Football Falls At Wayne State 31-17

The Northwood University football team dropped a 31-17 contest at Wayne State Saturday afternoon (October 5).

Northwood falls to 2-3 overall, 1-2 in the GLIAC. Wayne State improves to 3-2 overall, 3-1 in the GLIAC.

After Wayne State kicked an early field goal in the first quarter, Northwood was the better team the rest of the first half.  NU out-scored the Warriors 17-7 over the rest of the half.  The Timberwolves got touchdowns from Cameron Jackson (Dahlonega, Ga./Lumpkin) and Carrington Thompson (Houston, Texas, Lamar) as well as a Keegan Haggarty (Macomb, Mich./Albion College) 22-yard field goal. Northwood out-gained Wayne State 188-116 in the first half and held an 11-5 advantage in first downs in the opening 30 minutes of play.

The second half, however, proved to be all Warriors.  WSU scored all of the 21 points accounted for after halftime.  The Warriors tied the game at 17 early in the third quarter.  The scored remained 17-17 until there was under four minutes remaining, when the Warriors found the end zone to go up 24-17.  Northwood got the ball back, trying to drive to a potential game-tying touchdown.  But the Timberwolves fumbled, which was returned for a touchdown by Wayne State to put the game away.

The key to the game proved to be turnovers.  While Wayne State did commit two turnovers, Northwood committed six giveaways in the contest. For the game, WSU finished with a 342-270 advantage in total yards, which included a 226-82 edge in the second half.  NU did hold an 18-15 advantage in first downs, but the Warriors held the ball for 15:40 more than the Timberwolves (37:50-22:10).

Thompson had his best day of the season in the game, finishing with 12 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.  The Northwood defense came up with seven sacks in the game, two of which were by Jefson Nelson (Miami, Fla. /Boyd Anderson).

Northwood will travel to Saginaw Valley State Saturday (October 12).  Game time is set for 7 p.m.