Huskies Back on the Road for GLIAC Battle at Northwood
Week 7 Game Notes (Full PDF Version)
Sat., Oct. 22, 2016 • 1:00 p.m. (ET) • Frost-Kalnow Stadium (4,500)
Michigan Tech (2-4, 2-4 GLIAC) at Northwood (1-6, 1-6 GLIAC)
Radio Broadcast: WKMJ 93.5 FM (Josh Ylitalo)
Video Webcast: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/northwood/
Audio Webcast: Pasty.net
Live Stats: http://www.michigantechhuskies.com/sports/fball/2016-17/schedule
Video Preview with Coach Kearly
TURNING UP THE HEAT
The Huskies' defense had it's best game of the season in sacks and putting pressure on the quarterback Saturday at Tiffin. Tech brought down Tiffin QB Antonio Pipkin four times, resulting in a loss of 26 yards. As a team, the Huskies came into the game with five sacks as a defensive unit. Senior Evan Mayer led the charge at Tiffin with 1.5 sacks, followed by senior NIc Brajak with one, sophomore Garrett Ross with one, and freshman Marvin Wright with a half sack. Mayer, Ross, and sophomore Cody Goldsworthy share the team lead with two sacks through the first six games this season.
COWIE TO WALTER, WALTER TO COWIE
Senior quarteback Brandon Cowie and senior wide receiver David Walter provided a unique touchdown combination this past Saturday. With just under four minutes to play in the first half, Cowie fired a 10-yard touchdown strike to Walter to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead. With 8:47 on the clock in the third quarter, the two reversed roles as Walter dropped the ball in to Cowie from 26 yards out for the second Tech touchdown of the afternoon. Cowie and Walter are no strangers to passing and catching touchdowns. Walter has 10 career touchdown receptions and now has thrown two during his time as a Husky. His first touchdown pass came as a freshman during the 2013 season. Cowie began his Tech career as a receiver and has 12 career TD receptions. The one on Saturday was his first since the 2014 season. In the passing game, Cowie has 26 career TD strikes and has thrown at least one in each of his four seasons. Cowie tossed a TD pass as a receiver in both the 2013 and 2014 campaigns.
BOOMING THE BALL
Senior punter Ryan VanGoethem comes into this week's game ranked second in the GLIAC in punting average (40.7), which is also good for the No. 28 ranking in all of NCAA Division II. Last week, VanGoethem drilled a career long 72 yard punt that pinned the Dragons on their own one yard line, eventually helping set up a Huskies' touchdown. VanGoethem has forced opponents to work from inside their 20-yard line eight times and generated nine fair catches in 2016. Junior place kicker Josh King leads the Huskies in scoring with 33 points this season. He is 6 of 7 on field goal attempts and has converted 15 extra points. King leads the GLIAC and is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage (85.7%). Freshman kicker Austin Chmura has had a solid year on kickoffs, averaging 60.5 yards per kick with 10 landing in the end zone for touchbacks.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Huskies will embark on thier final road trip away from the UP in 2016 this week when they head down state to battle Northwood. The round trip will cover 876 miles and is the shortest venture of the year with the exception of Northern Michigan (199 miles). The longest trip was week three at Ohio Dominican (1,460 miles) followed by Tiffin (1,284 miles), and Hillsdale (1,112 miles). The combined mileage for the 2016 season is 4,931 miles. To put it into perspective, a round trip to San Diego, California from Houghton is 4,720 miles and to get to Miami, Florida and back would rack up 3,724 miles.
HUSKIES IN THE RANKINGS
Michigan Tech is ranked 26th in NCAA Division II in pass completion percentage (63.2%) and is fourth in the GLIAC in the same category. Quarterback Brandon Cowie is fifth in the GLIAC in completion percentage (63.6%) and is 29th in all of Divsion II. Defensive back Travis Tidwell is first in the GLIAC and is 20th in the nation in passes defended per game (1.7). Cingel is fifth in the GLIAC in passes defended per game (1.2) and is third in the conference (30th nationally) in interceptions per game (0.5). The team is second in NCAA II in fewest penalties (16), fewest penalties per game (2.67), fewest penalty yards (159), and fewest penalty yards per game (26.50).
SCOUTING THE TIMBERWOLVES
Northwood heads into Saturday's game with a deceptive 1-6 record both overall and in the GLIAC. The Timberwolves have lost four very close games to some very good teams. They fell 20-14 at Saginaw Valley State in overtime, lost by one at home to Ferris State 27-26, fell at Northern Michigan 29-24, and came up short by a touchdown on the road last week at Ohio Dominican 35-28. Northwood's win was a 44-14 decision at home on October 1st against Lake Erie. At quarterback, Joe Gararino and Jimmy Strom have both split reps under center in 2016. Each player has a trio of touchdown passes while Garbarino holds the team highs in completions (33), yards (523), and yards per game (87.2). Abdul Levy is the top rusher on team thanks to 421 yards on 78 carries. He is averaging 5.4 yards per carry and has found the end zone four times. Garbarino is the second leading rusher with 285 yards on the year and possesses a team best six touchdown runs. As a team, the Timberwolves are averaging 357 yards per game with 233.4 coming via the ground attack. Defensively, Northwood is anchored by linebacker Michael Fisher who boasts 70 total stops coming into the weekend. He also has one sack and one interception to his credit. Nick Tripp, Ayrn Curtis, and Mitch Robinson each have two interceptions.
SERIES VS. NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY
Michigan Tech has won six straight games in the series which began back in 1965 and is tied 21-21 going into Saturday. Northwood's longest series win streak during that span was nine games, starting in 1977 and lasting until a 28-14 victory by the Huskies at home in 1986. Last season at Sherman Field, Tech came away with a 30-14 win. Cowie completed 21 of 30 passed for 208 yards and two touchdowns. John Williams and Kevin Miller ran for 99 and 88 yards respectively while Ian Wienke hauled in seven passes for 80 yards. Walter and Williams each caught a touchdown pass. Mark Morris was the quarterback for Northwood last year and completed eight passes for 140 yards with a TD and two interceptions. Jaylyn Williams-Boone and Brett Gervais had the picks for the Huskies.
CAPTAINS
Huskies' team captains for the 2016 season are senior quarterback Brandon Cowie, senior defensive lineman Evan Mayer, senior linebacker Ben Tauchen, and senior wide receiver David Walter.
IN THE RANKINGS
Michigan Tech received votes in the 2016 preseason AFCA Division II Top 25 Poll. The Huskies earned votes in the week one and week two polls.
Ranking by week : AFCA Poll D2Football.com Poll
Aug. 15 RV —
Sep. 6 RV —
Sep. 13 RV —
Sep. 20 — —
Sep. 27 — —
Oct. 3 — —
Oct. 10 — —
Oct. 17 — —
COACH KEARLY IN YEAR 11
Michigan Tech head coach Tom Kearly is in his 11th season as head coach and 16th overall with the Huskies program. The skipper owns a 66-38 record (.635 winning percentage) and has coached Tech to three of the nine 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
The Tech defense is 5th in the GLIAC and 38th nationally in Red Zone scoring percentage holding opponents to a 69.6% conversion rate...Michigan Tech has the same full-time coaching staff as a year ago with offensive coordinator Erik Ieuter, defensive coordinator Steve Olson, offensive line coach David Sartin, defensive line coach Bryan Thomas and defensive backs coach Josh Wood...