The Grand Valley State University football team continues to struggle with certain parts of its game, but the Lakers also continue to win.

Despite going almost two quarters without a score, No. 1-ranked GVSU took home a 28-7 victory against Northern Michigan University Saturday night in front of a Homecoming crowd of 12,307 people.

The Lakers dominated most of the game – jumping out to a 21-0 halftime lead – but the offense went stagnant for a large part of the second half.

“We got off to a good start on both sides of the ball,” said GVSU head coach Matt Mitchell after his team improved its unbeaten record to 6-0 (5-0 GLIAC). “I thought our offense moved the ball well against their defense and we got some stops.

“We weren’t doing anything any different than we did in the first quarter (in the second half),” Mitchell said. “We weren’t. We were running the same things. Some outside zone. Doing some similar things as the first quarter. Obviously, we were not doing them as effectively because we were going through them pretty easily in the first quarter.”

Senior quarterback Kyle McMahon snapped the scoring drought and capped off the Laker victory with his 14-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Israel Woolfork with 4:29 to play in the fourth quarter.

GVSU’s offense was led by stellar rushing performances by running backs Justin Sherrod and Norman Shuford. Sherrod, a senior, tallied 109 yards on 13 carries, and the sophomore Shuford had 83 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. As a team, the Lakers rushed for 315 yards on 49 carries – the second straight week in which the team eclipsed the 300-yard plateau on the ground.

Mitchell said Northern Michigan’s defensive game plan allowed for his team to utilize its ground game. The Lakers possessed the football for more than 36 minutes, thanks in large part to the rushing attack.

“When our offensive coordinator (Eric Koehler) came into the locker room (at halftime) he told us that we would be running the ball into certain looks,” said Shuford. “My face lit up like a lightbulb. I was so happy and I know Justin Sherrod was also.”

The GVSU defense picked up the slack while the offense struggled during the middle part of the game. The Lakers surrendered a single touchdown – a 17-yard run by Northern Michigan’s John Privitelli in the third quarter.

After senior kicker Luke Briggs missed a 32-yard field goal attempt wide right late in the first half, Northern Michigan used a no-huddle offense to push deep into GVSU territory. Aided by penalties – GVSU would be flagged 10 times in total during the game – the Wildcats marched to the Lakers’ four-yard line. However, the GVSU defense did not break and forced a turnover on downs by Northern Michigan to keep them scoreless in the half.

“That was a big stop,” said junior safety Zach Breen. “One: That put confidence back into our team that we could stop them no what they do to us. And then two: They were able to make that drive, and we were getting tired out there. But, we just said, ‘Hey, we got to step up. We got to play the killer (defense) that we are. We’ve got to play that Laker defense.’”

Senior linebacker Justin Victor had nine tackles to lead GVSU. Breen totaled six tackles and two sacks. The team allowed only three rushing yards on 10 attempts to Northern Michigan in the first half.

The Lakers found the end zone on their first three possessions of the game.

McMahon hit junior tight end Andrew Lorman for a nine-yard score on GVSU’s game-opening drive.

Shuford tacked on scoring runs of four yards and one yard to round out the first half.

GVSU has now won 10 straight games against Northern Michigan.

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SCORING SUMMARY

Grand Valley State University 28, Northern Michigan University 7

GVSU 14 7 0 7 – 28
NMU 0 0 7 0 – 7

First Quarter
11:17 GVSU – Andrew Lorman 9 yd pass from Kyle McMahon (Luke Briggs kick)
4:38 GVSU – Norman Shuford 4 yd run (Briggs kick)
Second Quarter
13:01 GVSU – Shuford 1 yd run (Briggs kick)
Third Quarter
3:28 NMU – John Privitelli 17 yd run (Rockne Belmonte kick)
Fourth Quarter
4:29 GVSU – Israel Woolfork 14 yd pass from McMahon (Briggs kick)