Homecoming good to football in 38-31 victory

Homecoming good to football in 38-31 victory: The Wayne State football team (5-2 overall, 5-2 GLIAC) let a 31-10 lead slip away in its Homecoming game against the Northern Michigan Wildcats (2-6 overall, 1-6 GLIAC) Oct. 20 at Tom Adams Field. But, as it has proven time and time again this season, this team just doesn’t give up. Despite the difficulty, the Warriors came away with a 38-31 victory.

“It is a resilient team,” Warriors head coach Paul Winters said. “[There is] a lot of character in the room. The guys are together, everybody really wants to win; everybody really wants to get it done. This is a fun team to coach.

After a nine-day layoff since Oct. 11’s loss at Saginaw Valley, the Warriors’ offense came out fresh and ready to attack. They scored on their first possession of the game, driving the ball 75 yards in 10 plays. The drive ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Toney Davis.

The defense, on the other hand, looked as if the long layoff had an adverse affect throughout the game.

“That’s not how we play,” linebacker Nick Thomas said. “It was definitely a disappointing effort.”

NMU’s first possession ended with a 36-yard Rockne Belemonte field goal. After a punt by the Warriors, the Wildcats took a 10-7 lead on a Casey Cotta six-yard run. NMU went 72 yards in 11 plays.

The Warriors regained the lead with a rushing touchdown of their own as Desmond Martin scored from four yards out.

They extended their lead late in the first half when quarterback Mickey Mohner found true freshman tight end Trent Brodbeck for a 31-yard touchdown on fourth-and-four.

“The fourth down was kind of in a position where [it was] a little bit too long to kick a field goal, you can’t punt it, you might as well go for it,” Winters said. “If you give them the ball on the 25-yard line it’s just like you kicked it out of the end zone. So let’s go for it.”

WSU took a 21-10 lead into halftime on Brodbeck’s first career touchdown reception.

With nobody expecting it, the Warriors started the second half with an onside kick and recovered the ball at their own 46-yard line.

“The kickoff, they leave the middle of [the field] open so wide that we had to do it,” Winters said.

WSU converted the surprise kick into points, extending its lead to 28-10 on another three-yard touchdown run by Davis.

The Wildcats went three-and-out on their next possession, and the Warriors turned around to score three more points on a 27-yard field goal by Stefan Terleckyj.

With 4:19 remaining in the third quarter and a 31-10 lead, the Warriors seemed poised for victory.

But that wasn’t the case.

Going 57 yards in 10 plays, NMU cut the deficit to 14 on a three-yard run by Casey Cotta, his second score of the game.

The Wildcats intercepted a Mohner pass on the Warriors ensuing possession, and scored on an eight-yard quarterback keeper by Cody Scepaniak to make the score 31-24 with 12:08 left in the contest.

A kickoff and three WSU plays later, Mohner was intercepted once again, but the defense forced a three-and-out.

After WSU punted the ball with 8:19 remaining, the Wildcats were driving downfield when cornerback Aaron Cornett picked Scepaniak off and returned it for a touchdown. But the touchdown was called back as a disputable roughing the passer penalty nullified the play.

NMU took advantage of the call with a 25-yard touchdown reception by Christian Jessie that tied the game at 31 with 2:21 to go.

The Warriors took over at their own 30-yard line looking for their eight consecutive Homecoming victory.

Brodbeck caught an 18-yard pass on the first play of the drive, which was followed by a six-yard run from Davis. On the third play, Mohner was flushed out of the pocket. Moving to his right, he found Steve Conway running towards the sideline for a 15-yard gain. The Warriors gained an extra 15 yards on the play because of a personal foul penalty on NMU.

From the 16-yard line, Mohner faked the handoff to Davis and handed the ball to Dominique Maybanks on an end-around. Thanks to great blocking, he found the end zone for his second game winning touchdown of the season.

“That was fun wasn’t it?” Winters asked of the final drive. “The execution on all [four] plays was really pretty outstanding.”

“It was huge,” Mohner said of his second game winning drive of the season. “Coach Winters called four great plays for us and we were able to execute them and go down and win the game.”

The Wildcats moved the ball to the WSU 28-yard line, but Scepaniak’s desperation pass was intercepted in the end zone by Mazen Jaddou as time expired.

It wasn’t the way that most people thought the Warriors would win, but the fact is, they did. And while most coaches might have been completely frustrated that the Warriors allowed NMU to tie the game, Winters remembered to enjoy the game for what it is, a game.

“Here’s how I look at it,” he said. “Even when the game was tight and they tied it up and it was a possibility that we could go into overtime, I was like, ‘God, this is fun.’ You want to beat everybody, but if you forget how much fun you’re having, then this becomes a grind. So it was a tight game, that’s what you play for. It was a fun football game and it’s exciting to play fun football games. I’m happy. I’m extremely happy.”

The Warriors look to continue the fun Oct. 27 against the Ferris State Bulldogs at noon.