Story, photo courtesy of Northwood University Sports Information. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear RRN player spotlight interviews with Jake Dudeck and Trevor Hiller.

MIDLAND---Northwood football earns their first win of the season thanks to a big second half, defeating Northern Michigan 37-20 on Saturday. They outscored NMU 34-7 in the sevond half after the Wildcats dominated much of the first half

The Northwood defense started the game strong, getting a stop and setting the Timberwolves on the Northern Michigan 49. The Timberwolves took advantage, as Parker Blust capitalized the drive with a 21-yard field goal to give Northwood the early 3-0 advantage.

The Wildcats responded in quick fashion with a two-play, 56-yard drive that ended with a 54-yard touchdown by DJ Stewart. This put the score at 7-3 in Northern Michigan's favor.
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Northern Michigan got the possession back directly after, intercepting the first pass of the Timberwolf drive. They traveled 17 yards down the field before completing a Daniel Riser 47-yard field goal attempt to extend their lead, 10-3.

Neither team put points on the board in the second quarter until Riser nailed a 43-yard field goal with just five seconds remaining in the half. This put the score at 13-3 going into the break.

In the third quarter, the Timberwolves picked up some momentum. Malik Edmundson got Northwood rolling with a huge blocked field goal and recovery, taking it 36 yards down the field for a NU touchdown and cutting into the Northern Michigan lead. The extra point was unsuccessful, putting the score at 13-9.

The Northwood defense picked up where the offense left off. On the first two plays of the following Northern drive, the Timberwolves came up with an interception by Dylan Zagula

In exciting fashion, the Timberwolf run continued as Ty Cox connected with John Hall on the very first play of the drive for a 31-yard touchdown. Blust's kick attempt was good, allowing Northwood to reclaim the lead, 16-13. NU went from down 13-3 to up 16-13 in just 1:04 of game time.

The break between quarters did not slow down the Timberwolves. Just four seconds into the fourth quarter, Cox found Mikah Price in the endzone. The 15-yard touchdown was the Timberwolves' 20th unanswered point and extended the Northwood lead to 23-13 with just under a quarter to play.

With 10:12 remaining in the game, the Wildcats found the endzone. Northern Michigan finished a 9 play, 76-yard drive with a one-yard rush by Zach Keen to put the score at 23-20.

With just over five minutes remaining, the Wildcats faced 4th and 9 at the Northwood 37. Northwood Mahlon Slaughter and Damond Carter came up with a huge sack for a loss of 11 yards, forcing a turnover on downs and gaining possession at their own 48-yard line.

Just three plays later, Cox connected with Christian Martinez for a 40-yard touchdown with under four minutes to go in the game, putting the score at 30-20 and giving the Timberwolves some breathing room.

With Northern Michigan looking to make something happen on the following drive, Jace Parrish intercepted the pass from Davis on the very first play to give possession back to Northwood on the Wildcats' 44.
 

Not letting up, the Timberwolves officially put the Wildcats out of reach with a 49-yard rushing touchdown by Cashual Goldsmith that gave Northwood the 37-20 lead with under two minutes to go.

Erik Santiago added an interception of his own at the Northern Michigan 8-yard line with over a minute left in the game. The Timberwolves let the clock run out as they earned their first victory of the 2021 season over the Wildcats.
 

Northern's Drake Davis threw for 195 yards and one touchdown in the game. He was 15-27 on the day before coming out of the game.

In Zach Keen's time as quarterback he was 7-11 for 91 yards. The freshman came in the game with a little over 14 minutes left.

Davis led in rushing for NMU with nine attempts for a total of 30 yards.

DJ Stewart caught the Wildcat touchdown pass and had 54 yards receiving. Loutsis led the 'Cats receivers in total yards with 67.

On defense, Will Borchert had a game-high 12 total tackles and led both teams in solo tackles with eight. Antonio Howard Jr. and Andre Whitley were next for NMU with six total tackles each.

Whitley and John McMullen each had a sack for the Wildcats while Edward Pierson and Michael Nehf shared credit on another sack.

Josh Shodipo picked off the defense for his first interception of the year.