ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Davenport football team needed every last ounce of sweat and effort on Saturday as they posted their fifth straight road win this season with a 19-14 victory against GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt University. The Panthers kept pace in the GLIAC standings moving to 3-1 in the conference and 6-2 overall, while the Lakers are now 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the league.
The Davenport defense really stepped up particularly in the second half as they held Roosevelt scoreless. In addition, they limited the rushing attack to minus-21 yards in one of the best performances of all-time. RU gained just five yards in the second half with five yards in the third quarter and no yards in 10 plays in the fourth quarter.
The game turned in favor of Davenport after trailing 14-10 at halftime on the second half kickoff as
Antjuan Collins returned his second kickoff for a touchdown this season going 87 yards to make it 17-14. Neither team could score after that until the Panthers got a safety with 27 seconds left in the contest. Prior to that play, DU took over with 3:51 left and drove down to the Roosevelt 5-yard line but was stuffed for no gain on 4
th-and-1 with 46 seconds left. Carson Budke tried to engineer a comeback but threw three incompletions and was sacked by
Deeb Alawan for the safety to end that comeback chance.
Brandon Gielow opened the scoring with a 22-yard field goal on Davenport's first drive of the game.
Justin White picked off Budke on the second play for the Lakers at the RU 27-yard line to setup the offense with great field position. Roosevelt took a 7-3 lead with 50 seconds left in the first quarter as Cyrus Zuell had a two-yard touchdown run.
The Panthers regained a 10-7 lead at the 7:19 mark of the second quarter for the team's only offensive touchdown.
Mike O'Horo completed a 24-yard strike to
Preston Smith to finish off an eight-play, 45-yard drive. Roosevelt answered right back to take a 14-10 lead on a seven-play, 69-yard drive which was culminated in a Budke touchdown pass to Alex Tran from 15 yards.
O'Horo took every snap at quarterback for the first time this season and finished 15-of-26 for 169 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Myren Harris had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season and the first back-to-back in 2024 with 26 carries for 137 yards. Smith led the receivers with five catches for 44 yards. Davenport gained 325 total yards for the game and went 6-of-16 on third down. The defense finished with 13 tackles for loss including four sacks.
Geemontae Peck had two sacks for a loss of 13 yards.
Cameren Grodhaus led the team with six tackles and had two tackles for loss.
The Panthers will now focus their attention to another big road game next Saturday, Nov. 2 when they face Saginaw Valley State (6-2, 3-1 GLIAC) in University Center, Mich. for a 1:00 PM kickoff. The Panthers have won the last two meetings in a series in which each team has three wins.
