seven grabs for 187 yards and a TD.
Saginaw Valley 31, Ferris State 24 - OT
Just above, I talked about how turnovers could have cost Ohio Dominican
dearly. In this one, they did Ferris in. The Bulldogs suffered through
four giveaways, including one that set-up a game-tying TD for Saginaw
Valley late in regulation. So, instead of earning a win in Saginaw
after running all over (literally...FSU had 439 yards rushing) the
Cards, the Bulldogs head West on M-20 thinking about "what could have
been". Ferris QB Jason VanderLaan didn't do much via the air...and he
didn't need to as he lugged it 32 times for 254 yards and two TD's on
the ground. Give credit also to the FSU defense, which after being
torched multiple times this year held the league's best passing offense
relatively in check (SV had 255 passing yards). Tim Hogue led the
Cardinal offense with 86 yards and a TD on the ground, and seven catches
for 75 yards and two more TD's via the air. While SV managed to snag
the win on Homecoming, that's two straight home games where they have
allowed more than 500 yards of offense. That lack of defense has
already cost them once this year, and you have to wonder how many more
times Saginaw Valley (and Grand Valley, for that matter) can get away
with giving up so much production to opposing offenses.
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