PREVIEW: Huskies battle Chargers Saturday

HOUGHTON, Mich. - After suffering a loss to the top team in the nation on Senior Day, Michigan Tech football sets its sights on picking up a fourth straight win against Hillsdale College on Saturday, November 5 at 1 p.m. The Huskies are in search of their first road victory and defeated the Chargers in Houghton to open last season 14-10. Fans can listen to the game on Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ or pasty.net with Josh Ylitalo on radio play-by-play.

LAST TIME OUT

• Accurate passing and strong defense propelled No. 1 ranked Grand Valley State to a 42-7 win over Michigan Tech in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon at Kearly Stadium.
• Quarterback Cade Peterson completed 18 of 19 passes for 304 yards and a pair of scores while Jaylon Tillman hauled in 10 catches for 191 yards and one touchdown.
• The scoring started with a 14-yard rush to the endzone by tailback Tariq Reid at 10:12 of the first quarter.
• A pair of Tech penalties kept the drive alive for the Lakers.
• Avery Moore took a 14-yard run across the line nearing the end of the opening quarter to make it 14-0.
• The Huskies countered with a six-play, 71-yard drive ending with sophomore Ethan Champney's 4-yard touchdown catch in the front right of the endzone. Tech's offense was largely silent for the remainder of the game, as Grand Valley State limited the Huskies to 125 passing yards and 42 net yards rushing.
• Taking a 21-7 lead at halftime, Peterson found Tillman and Cody Tierney in the second half and Kyle Nott added a 51-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
• Michigan Tech quarterback Will Ark faced pressure all afternoon and finished 13 for 22 for 117 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked once. GLIAC tackle leader Marc Sippel finished with a team-high seven in the category.

ZERO TO HERO

• Marc Sippel continues to lead the conference with 109.0 total tackles, 25 more than second place Antonio Howard of Northern Michigan.
• Sippel needs 139 tackles to break the Michigan Tech single season tackle record, held by Tyler Kunz (139), set in 1994.
• To crack the single-season top five, he needs 11 tackles over the final two games of the fall.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Tech leads the GLIAC and ranks fourth in NCAA Division II for fewest penalty yards per game (34.8).
• The Huskies last NCAA appearance came in 2014 under head coach Tom Kearly. The team finished 9-2 overall, good for second place in the GLIAC standings.

LAST TIME AGAINST HILLSDALE

• The Huskies won a low-scoring affair in their home opener last fall 14-10. The teams were scoreless at halftime, but Ark connected with Jordan Janssen and Hunter Richards in the endzone, which was enough to lift Tech to victory. 
• The Husky defense was stellar all afternoon and held the Chargers to minus-six total yards and zero first downs through two quarters. 
• The Huskies added pressure up the middle on quarterback Luke Keller with sacks by Josh Cribben, Austin Schlicht, and Nate LaJoie. 
• Ark completed 16 of 32 passes for 238 yards with zero interceptions. 

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS

• The Chargers stunned No. 6 ranked Ashland on Saturday, a previously undefeated squad 36-20. Hillsdale College claimed the traveling trophy between the two rivals for the first time since 2011.
• Keller was near-perfect at quarterback, going 16 of 20 for 218 yards and the passing touchdown, while adding a rushing touchdown on the ground.
• Against the G-MAC's best run defense, Herzog ground out 80 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, good for 4.7 yards a pop, and was critical to Hillsdale putting the game away in the fourth quarter.
• While TeSlaa didn't find the end zone, he did everything else for Hillsdale in a six-catch, 111-yard performance that included multiple spectacular grabs.
• The sophomore became just the sixth player in program history to go over 1,000 receiving yards for a season, and his 1,026 yards are the ninth most in a single season in Chargers history with two games to play. 
• Hillsdale's tight ends also played a big role, as Williams had the touchdown catch and Harding had five catches for 52 yards as well.
• Defensively, Gillock led the Chargers with eight tackles and the pick-six, as well as two pass breakups. Julius Graber added eight tackles and Matt Soderdahl seven for the Chargers, while Kendall Tobin chipped in a sack and Brant Carter and Trevor DeGroote combined on another for Hillsdale.
• Head Coach Keith Otterbein is in his 21st season as leader of the program. Otterbein's 122 victories rank him third on the school's all-time coaching wins list, first among current Great Midwest Athletic Conference coaches.