No. 21 Football Heads to Tiffin

THIS WEEKEND'S NOTES

LAST ROAD TRIP
Michigan Tech will play its final road game of the regular season on Saturday (Nov. 1) at Tiffin. The trip will be the Huskies' second to the state of Ohio this season—the first coming in week two (Sept. 13) to Malone. Tech opened the 2014 season with four of five on the road. This Saturday's contest is the Huskies' lone trip in the final five weeks.

HUSKIES HAVE TIME
The Huskies boast the highest time-of-possession average in the GLIAC and fourth-highest in the nation, holding the ball for 35:30 each game. Tech had 34:02 of possession time against Ferris State last week. Its single-game high was 40:32 vs. Malone on Sept. 13.

GERVAIS ADDS THIRD INTERCEPTION
Junior defensive back Brett Gervais notched his third interception of the 2014 campaign with a second-quarter pick of Ferris State's Jason Vander Laan, who had been intercepted just once in seven games coming into the contest. Gervais had interceptions at Malone and vs. Saginaw Valley State earlier this season. Combined with six pass breakups, Gervais ranks among the GLIAC's leaders in passes defended. The Lake Linden, Mich., native leads the Huskies in tackles with 45 including 31 solos.

LEFFINGWELL AVERAGING 100+
Charlie Leffingwell owns a season rushing average of 108.9 yards per game. That mark ranks fifth in the GLIAC and 33rd nationally. The senior has three games of 145 yards or more this season with a high of 202 vs. Grand Valley State (Oct. 18). Leffingwell owns 2,607 career yards, placing him seventh on Tech's all-time rushing list.

All-Time Leading Rushers    Att    Yds    Avg    TD    Lg
1. Jim VanWagner, 1973-76    958    4788    4.9    55    77
...
6. Tim Bonk, 1991-94    587    2959    5.0    26    75
7. Charlie Leffingwell, 2011-    520    2607    5.0    13    62    

THE TECH-TIFFIN SERIES
Michigan Tech leads the young series with Tiffin 4-0. The teams first met in Houghton exactly six years ago: Nov. 1, 2008. Tech won that meeting 32-28. Last year (Sept. 14), Tech earned a 40-14 victory over the Dragons.

SCARLETT NEARS 9,000 YARDS
Quarterback Tyler Scarlett threw for 208 yards vs. Ferris State last week to run his season passing total to 1,429 yards. The four-year starter now has  8,983 career passing yards; he was the first quarterback in school history to reach 8,000 yards. Scarlett owns Tech's game, season and career records for both passing yards and passing touchdowns. He is 26-12 as a starting quarterback.

Michigan Tech Career Passing    Yards    Pct     TDs    Ints
1.     Tyler Scarlett (2011- )    8,983    .626    72    25
2.     Steve Short (2006-10)    7,471    .579    59    44

FEWEST FLAGS IN DIVISION II
Michigan Tech has committed the fewest penalties in all of Division II with only 23 infractions in six games. The Huskies had just six in the first three games before adding 17 more the last four weeks. Tech finished second nationally (behind Ashland) a year ago in fewest penalties (2.7 per game).

COWIE AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS
Despite having just three catches for 31 yards last week, sophomore receiver Brandon Cowie still ranks second in the GLIAC in receptions per game. The former quarterback averages 6.1 catches. He also ranks among the league's leaders in receiving yards per game (eighth, 71.9). Cowie was an All-GLIAC Second Team pick at wideout a year ago after posting 58 receptions for 933 yards.

IN THE RANKINGS
Michigan Tech is ranked in the AFCA Division II Top 25 Poll at No. 21 this week. The Huskies entered the top 25 at No. 23 in the Sept. 29 poll, marking the first national ranking for the Huskies since 2012.

Ranking by week    AFCA Poll    D2Football.com Poll
Sept. 29    23    —
Oct. 6    22    —
Oct. 13    20    24
Oct. 20    13    19
Oct. 27    21    —

WIENKE SITS AT FOURTH ON CAREER SACK LIST
Senior defensive end Nelson Wienke has 3.5 sacks this season to lead all Tech players. The two-time All-GLIAC Second Team pick owns 17.0 career sacks. That's good for fourth all-time at Tech.

Michigan Tech Career Sacks    GP    No.
1. Tony Roberson (1999-02)    35    21.5
2. Drew Vanderlin (2007-11)    41    20.0
3. Todd Storm (2008-11)    40    18.5
4. Nelson Wienke (2011- )    36    17.0

CAPTAINS
Huskies' team captains for the 2014 season are defensive end Cameron Allen, cornerback DeShawn Nelson, center Bruce Tebelman and quarterback Tyler Scarlett. All four are seniors.

COACH KEARLY
Michigan Tech head coach Tom Kearly is in his ninth season as head coach and 15th overall with the Huskies program. The skipper owns a 56-34 record (.622 winning percentage) and has coached Tech to two of the eight eight-win seasons in school history. Kearly, a Hancock native and 1979 Winona State graduate, coached at Central Michigan for 19 seasons before returning to the Copper Country in 2000. He was the GLIAC Coach of the Year in 2010.

HUSKIES BITES
Michigan Tech has played four cliffhangers (scoring the game-winning points on the game's final play) in the last 12 games. Twice this season, Garrett Mead has kicked game-winning field goals—a 25-yarder at Wayne State for an 18-17 win on Sept. 4 and a 39-yarder at Northern Michigan for a 34-31 win on Sept. 27. A year ago, Tyler Scarlett rushed for a touchdown in overtime at Hillsdale for a 30-27 victory (Nov. 9) and Scarlett completed a six-yard pass that was tipped and caught by Jordan McConnell for a 33-31 triumph at Northwood (Oct. 19) … A quarterback with a last name beginning with "S" has started 48 consecutive games and 90 of the last 97 games the Huskies have played. Tyler Scarlett is in his fourth year as starter. Drew Schaft started the streak in 2005. Steve Short then took over four games into the 2006 campaign. Only when Short was injured three games into the 2009 season did Brent Heim break the trend for seven games.

SUPERIOR PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Superior National Bank sponsors the Superior Player of the Game. Following each football game, a player is chosen. A list of the 2014 Superior Players of the Game is below.

Sept. 4 at Wayne    Garrett Mead: 4 FG (23, 29, 21, 25); game-winner
Sept. 13 at Malone    Tyler Scarlett: 16-of-20, 175 yds, 4 TD
Sept. 20 vs SVSU    Tanner Agen: 8 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 blk kick
Sept. 27 at NMU    Garrett Mead: 2 FG (39, 39); game-winner
Oct. 11 at NU    DeShawn Nelson: 2 Interceptions, 4 tackles
Oct. 18 vs. GVSU    Charlie Leffingwell: 23 rushes, 202 yds, 2 total TD
Oct. 25 vs. Ferris    Anthony Root: 8 receptions, 59 yards