No. 10 ranked Grand Valley State University continued their 2021 season with another big win over Wisconsin-La Crosse Saturday, Sept. 18. at Lubbers Stadium. This was the fourth matchup ever between the two teams, and the first since 1986.

With the sun shining bright and perfect football weather, GVSU opened up the game electing to receive the kickoff. On their first offensive drive, the Lakers managed to drive the ball down the field. Sophomore quarterback, Cade Peterson, threw a 42-yard long ball to junior wide-out Hunter Rison to set up the Lakers in the red zone. A two-yard touchdown run by sophomore Tariq Reid ended the drive to put the Lakers first on the board, 7-0.

After a quick three-and-out by Wisconsin-La Crosse, GVSU got the ball back with decent field position. Peterson threw an interception that led to the Eagles driving down the field to score. Wisconsin-La Crosse quarterback, Jakob Parks, threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jake Simuncak to tie the game at 7-7.

With a chance to take the lead back, the Lakers came out on offense and then fumble the ball on their own side of the field. Parks then scored with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Simuncak for his second touchdown of the game. The Eagles would take a 14-7 lead halfway thru the first quarter.

To open the second quarter, Wisconsin-La Crosse drove down the field to try and take a three-score lead, but the GVSU defense stood their ground and forced the Eagles to go for the field goal, extending their lead 17-7.

After a missed field goal attempt, the Laker’s defense stood their ground again and forced Wisconsin-La Crosse to a three-and-out. The Lakers then scored in two plays with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Peterson to Rison to cut the Eagles lead down, 17-14.

With a determination to take the lead before the half, junior running back, Aryuan Cain-Veasey, scored on a two-yard run and gave the Lakers their first lead since the beginning of the game, 21-17. On that run, Cain-Veasey went down in the GVSU football record books for having 1,000 career all-purpose rushing yards in 15 career games.

The third quarter started well for the Lakers as they were able to cap a five play, 90-yard drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown, this time by junior running-back, Jack Provencher. The Lakers extended their lead 28-17.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Lakers would kick a field goal and continue to add on to their lead, 31-17.

With the Eagles trailing large, they desperately needed a score to make it a game again. Wisconsin-La Crosse would end up scoring after Parks’ 7-yard touchdown pass to Eagles receiver, Cameron Sorenson.

But the Lakers wouldn’t take their foot off the gas just yet, as they marched down to their side of the field. Cade Peterson would find his brother, Drew Peterson to set up the Lakers in the red zone. The drive would be capped off with Peterson’s pass to sophomore wide-out, Daevon Anderson, for a 20-yard touchdown and the Lakers lead continued to grow, 38-24.

“Obviously it’s a special one,” Cade said on making the pass. “I didn’t really think about it before the game, but he’s another tight-end receiver and the completion is more important.”

After a turnover-on-downs by Wisconsin-La Crosse, GVSU would cap it off with yet another score. Senior running-back and team captain, Bryce Young-Walls, ran 29 yards to score and put him at 1,000 rushing yards during his career here at GVSU. The Lakers lead would extend even larger, 45-24 with just under 2 minutes left in the game.

Young-Walls and Cain-Veasey would be the 37th and 38th Lakers to get to the 1,000-rushing mark. Six different Lakers would score in the game, with team captain, Hunter Rison, leading the way with two receptions and 107 yards. Cade Peterson went 12 for 17 with 214 yards and two touchdowns.

“The good is 2-0, we didn’t play great but got an opportunity to grow,” said coach Matt Mitchell. “I’m really proud of the fact that we had two guys tonight go for 1,000 yards. Defensively, we did a better job in the second half of containing the run. I like the feel in the locker, they’re happy they got the win, but I can see there’s a sense of we didn’t play well and they’re not content with that.”

The Lakers will play their first away game this week on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Michigan Technological University. Their game starts at 1 p.m. and they’ll face off against the Huskies for the first time in almost exactly two years.

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Lauren Seymour

GVL / Lauren Seymour