ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Davenport football team had a chance for a share of the GLIAC championship on Saturday as they traveled to nearby Grand Valley State. The Lakers suffocated the Panthers and won the outright GLIAC title with a 38-0 decision in the regular season finale. The Laker defense came to play as Davenport had to punt on their first six drives and gained 22 yards in the process. The Panthers were without starting quarterback
Jason Whittaker due to injury and
Grant Thwaites was called into duty. Davenport did not get a first down until the final possession of the first half and were trailing 28-0 at that point. Lynn Wyche-El scored on an 18-yard run on GVSU's first possession of the game. The Lakers started the drive at the DU 40-yard line after a 25-yard punt return.
The teams would trade punts for the rest of the first quarter and the Lakers took over at the DU 38-yard line early in the second quarter. That great field position again was cashed in as Kyle Nott had a 29-yard touchdown run at the 11:20 mark for a 14-0 score. Grand Valley State began to pull away on their next drive as they marched 79 yards in eight plays and took 4:55 off the clock. The scoring play was Avery Moore on a quarterback run from two yards with 4:12 remaining in the first half. Thwaites would be sacked and fumbled on the second play of the next drive and the Lakers recovered at the DU 21-yard line. An unsportsmanlike penalty after the play pushed the ball to the 10-yard line. Three plays later, it was Tariq Reid for a two-yard score with 1:36 left until halftime and a 28-0 advantage.
Davenport fumbled again on their second drive of the third quarter as the Lakers sounding like a broken record were given great field position at the DU 27-yard line. Reid got his second rushing score of the game from three yards on the third play of the drive and it was 35-0 at the 9:49 mark. DU made their best push towards a score on their next drive but the drive stalled at the GVSU 37-yard line after a fourth-and-eight pass was incomplete. Josh Gorball concluded the scoring at the 10:58 mark of the fourth quarter with a 29-yard field goal.
Vinny Booth took some snaps under center late in the game for the Panthers and completed a 43-yard pass to
Demetrius Garrett down to the GVSU 5-yard line. Booth carried to the GVSU 1-yard line as time expired.
Myren Harris fell just short of a 1,000-yard rushing season after 10 carries for 28 yards today. He finishes though as the single-season rushing leader with 976 yards. Thwaites finished 12-of-22 passing for 94 yards and an interception. He was also sacked three times on the day. Eight different Panthers had a catch as
Preston Smith led the team with three catches. Garrett finished with a team-high 60 receiving yards on two grabs. The DU defense did give up 357 yards but were handed a short field numerous times. They limited the Lakers to 1-of-10 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down. The rushing totals were the story as the Lakers held a 238-50 advantage on the ground.
Alaric Wooten had a season-high 11 tackles including a tackle for loss.
Julius Wilkerson added eight tackles and was the team's leader this season with 80. The 80 tackles ranks fifth most in a season at Davenport.
