UP Gazette

Northern Michigan University’s football team opened its 2025 season with a high-scoring contest against Minnesota State University Moorhead, ultimately falling 44-37 at home in Marquette. The Wildcats started strong, building a 21-0 lead and holding a 27-15 advantage at halftime, but the Dragons mounted a second-half comeback to secure the win.

The Wildcats focused on their running game throughout the match, rushing 59 times for a total of 291 yards out of their overall 384 yards of offense. Quarterback Austin Ridl led Northern’s ground attack with a career-best 106 rushing yards. Teammates Noah Dobert and Jahi Wood added 97 and 85 rushing yards respectively. Ridl, Wood, and Nico Lukkarinen each scored touchdowns on the ground for NMU. The team's only passing touchdown came from Duke Shovald to Jake Heemstra.

Minnesota State Moorhead took a different approach, relying heavily on passing plays. Quarterback Jack Strand completed 35 passes for 336 yards and tied his school record by throwing six touchdown passes. Gage Florence was his main target, catching 17 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively for Northern Michigan, Mitch Larkin recorded twelve tackles while Jax Hertel had eleven tackles and returned an interception for his second career pick-six.

The game began with both teams struggling offensively until Northern capitalized on field position after a muffed punt to score first via Jahi Wood’s run. On MSUM's next possession, Hertel intercepted a pass at midfield and returned it for another quick score.

Northern extended its lead with another long drive capped by Shovald’s touchdown pass to Heemstra. MSUM responded with two touchdowns before halftime following an NMU fumble but NMU answered back just before the break with Lukkarinen's short run after significant gains by Ridl.

In the second half, Moorhead narrowed the gap early with another Florence touchdown catch. A fumble by NMU set up MSUM's go-ahead score as Strand found Florence again in the endzone. Another turnover led to yet another Dragon touchdown in what became a decisive stretch of unanswered points.

Northern Michigan continued fighting back late in the fourth quarter; key plays included Dobert’s long run setting up Shovald’s quarterback sneak for a score that brought them within three points at one stage. However, Moorhead quickly responded as Strand threw his sixth touchdown pass of the day to Carson Elbert.

With under two minutes left, Michael Karlen kicked a field goal to bring NMU within seven points but an interception ended their final drive as time expired.

Next week, Northern Michigan will travel to face Northwood on Saturday, September 6th at noon.