Football Earns 42-39 Win At Quincy

The Northwood University football team earned their first win of the season Saturday after a 42-39 victory over Quincy Saturday afternoon (September 21).

The game was a non-conference contest for the Timberwolves. Northwood improves to 1-2 overall.  Quincy falls to 0-3 with the loss.

Northwood was the better team in the first quarter, going up 14-0 after one on a pair of Glenn Winston (Detroit, Mich./Denby Tech) one-yard touchdown runs. Northwood out-gained Quincy 166-43 in the opening 15 minutes.

Quincy got on the board with 8:14 remaining in the half, but the Timberwolves responded on the following drive on Winston's third touchdown of the day.  His seven-yard run put the Timberwolves up  21-6.  The Hawks scored the final points of the half in the final minute, sending the game to the break with Northwood leading 21-12.  NU held a 264-193 edge in yards in the opening 30 minutes.

Northwood got off to a great start in the second half.  Winston scored his fourth TD of the day to cap a 94 yard drive and make the score 28-12.  After a stop on defense, Bryan Thomas (Pompano Beach, Fla.) took a punt back 80-yard for a touchdown to put Northwood up 35-12.  Quincy then fumbled the kickoff, which was immediately followed by Winston scoring his fifth touchdown of the day.  His eight-yard scoring run made the score 42-12.  During that stretch, Northwood scored two touchdowns in nine seconds and three in 2:20.

It appeared the Timberwolves were on their way to an easy victory at that point with a 30 point lead late in the third quarter.  But Quincy put together a big rally, scoring touchdowns on four consecutive drives while holding Northwood scoreless in that stretch.  In 14:55 minutes of game time, Quincy scored 27 straight points to cut the lead to 42-39.  The Hawks got the ball one time with a chance to drive for the win, but did not convert on fourth down.  NU then got the ball and drew a penalty on fourth down with less than two minutes to go.  That call gave Northwood a first down and allowed them to run out the clock and earn the win.

For the game, Quincy finished with a 521-433 advantage in total offense.  Northwood had 235 yards rushing and 198 yards passing in the contest.  The key to the win was converting extra points – Northwood went 6-6 while Quincy converted just 2-6 (one kick, one 2-pt conversion).

Winston finished the game with 154 yards rushing and a Northwood school record five rushing touchdowns.  Three other players in school history had registered four TD's in a game, the last being Antoine Ivy in 2006. Mitch Robinson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Avondale) had 172 yards passing while going 14-24 through the air.  He also added 49 yards rushing.  Carrington Thompson (Houston, Tex./Lamar) had 86 yard receiving as well. Mike Keith (Roseville, Mich./Warren De La Salle) led the Northwood defense with 11 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

The Timberwolves will return home to host Tiffin Saturday (September 28). Game time is set for Noon.