The Grand Valley State University Lakers’ football team played their final away game of the year, beating the Wayne State University Warriors in Detroit, Michigan in a dominant effort from the start to move to 8-1 on the season.
Moving to 19-1 against the Warriors in the two program’s last 20 matchups, GVSU burst onto the scene with a big lead after scoring on their first drive of the game and then blocking a punt led to a 1-yard Tariq Reid touchdown run. One drive later, Lakers’ quarterback Cade Peterson completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Jordan Johnson.
Just over 10 minutes into the game, GVSU already led 21-0. In the blink of an eye, they stretched their lead to 35-0, scoring on their first five drives of the competition. The game was all but over by halftime.
Peterson, who went a near-perfect 10-for-11 with 136 yards and three touchdowns, would not play in the second half, along with several other key Lakers. Lakers’ head coach Scott Wooster said GVSU made a “wholesale substitution” at halftime to get some of their depth pieces more playing time and to rest his starters to help their playoff run.
“It’s happened like three or four times this year. Whenever you don’t play the entire second half, you know, you want to be out there and play, but it’s because you guys are in a good position in the game and a lot of guys are playing. It’s good to get rest for your body, so it’s gonna be vitally important going forward,” Peterson said.
The 35-point lead that the Lakers amassed would not be their biggest of the game. GVSU got scores from eight different players, including three of the Johnson wide receivers: Jordan, Donovan and Darrell en route to 49 unanswered points.
Reid said playing several different players and getting them meaningful minutes is valuable to the team’s growth and development, as well as their ability to fill in if injury were to happen.
“It’s just good to build that depth because, you know, anything can happen in football. So, you want to be deep in every position,” Reid said.
The Lakers eventually won 66-10 in another obliterating performance. A touchdown with less than a minute left was the only non-field goal allowed by GVSU’s vaunted defense in a performance where they had given up just two field goals prior. They welcomed several backups to the field and were still able to control the game in all phases with a dominant offense, special teams and a stifling defensive performance.
“We like to call that the aspect of ‘the brotherhood’ because it’s like, wherever offense may be lacking or defense may be lacking, they kind of pick each other up. But if we were both dominating the game, it’s a beautiful thing to watch,” Reid said.
Wooster was making a return to his alma mater for the first time as head coach of the Lakers in the dominant win. After playing there for three seasons from 1997 through 1999 he also coached with WSU for 11 years before coming to GVSU.
“There’s obviously some emotion. This game for me and for us, it’s about relationships. It’s about people. It’s about connections. Anytime you go back there, you’ve spent a lot of time there and there’s a lot of relationships and connections. Some amazing people I coach, amazing people I’ve coached with,” Wooster said.
The Lakers will take on the ninth-ranked Davenport University Panthers at Lubbers Stadium in Allendale, Michigan for a 1 p.m. kickoff in what the Lakers’ head coach called “a championship game.”
Previewing the matchup, Wooster looked ahead at both sides of the ball for the Panthers where they had won eight straight games to begin the year.
“It’s a championship football team. Already a really good defense from last year, and they got faster on defense. Now, offensively, the great combination of being explosive through the throw game and being able to push the ball down the field,” Wooster said.
Davenport (8-1) is coming off a 28-10 loss at home against No. seven Ferris State University this past weekend, their first loss of the season.
