A few lopsided football games will not stop Grand Valley State University head coach Matt Mitchell from doing his job.

With an insurmountable lead and the second-string players in the game, some coaches might settle for a little less than the best from their reserves. Mitchell, however, proved in Saturday’s 71-10 thumping of Tiffin University that he will not tolerate mistakes from any of his players.

Despite a 55-10 lead in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, the first-year head coach was heard yelling out plays and pointing out missed assignments to his defensive backups from across the stadium.

“All of our coaching staff and myself especially, we coach them all the same way,” said Mitchell, whose No. 1-ranked team remained unbeaten with the victory. “Our twos were missing some assignments, and so I wasn’t going to back down the way we were coaching. I don’t care what the score is.”

GVSU (5-0, 4-0 GLIAC) snatched a 28-3 first-quarter lead against the Dragons, allowing backups on both sides of the football to gain valuable experience for nearly three quarters. As was the case against the University of Findlay, all players who traveled to Tiffin appeared in the game. Even with the reserves playing, the Lakers had no trouble manhandling the hapless Dragons.

“We may have us an injury and one of those guys might have to step up and play,” Mitchell said. “My expectation levels for all our kids are the same, whether the score is 55-10 or whatever it is, we’re going to coach them hard.”

Redshirt freshman quarterback Heath Parling saw his first action of his collegiate career in relief of starter Kyle McMahon and looked impressive against the Tiffin defense. Parling, who sits third on the Lakers depth chart behind seniors McMahon and senior Marquel Neasman, first entered the game late in the first quarter and scored on a three-yard run in the second quarter. He completed 7-of-9 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

“It was real exciting,” he said. “To be honest, I wasn’t that nervous. That’s not the best team we’re ever going to play. But, I was confident in myself, really, and my teammates. It was pretty fun, but it was just like practice really.”

Other GVSU offensive reserves also contributed positively. Redshirt freshmen running backs Billy Seiler and Michael Ratay combined for 190 yards rushing on just 10 carries, helping the Lakers to a 12.4 yards per carry average, which is the highest single-game average in school history.

Tiffin’s offense managed only a field goal with the GVSU starters in the game. Against the Lakers’ second and third-string reserves, units made up mostly of freshman, the Dragons could only muster one more score, a 21-yard pass from Nate Scully to David Singleton in the third quarter.

Reserve defensive lineman Hunter Charneski, a redshirt freshman transfer from St. Cloud State University, returned a Tiffin fumble for a 29-yard score early in the third quarter. Redshirt freshman linebacker Jordan Kaufman contributed on special teams with a 68-yard kickoff return to Tiffin’s one-yard line. Redshirt freshman defensive back Charles Hill led the Lakers with 8 total tackles.

“That’s a credit to coach Mitch,” Charneski said. “He coaches it up hard. We get reps during practice, and he’s going to come down on us when we mess up. So it’s important that when we do go out there, when we do get chances, we have to execute all of the time.”

After winning the first three games of the season by a combined 13 points, the Lakers outscored Findlay and Tiffin on the road trip by a total of 89 points.

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