CALEDONIA, Mich. - The Davenport football team tussled with No. 2 Grand Valley State in the GLIAC opener on Saturday afternoon and fell 24-7 in a physical game. All of the scoring happened in the first half and in particular the game shifted in the second quarter when the Lakers scored 21 points. The Panthers had their chances early in the contest to put some points on the board, but came up empty. DU took the opening drive down to the GV 31-yard line, but
Mike O'Horo was sacked for a loss of nine yards on second down and faced with 4th-and-11 could not attempt a long field goal into the wind. The incomplete pass on fourth down gave the Lakers the ball at their own 34-yard line. Khalil Eichelberger ripped off a 52-yard run on the third play, but the DU defense held to a 22-yard field goal by Mathew Bacik for a 3-0 lead.
Davenport inserted
D'Wan Mathis at quarterback on their next drive and reached the GV 20-yard line before Mathis threw an interception in the end zone on the ninth play of the drive that lasted 3:56. The Lakers took over and ran out the rest of the first quarter. To begin the second quarter on the first play, Kenneth Jones raced 27 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead. The Lakers would score on their first four drives before Davenport would stop them on their final six drives. Avery Moore threw two touchdown passes to Eichelberger who hadn't had a touchdown catch yet this season. He hauled in a five-yard score with 10:37 left in the quarter and again from three yards out with 2:21 left until halftime.
Myren Harris found paydirt with Davenport trailing 17-0 after Eichelberger's first touchdown catch. On third-and-1, Harris rushed over the right side for a 27-yard touchdown and his second rushing touchdown of the year. In the second half, GVSU used their ball-control offense to use time off the clock. The third quarter had 96 yards for the Lakers and 60 yards for the Panthers. The fourth quarter featured a total of 59 yards for GVSU and 24 yards for the Panthers.
Cameren Grodhaus led the defense with a season-high 13 tackles including a tackle for loss.
Latrell Scott for his linebacker spot finished with nine tackles. DU did have a total of nine tackles for loss and two sacks on the day. The team will now be back on the road next Saturday at Michigan Tech (4-1, 1-0 GLIAC) for a noon kickoff.
