CALEDONIA, Mich. - The homecoming game on Saturday saw the Panthers have to shake off a rough first half, but in the end they pulled away from winless Wayne State for a 43-26 victory. The Panthers have never lost a homecoming game improving to 8-0. In the first half, Wayne State grabbed a 6-0 lead on their opening drive and used 8:03 off the clock before Jeremiah Sterling, Jr. scored on a one-yard touchdown run capping off a 16-play, 75-yard drive. On the extra point, the snap was poor and unable to be put down by the holder. The ball became loose and
Christian Jones scooped it up and raced the other way for two points.
Later in the first quarter,
Brandon Gielow booted a season-long, 43-yard field goal with 4:19 remaining in the quarter to make it a baseball-type score of 6-5. Wayne State would responded with two field goals of their own into the second quarter. Griffin Milovanski connected from 46 yards with 12:03 left in the quarter and then again from 37 yards out with 5:44 on the clock for a 12-5 advantage. The Panthers began to kick on offense after just 75 yards in their first three drives.
Preston Smith caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from
D'Wan Mathis at the 4:13 mark to tie the game at 12-12. Wayne State answered before halftime as a blown coverage in the secondary allowed Manny Harris to go 72 yards untouched down the visiting sidelines for a 19-12 lead.
The second half was a very different story as the Panthers scored 31 points and limited the Warriors to just seven. Both starting quarterbacks did not finish the game and that shifted the momentum towards Davenport. Champion Edwards rushed for 93 yards on 14 carries and completed three passes for 104 yards for the Warriors before exiting. Mathis completed 5-of-8 passes for 94 yards and that score to Smith in the second quarter for Davenport.
Mike O'Horo has been rotating into the quarterback role all season that might have made a big difference. He completed 9-of-12 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 33 yards. The Wayne State reserve quarterbacks went 8-of-18 with one touchdown and one interception and neither posed a running threat.
The shift in momentum began in the third quarter as Wayne State's Rob Brazziel through an interception on their first drive and
Cameren Grodhaus snagged his third interception of the season. Four plays later it was O'Horo to
Kendall Williams for 20 yards at the 9:38 mark and another tie at 19-19. It was the first touchdown for Williams since week one at Thomas More. After a three-and-out by the Warriors,
Mac VandenHout blocked a punt and DU took over at the WSU 24-yard line. Gielow would give DU their first lead of the game at 22-19 on a 23-yard field goal. That lead would not be given up as Davenport scored five straight possessions and it could have been six, but they ran out the clock at the end of the game after gaining 64 yards on eight plays down to the WSU 12-yard line.
Davenport extended their lead to 29-19 on the final play of the third quarter as Williams connected with O'Horo again on a 28-yard reception to cap off an 88-yard drive in just five plays. The Panthers outgained the Warriors, 155-10, in the third quarter. Wayne State didn't go away as Brazziel led a drive of 75 yards to start the fourth quarter and found tight end John Rayba on a 14-yard touchdown with 11:21 to go.
Myren Harris and the offensive line took over from there. Harris ripped off a 67-yard touchdown run on the third play of the next drive for a 36-26 lead. It was a tie for the third-longest TD run by a Panther which was also Harris last year at the University of Mary. The Warriors turned the ball over on downs at the DU 39-yard line on their next possession and then Harris rumbled 35 yards to paydirt for the insurance touchdown with 5:17 remaining. Harris ran six times for 132 yards in the fourth quarter alone. He finished with 156 rushing yards on 14 carries and had the third-most rushing yards in a game at Davenport.
For the game, Davenport finished with a season-high 470 total yards and a season-high 240 rushing yards. The Panthers averaged eight yards per play which was the third highest in a game at DU. The second half saw DU keep the ball for 17:12 out of 30 minutes. The Panthers also scored nine points off turnovers compared to none for Wayne State. Grodhaus led the defense with 10 tackles.
Latrell Scott added eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Deeb Alawan recorded six tackles and a sack for a loss of five yards.
Justin White had five tackles, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. The Panthers will now focus on Roosevelt, a newcomer to the GLIAC, next Saturday in the Chicago area for a 2 PM ET kickoff. The Lakers got their first conference win at Northern Michigan, 16-10, in overtime earlier today.
