UP Gazette

The Northern Michigan University football team lost a close game to the Northwood Timberwolves, 23-18, on Saturday at Hantz Stadium in Midland, Michigan. This marks the second straight week that the Wildcats have come up short in their efforts to secure a win.

Northern Michigan relied heavily on its passing game. Quarterback Duke Shovald completed 14 of 24 passes for 232 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Hayden May. The ground attack added another 164 yards, with Jahi Wood scoring on a rushing play. Kicker Michael Karlen contributed with a 40-yard field goal, while Damarcus Chappell scored two points for the Wildcats by stopping a run for a safety.

Noah Dobert led Northern Michigan’s rushing effort with 89 yards on 14 carries. Isaac Olson had the longest reception of the day for NMU with a 60-yard catch.

Despite outgaining Northwood by more than 140 yards—396 total yards to Northwood’s 255—and recording ten more first downs, turnovers proved costly for Northern Michigan. The Wildcats committed three turnovers (two interceptions and one fumble), while Northwood did not turn the ball over during the game.

Defensively, Jax Hertel led NMU with seven tackles, including two tackles for loss. Jake Price and Brady Redmer combined for a sack, and Xavier Martinez broke up one pass.

Northwood started strong after recovering an early Wildcat fumble, scoring first on Devin Brown’s 15-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the opening quarter. They extended their lead to 10-0 following a field goal midway through the first quarter.

NMU responded early in the second quarter when Chappell tackled an opposing rusher in the end zone for a safety: “Chappell read an outside handoff and buried the rusher in the endzone for a safety.” That brought NMU within eight points at 10-2.

Later in the second quarter, Jahi Wood capped off an eight-play drive with a three-yard touchdown run. However, NMU failed to convert on their two-point attempt: “An unsuccessful 2-point conversion kept the score at 10-8 with 7:47 before halftime.” Northwood then added another field goal before halftime to make it 13-8 at intermission.

The Timberwolves opened up the second half by returning the kickoff for a touchdown from nearly full field length: “The Timberwolves took the kickoff back 97 yards to quickly jump back ahead by two scores.” Karlen’s field goal was NMU’s only score of that third quarter as they trailed going into the final period.

A late fourth-quarter push saw Shovald orchestrate an eleven-play drive covering ninety-seven yards in just over ninety seconds: “Shovald led a methodical 11-play, 97-yard drive in just 1:31 to close the gap to 23-18.” He found May for his first career touchdown from thirteen yards out but an attempted onside kick was unsuccessful as time expired.

Northern Michigan will look to rebound next Saturday when they return home to face Division I St. Thomas at Superior Dome with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m.