MARQUETTE, Mich. — The No. 24 Davenport football team improved to 4-0 in their non-conference games this season after defeating Northern Michigan (0-4) 42-7 on Saturday at the Superior Dome. Davenport scored 28 unanswered points across four scoring drives after taking a 14-7 lead. The Panthers ran for 247 yards and three touchdowns, and the defense recorded seven sacks while holding NMU to 210 total yards.
Davenport scored twice and led 14-0 after the first quarter, getting a one-yard touchdown run from
Cephus Harris and a 43-yard touchdown pass from
Jonathan Palmer to
Henry Cason. Harris scored his sixth rushing touchdown of the season and Cason caught his first TD pass as a Panther. Davenport went 2-for-2 on fourth down and finished the quarter with 39 rushing yards and 59 passing yards, while the Wildcats were held to 15 rushing yards, 30 passing yards and two first downs.
The Wildcats down 14-0 entering the second quarter put together their lone scoring drive of the game. NMU executed a fake punt on 4th-and-4 at the DU 44-yard line and Noah Dobert carried 34 yards down to the DU 2-yard line. Northern Michigan went into their bag of tricks on 2nd-and-goal as Liam Oczkowski found offensive lineman Daniel Babcock on a reverse field touchdown pass to make it 14-7 with 10:04 left in the quarter.
Davenport did all of its offensive damage on the ground in the second quarter rushing eight times for 101 yards and answered the scoring drive by the Wildcats on a three-play, 83-yard drive capped by Harris' 45-yard touchdown run, his second of the game and seventh of the season. NMU held the ball for 11:46 and ran for 122 yards, but Davenport recorded three sacks and 18 tackle-for-loss yards and carried a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Davenport controlled the third quarter defensively, holding the Wildcats to one first down, 0 rushing yards and 7 passing yards while stopping both third-down attempts. The Panthers added the quarter's only points on an 11-play, 84-yard drive, with Palmer finding
Cephus Harris for a 23-yard touchdown catch (first of the season) at the 31-second mark before
Ian Jenkins' PAT made it 28-7.
Davenport outscored NMU 14-0 in the fourth quarter to finish a 42-7 win, with
B.J. Windham returning his first career interception 29 yards for a touchdown and
James Young, in his first career action, capping a 12-play, 60-yard drive with a 2-yard run with 52 seconds to play. Davenport rushed for 56 yards and four first downs in the quarter while holding the Wildcats to minus-1 rushing yard, adding three tackles for loss and a sack.
Harris rushed 18 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns and added three receptions for 53 yards and another score. Palmer completed 7 of 11 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
Jalen Gaskin finished with three tackles and a team-high two sacks.
Zack Pappadakis led the team in tackles for the second straight week with 10.
Jaxson Engelberg recorded five tackles, including 2.5 tackles for a loss of 13 yards (one sack).
"The defense is starting to gel, we know that in the conference good teams play good defense," said head coach
Sparky McEwen. "I can't say enough about their efforts as we begin to get our offense to start rolling. The bye week is welcomed to get healthier and now it's time to heal up, as we get ready for a really good Saginaw Valley team in the GLIAC opener."
Davenport travels to University Center, Mich., to face Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 2 p.m.
