The fall season is underway for 1,042 student athletes on 76 high schools teams participating in the Michigan State High School Clay Target League programs. The MISHSCTL is a part of the USA Clay Target League, which provides clay target shooting sports as an extracurricular activity to thousands of schools nationwide. There are two Upper Peninsula high school teams with students taking part in these actitivies: Escanaba and Norway High Schools.
Northern Michigan University announced Sunday that Steve Mariucci's No. 18 Wildcat football jersey willl be retired. The news was first revealed in a surprise video message from Mariucci's lifelong friend, Hall of Fame basketball coach and fellow NMU alum Tom Izzo, which aired on NFL Network's GameDay Morning on Sunday.
Mariucci's jersey will be officially raised to the rafters of the Superior Dome on Saturday, October 11, as a highlight of NMU's 50th Anniversary Celebration honoring the Wildcats' historic 1975 National Championship team.
Further details regarding the celebration weekend (October 9-11) can be found here.
Despite a tightly contested match throughout, the Northern Michigan volleyball team fell to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in straight sets, 22-25, 22-25, and 23-25. It was a highlight match for freshman Kaylie McIntosh, as she recorded 15 kills to lead all players. Her seven kills in the opening set were the most for a Wildcat in a single set so far this season. On the service line, Taylor Smaka impressed with five aces, tied for the second-most by a Wildcat over the last two seasons.
The Bay College Norse women's volleyball team split two matches at a triangular meet Saturday in Ironwood, falling to the Rainy River (Minn.) Voyageurs, 3-0 (18-25, 22-25, 23-25) before beating the host Gogebic Community College Samsons in a marathon match, 3-1 (25-11, 25-14, 27-29, 26-24).
The Northern Michigan football team held a 7-6 lead halfway through the fourth quarter against Division I St. Thomas, but two late touchdowns from the Tommies proved enough to down the Wildcats, 20-7. It is NMU's 25th straight football loss over the past three seasons.
The Michigan Tech football team once again used a full team effort to move to 3-0 on the season, securing a 34-21 victory over Hillsdale at Frank "Muddy" Waters Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Kingsford Flivvers football team jumped to a big early lead and cruised to a 25-13 win over the Gladstone Braves Friday night at the Marble Athletic Field. The game was played in Gladstone because major renovations at Flivver Field are not yet completed. Flivver senior quarterback Jack Kriegl, a Michigan Tech University recruit, rushed for a touchdown on the ground and threw two touchdown passes in the win. Kingsford's defense also scored four points on a pair of safeties.
The Escanaba High School football team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 27-10 win over the defending conference champion Petoskey Northmen Friday night in Petokey. Senior quarterback Nolan Bink threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Brody Ison and one to Alex Stalboerger. Senior placekicker Graham Johnson kicked a school-record 42-yard field goal in the win.
The Rapid River High School volleyball team won its second match of the season Thursday night, outlasting the rival Mid Peninsula Wolverines, 3-2, in a marathon match at Mid Pen High School. The scores were 23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12. The Rockets program did not win a match in 2022, 2023, or 2024.
The NMU men's soccer team played tough regional foe and reigning GLVC Champions, the Lewis University Flyers, to a 0-0 draw in Illinois Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats remain unbeaten through their first three matches as they head into Sunday's clash against a winless Lake Erie squad.
The NMU women's soccer team dropped its first match of the season on Thursday, a 1-0 decision to the Northwood Timberwolves. With the loss, the Wildcats move to 0-1-2 overall to start the Egolf era, with one more regional match looming on the horizon this Saturday.
Northern Michigan University will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its 1975 NCAA Division II champion football team with several events for alumni and campus/community members Thursday, Oct. 9, through Saturday, Oct. 11. The Wildcats achieved the most remarkable turnaround in the history of NCAA or professional sports by following a winless season with a championship.
The Bay College Norse athletic department hosted a high school cross country meet on Saturday for the first time ever, using the Farmhouse course in Flat Rock, the same venue that hosted the MHSAA high school U.P. Finals several times in recent years. Negaunee's girls (pictured) and Gladstone's boys took the team trophies.
In a blustery Saturday afternoon matchup, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats men's soccer team secured its first win of 2025, downing the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils 2-1 to round out the opening weekend.
The Northern Michigan University football team could not break its losing streak on Saturday, losing to Northwood University, 23-18, in Midland. NMU has not son a game since late in the 2022 season. NMU has lost 24 straight football games, going back to the 2023 season.
The Negaunee High School football team used its strength in the trenches to overwhelm the Gladstone Braves, 25-2, in a high school football game Friday night at the Marble Athletic Field. It was a hard-hitting game all night by both teams, a typical Gladstone-Negaunee physical battle like so many others in this rivalry.
In a non-conference competition to open the 2025 season, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats faced off against the St. Cloud State Huskies Friday afternoon. Both teams tallied late in the second half, and the clash would end in a 1-1 draw.
The Michigan Tech football team once again used a full team effort to bask in victory with a 45-9 decision on the road over South Dakota Mine at O'Harra Stadium on a windy Thursday evening. Despite the long trek to the Mount Rushmore State, the Huskies were primed and ready from the jump, with the defense forcing a fumble on the first drive with defensive tackle Pierce Miller forcing a fumble on the Hardrockers second play of the day. The Black & Gold followed that up with a blocked punt by Desmond Mullen, tracked down by Kolby Hindenach for Michigan Tech's first touchdown, setting the tone for the night defensively.
The new-look Northern Michigan volleyball team opened up the 2025 season in grand fashion, defeating (RV) Wheeling University in four sets at the SpringHill Suites Invitational in the Sunshine State. The Wildcats dropped the opening set 17-25, but once the group got into rhythm and found its identity, the Green and Gold looked like they were in midseason form, winning the following three sets 25-21, 26-24, and 25-16.
The West Virginia University Mountaineers men's golf team finished what it started on Monday, cruising to a resounding victory at the Island Resort Collegiate at Sage Run. The Mountaineers followed up Sunday's 40-under par performance with another stellar performance on Monday, shooting 15-under par to finish the tournament with a sizzling 55-under par 809 to win the 54-hole event.
The Bay College Norse Volleyball Team (4-3) lost just one set in three matches this weekend, coming out of a Minnesota trip with three wins and riding the high of a four-match win streak. On Friday they swept Anoka-Ramsey Community College (1-5) in three straight sets, before doing the same to their hosts for the evening Century College (0-5). On Saturday they travelled to Inver Grove Heights and defeated Dakota County Technical College (2-3) three sets to one.
The first day of the Island Resort Collegiate in Harris saw the West Virginia University Mountaineers dominate play for most of the 36 holes at the Sage Run Golf Course. WVU shot 18 under par in the first round, and then followed that up with a school-record 22 under par, finishing with a 40-under par 536. The Mountaineers are five shots clear of second place Purdue, which won last year’s tournament. Photo courtesy of West Virginia University.
The Gladstone Braves and Durand Railroaders battled in a back-and-forth football game Friday night in Lower Michigan, and the normal four quarters weren’t enough to settle the outcome. The Railroaders won the game in overtime, 28-22, after the Braves turned the ball over on their final possession in regulation time, and on their only possession in overtime.
The Escanaba High School football team rallied from eleven points down in the final quarter to beat the Kingsford Flivvers, 21-18, Thursday night, at the Escanaba Athletic Field. Brody Ison’s “jump-pass” to Alex Stolboerger for a touchdown put the Eskymos in the lead with three minutes left, and Keagan Braun's interception with 27 seconds left sealed the win.
The Michigan Tech football squad earned its first top-25 win in nearly six years after a convincing 37-17 win over the No. 16 nationally-ranked Bemidji State Beavers at Kearly Stadium on Thursday evening. The first ranked win since Sept. 7, 2019, was made possible by the Black & Gold shutting out the Beavers in the second half while rattling off 21 points of their own to overcome a first-half deficit (16-14).
The Northern Michigan football team jumped out to a 21-0 lead and carried a 27-15 advantage into halftime, but Minnesota State University Moorhead rallied with a 29-10 second half to defeat the Wildcats in shootout fashion, 44-37, in the first game of the 2025 season. The game would hold true to each team's strength, as Northern dominated the ground game, rushing 59 times to MSUM's 14. NMU rushed for 291 yards while totaling 384 yards of offense. QB Austin Ridl ran for a career-best 106 yards while Noah Dobert (97) and Jahi Wood (85) weren't far behind.
The Bay College Norse volleyball team opened its season with four matches over the weekend at a tournament in Rockford, Illinois. The Norse won one match and lost the other three.
The Superiorland men’s league championship game was held in the rain Monday night in Escanaba, and the host Mikey D’s Beer Cave team won the championship in six innings, 11-1, over the Channing Railroaders.
Northern Michigan University football head coach Shane Richardson has announced an open tryout for the 2025 NMU football team. The tryout will take place on Wednesday, August 27th at 6 p.m. at the Superior Dome. To participate in the tryout, students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours for the fall semester at NMU and maintain good academic standing.
The Marquette High School boys soccer team opened the 2025 season with five matches against strong downstate competition this weekend, and ended up winning three matches, losing one, and another ending in a scoreless draw. One of the wins was against Fruitport, the team that eliminated Marquette in the regionals in each of the past two years.
