Football Earns 35-14 Win Over Tiffin

The Northwood football team improved to 4-0 with a 35-14 victory over Tiffin Saturday afternoon (September 22).

The Timberwolves are now 3-0 in the GLIAC. Tiffin falls to 1-3 overall, 0-3 in the GLIAC.

It marks the first time since 2006 that Northwood has started a season 4-0.

Northwood got off to a great start in the game taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. After a stop on defense, the Timberwolves went 55 yards in 10 plays. The drive was capped by a Jordan Jonker (Hudsonville, Mich.) one-yard touchdown reception from Aaron Shavers (Detroit, Mich./Inkster) to put NU up 7-0. Later in the quarter, Jonker capped another 10 play drive with a four yard run to give Northwood a 14-0 lead after one.

The second quarter was scoreless, which was followed by an unusual start to the second half. After the opening kickoff for the half, a thunderstorm forced the game to be delayed. It would be over an hour before the teams would resume play.

Once play resumed, Northwood extended their lead to 21-0 on a defensive touchdown. Senior Ryan Whittum (Livonia, Mich./Churchill) picked off a Dragon pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown with 9:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Tiffin made a comeback at that point, scoring 14 straight points. The Dragons were then driving for a potential game-tying score when the Northwood defense came up with a fumble recovery. Seven plays later, Shavers found freshman Carrington Thompson (Houston, Tex./Lamar) for a 58-yard touchdown to get the lead back to a two-score margin at 28-14. Tiffin then fumbled the following kickoff, which Northwood took advantage off. Shavers found Eric Williams (Romulus, Mich./Inkster) for his third TD of the day, which occurred just over a minute after the Thompson touchdown. The Williams TD was the final score of the day for either team.

For the game, Northwood finished with a 345-251 advantage in total yards. NU also had a 20-11 edge in first downs and controlled the ball for 21:40 in the second half alone.

Shavers led the way for the offense, finishing with 135 yards passing and three touchdowns to go along with 39 yards rushing. Cameron Jackson (Dahlonega, Ga./Lumpkin) led the way finishing with 107 yards rushing on 25 carries. Thompson finished the game with 67 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Defensively, Whittum turned in a career day. He finished with 14 tackles, an interception return for a touchdown, a fumble recovery and a blocked punt.

Northwood will return home to face Wayne State Saturday (September 29). Kickoff is set for Noon.