Football Earns 44-14 Win Over Lake Erie

OVERVIEW

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 44, Lake Erie Storm 14
RECORDS: Northwood (1-4, 1-4 GLIAC), Lake Erie (0-5, 0-5 GLIAC)
LOCATION: Hantz Stadium - Midland, Mich.
RECAP: Timberwolves pick up first win of the season over Lake Erie 44-14 behind Joe Garbarino's four-touchdown game.

INSIDE THE GAME

• Set up by a couple of 15+ yard passing plays, Garbarino led the Timberwolves down the field in their first drive. The redshirt freshman capped the eight-play drive off with an 11-yard touchdown run to but the Timberwolves up 7-0.
• It didn't take long for Garbarino to show off his arm in addition to his legs. After NU stopped Lake Erie on their first drive, he aired out an 80-yard pass on the first play to Theron Wilson, to put the Timberwolves up 14-0.
• After Lake Erie got a TD of their own, the Timberwolves countered with another score early in the second. Garbarino used his legs again to the tune of a 20-yard run down the sideline before diving onto the pylon for six to make it 21-7 Northwood.
• The Storm went three-and-out on their next drive, and Northwood's offense went right back to work. Damian Nicholson ran down the right sideline for a 43-yard score to make it 27-7.
• Before the half ended, Lake Erie found the end zone to send the game to the break with NU leading 27-14.
• The second half opened with another bang for Northwood. After Mitch Robinson snagged his second interception of the day, Abdul Levy turned on the jets on the ensuing play for a 55-yard sprint score to extend the lead back to 20 points at 34-14.
• Aided by a facemask penalty on their next drive, Northwood was right back in Lake Erie's red zone. After failing on the first few rushing attempts getting stuffed at the goal line, Garbarino eventually pounded it in on a 1-yard touchdown rush for his third on the ground in the game to make it 41-14 to close out the third quarter.
• Taking 6:49 off the clock between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, kicker Keegan Haggarty connected from 19 yards out to make it 44-14, which proved to be the final score.

GAME STATS

• FIRST DOWNS: Northwood 22, Lake Erie 14
• RUSHES-YARDS:  Northwood 51-300, Lake Erie 37-150
• PASSING YDS: Northwood 241, Lake Erie 117
• TOTAL OFFENSE (PLAYS/YDS): Northwood 73-541, Lake Erie 60-267
• POSSESSION TIME: Northwood 34:05, Lake Erie 25:55

GAME NOTES

• This was Northwood's only meeting with Lake Erie since they joined the GLIAC in 2010 and will be the last, as the Storm will move to the G-MAC at the end of the 2016-17 athletic season.
• Garbarino set career highs in passing yards (202) and rushing touchdowns (three) in today's win.
• Senior linebacker Michael Fisher had nine tackles today, putting him six away from the Northwood school record that stands at 372 set by Charleston Hughes.
• Robinson's two interceptions were the first his career. He played quarterback for Northwood the past three seasons.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will travel to Ashland for a game Saturday (October 8). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.