The 2010 season was dubbed a new era for the Grand Valley State University football team, but the results were reminiscent of the past.

With an outright GLIAC Championship and a guaranteed postseason appearance on the line, the No. 6 Lakers delivered a 28-7 victory in Saturday’s annual Battle of the Valleys matchup against Saginaw Valley State University.

In an emotionally charged game – the teams exchanged words and needed to be separated during warm ups – the Lakers (10-1, 9-1 GLIAC) never lost their cool or control en route to becoming the first team in GLIAC history to win six consecutive league titles.

“That’s awesome – that’s awesome,” said senior running back Justin Sherrod. “That’s why you come to Grand Valley – to win. With the tradition that we have winning year in and year out, there’s some people who have never won a championship, and we’re winning it like every year. That’s a good feeling.”

Sherrod spearheaded a three-headed running attack that took full advantage of Saginaw Valley’s poor tackling ability. He carried 13 times for 88 yards and a touchdown while senior quarterback Kyle McMahon rushed 16 times for 83 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Norman Shuford had 74 yards on 10 carries to round out the ground assault.

The Lakers rushed for 252 yards as a team in the seventh eclipse of the 200-yard mark this season.

“Our offensive line, two weeks in a row, just dominated the front,” Sherrod said. “We’re getting to the second level and they’re just flying all over the place, throwing your body at you. We kind of knew that they didn’t wrap up. As running backs we kept telling ourselves, ‘Don’t go down easy. Their not really going to wrap up.’ It was just the o-line that was blowing the holes.”

McMahon posted another strong performance, and a great play call by offensive coordinator Eric Koehler led to a 46-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to junior tight end Andrew Lorman.

“I’m the person that (Sherrod) is talking about,” McMahon said. “I’ve never won. I came from a school that wasn’t fortunate enough to be in this position, and coming in and being with this group of guys has been great. Winning this GLIAC Championship the first year is great.”

The offense, however, was by no means perfect. GVSU committed 90 yards in penalties, turned the ball over three times, made bad snaps and dropped touchdown passes.

But the Lakers forced three Saginaw Valley turnovers and, with exception to the opening drive of the second half, never allowed the Cardinals to look overly comfortable on offense despite a multitude of players fighting minor injuries. Senior linebacker Justin Victor had a career-high 14 tackles, sophomore safety Jarrod Cox had a career-high 11 tackles and redshirt freshman linebacker Luther Ware added a sack.

“It feels good, you know, to get (the GLIAC title) outright,” Victor said. “It was an emotional game before the game started. It was a lot going on. Both team’s were getting real hyped. It was hard-hitting action out there, and it’s good to get the win against them.”

GVSU also received strong play out of the special teams. Sophomore cornerback Myron Puryear recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown while redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Stokes converted all of his extra points and also handled punting duties.

The victory gave GVSU its 10th consecutive playoff berth. GVSU is the only team in Division II to make the playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons.

“That’s what you play for, right?” said junior safety Zach Breen. “That’s why we play the game – is to go to the playoffs.”

GVSU entered the weekend as the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Super Region rankings. The top-two seeds in each region receive a first round bye, and the final pairings were released Sunday.

After refusing to talk about the playoffs in the days preceding the game, GVSU head coach Matt Mitchell said he was proud of his team’s accomplishment.

“I’m excited,” said Mitchell, who became the first head coach in school history to win 10 games in his first season. “This is the 10th year in a row we’ve been to the playoffs. That’s pretty good for a decade, this program. That stretches back to Brian Kelly and runs through Chuck Martin and, obviously, to myself.

“I like our kids. I think we have great chemistry and a great team,” he added. “Whoever is going to get us, we’re going to battle you.”

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

“Now we’ve got to take it to the playoffs, kind of switch gears and have a little bit more focus. Realize that we could be one and done, knowing that any game could be our last. We have to clean up the stuff that we missed. We could have put up at least 14 more points tonight. We had a lot of miscues – my interception, bad snaps. Things like that we can just clean up. That’s a quick fix.” – Kyle McMahon

KEY PERFORMERS

Justin Sherrod, running back

Sherrod, a senior, carried 13 times for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Myron Puryear, cornerback

The sophomore recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown.

SCORING SUMMARY

Grand Valley State University 28, Saginaw Valley State University 7

GVSU 7 7 7 7 – 28

SVSU 0 0 7 0 – 7

First Quarter

3:49 GVSU – Kyle McMahon 7 yd run (Ryan Stokes kick)

Second Quarter

2:54 GVSU – Justin Sherrod 3 yd run (Stokes kick)

Third Quarter

12:38 SVSU – Andrew Beaver 17 yd pass from Jason Jennings (Tom Goodroe kick)

6:17 GVSU – Myron Puryear 0 yd blocked punt return (Stokes kick)

Fourth Quarter

4:53 GVSU – Andrew Lorman 46 yd pass from McMahon (Stokes kick)