Michigan Tech Huskies had their homecoming football game against the Upper Iowa Peacocks this past Saturday, Sep. 19. The teams have a three game rivalry, in which each has shared a victory and a loss. This time, Tech was able to pull ahead to win its second homecoming game in three years.
The Huskies blocked three field goal attempts against the Peacocks. One of these attempts pushed the game into overtime, while the other secured Michigan Tech’s narrow victory. Chase Koch, a senior linebacker, was responsible for two of the three blocked attempts. Koch was given the title of Defensive Player of the Week on Sep. 8, and certainly lived up to those expectations.
Other notable plays include Michigan Tech’s two interceptions, the first of which was a recovery that led to a touchdown in the second quarter, and the second put the game into a tie in the fourth quarter. The game went on into overtime, where each team had possession once.
The score was close for the entirety of the game, with the Peacocks usually leading. Coach Dan Mettlach predicted the difficulty in an interview a few days before the game, calling previous matchups against the Iowa-based team “battles.” During an interview, Mettlach was reminded how three years ago the Huskies had to overcome a dire 21-point deficit against the Peacocks, which they did to achieve a shocking victory.In a post-game interview, Mettlach called his team’s performance “very sloppy,” specifically pointing out the numerous penalties given to his players. He said simply: “We’ve got work to do.”
When interviewing Koch and Mettlach two days before the game, when asked how they train and prepare, Chase said “studying the other team,” which he expanded to mean watching films of rivals in order to know who they were up against. Coach Mettlach shared that preparation is filled with meetings of various sorts, including position meetings, team meetings, staff meetings, and weight training. He said football can take up to 20 hours a week of his players’ time, but it seldom reaches that much, and the academics of the players always come first.
This game left Michigan Tech’s overall score at 3-1, and rank at 83rd in the NCAA Division II. Huskies will be going against Roosevelt next in an away game in Chicago on Oct. 3, marking the start of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) season, and coming home to take on Grand Valley State the following week, on Oct. 10.
