The Huskies were defeated by the Northwood Timberwolves in a close match last Saturday. The Huskies fell 29-24 after overcoming an early deficit and taking the lead by just one point in the fourth quarter. With just over a minute left in the game, the Timberwolves would score and claim the victory.
The Timberwolves scored in both the first and second quarter to bring the score 14-0 with 11 minutes to go in the second. This early lead by the opponent showed similarities to the Huskies previous match against the Wildcats, where the Huskies charged back and took the win.
“When we take a look at the film we are going to see opportunities that were there to win the football game,” said head coach Steve Olson. “We had a tough start to the third quarter, giving up the safety and the touchdown. We needed to do a better job there, especially coming out to start the half.”
Michigan Tech cut the deficit in half on an 11-play, 68-yard drive. A 23-yard pass from junior quarterback Jake Brown to sophomore fullback Jordan Ferguson would bring the Huskies into position allowing senior running back James Henderson to take the ball to the one-yard line. Senior fullback Alex Sherbinow would make the one-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit in half.
The Huskies took over at the 20-yard line after forcing a Northwood punt. Offensive lineman Seth Malcom recovered a fumble that could’ve cost Tech the possession. An 18-yard pass from Brown to sophomore wide receiver Ben Hartley would help the scoring drive. Henderson ran for seven and 12, leaving the ball at the four. Hartley caught a touchdown pass right before time expired leaving the score tied at 14-14 going into the half.
Not long into the third Northwood would score on a two-yard punt, bringing the score to 16-14. Northwood would return the free kick 64 yards to the Tech 19-yard line. Northwood pushed three yards to snag a touchdown, bringing the score 23-14 with 9 minutes left to go in the third.
On the very next drive, the Huskies rallied back to put themselves in scoring position. Getting stuck at third and goal forced the Huskies to kick, bringing the score to a one-possession game. With under ten minutes to play Brown fired a pass over the middle beating the Northwood blitz and pulled in by sophomore wide receiver Jacob Wenzlick for the touchdown. Sophomore placekicker Evan Gornick kicked for the successful extra point giving Tech a one-point edge.
Northwood drove the ball for the touchdown and failed at a two-point conversion with 1:17 left on the clock, leaving the Huskies down 29-24.
Brown completed ten passes for 113 yards for the day. Williams boasted 24 carries for 107 yards. Henderson finished with a season-best of 62 yards on 11 touches. The Huskies boasted 323 yards of total offense with 210 of those on the ground. Junior defensive back Graham Hubbell led the team with ten tackles, eight of them solo. He also boasted a pass breakup in the second half. Senior safety Spencer Moran followed with eight tackles.
“We have to bounce back this week and get ourselves ready for Ashland,” said Olson. “We have great kids who are hard workers and they’ll figure it out this week and be ready to play against Ashland next weekend.”
The Huskies travel to eighteenth ranked Ashland University next week, who beat Northern Michigan University 38-13 this past weekend. Kickoff is set at 1p.m. on Saturday.
