It was a tale of two halves for the Grand Valley State University football team’s defensive unit against Lake Erie College Saturday night at Lubbers Stadium.

After yielding 337 yards of total offense and 23 points to the Storm in the first half, the top-ranked Lakers rebounded to hold Lake Erie scoreless over the final two quarters of play in a 57-23 victory.

“The talk at halftime was that we got punched in the mouth in the first half and that was behind us,” said GVSU head coach Matt Mitchell after his team remained unbeaten (7-0, 6-0 GLIAC). “We had to decide what we wanted to do with the second half. If we were going to respond to that, if we were going to step up a little bit and do something about it.”

Redshirt freshman safety Erik Thompson’s interception of Lake Erie quarterback Sean Bedevelsky on the Storm’s first drive of the second half set the tone for the final two periods. GVSU allowed only 157 yards of offense to Lake Erie in the second half while forcing two fumbles and intercepting two passes.

Senior safety Matt Bakker’s 87-yard interception return to Lake Erie’s 12-yard line capped off the strong defensive turnaround. The interception set up a 28-yard field goal by senior kicker Luke Briggs.

“I think the first half it was kind of just all intensity and the attitude that we came out there with,” said Bakker. “It wasn’t how we were supposed to be playing defense. We put that on ourselves.”

Junior safety Zach Breen and senior linebacker Justin Victor led the defense with 10 tackles apiece, while Bakker and redshirt freshman cornerback Michael Hatcher each contributed seven tackles.

Senior quarterback Kyle McMahon paced the GVSU offense by completing 15-of-31 passes for 265 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for a three-yard score in the third quarter. McMahon’s four passing touchdown performance was the first by a Lakers’ signal caller since Brad Iciek against Ashland University in 2008.

Three of McMahon’s scoring tosses found the hands of junior wide receiver Greg Gay. Helped significantly by yards gained after the catch, Gay hauled in touchdowns of 29, 49 and 20 yards in the first quarter as GVSU jumped out to an early 19-6 lead. He finished with eight catches for 137 yards.

“The two out of three touches I had were on screen plays,” said Gay. “So I have got to give a lot of credit to the o-line and the receivers blocking down field. They made it look easy for me. So a lot of credit to them.”

Lake Erie received three field goals from Sam Marcotte and Nick Yeager’s 25-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter momentarily gave the Storm a 20-19 lead after the resulting extra point. Bedevelsky passed for 272 yards and rushed for 95 yards.

Senior running back Justin Sherrod had a 33-yard touchdown in the second quarter and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from McMahon in the third quarter. Sherrod tallied 118 yards rushing on 11 carries, while sophomore Norman Shuford added 29 yards on seven attempts.

With a 31-yard reception shortly before halftime, senior wide receiver Ryan Bass became the 29th player in GVSU history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards.

Lake Erie (0-7, 0-6 GLIAC) remained winless with the loss. The Storm are in their first season as a member of the GLIAC and are a third-year program overall.

SCORING SUMMARY

Grand Valley State University 57, Lake Erie College 23

GVSU 19 8 14 16 – 57
LEC 6 17 0 0 – 23

First Quarter
13:23 GVSU – Greg Gay 29 yd pass from Kyle McMahon (Luke Briggs kick)
7:14 LEC – Sam Morcotte 38 yd field goal
6:10 GVSU – Gay 49 yd pass from McMahon (Briggs kick failed)
1:35 LEC – Marcotte 35 yd field goa
0:06 GVSU – Gay 20 yd pass from McMahon (Briggs kick failed)
Second Quarter
10:16 LEC – Sean Bedevelsky 12 yd run (Marcotte kick)
7:05 LEC – Nick Yeager 25 yd pass from Bedevelsky (Marcotte kick)
2:41 GVSU – Justin Sherrod 33 yd run (Sherrod run)
0:40 LEC – Marcotte 33 yd field goal
Third Quarter
12:56 GVSU – McMahon 3 yd run (Briggs kick)
3:46 GVSU – Sherrod 12 yd pass from McMahon (Briggs kick)
Fourth Quarter
12:25 GVSU – Norman Shuford 10 yd run (Briggs kick failed)
7:51 GVSU – Luke Briggs 28 yd field goal
1:44 GVSU – Heath Parling 5 yd run (Briggs kick)