WELCOME BACK: Wildcats Take Season Opener
Click the thumbnails to hear player spotlight interviews with Brady Hanson and Deandre Caldwell.
LEBANON,Ill.---The Northern Michigan University football team made a successful return to the field on Saturday with a 27-20 win over the McKendree Bearcats in southern Illinois.
Quarterback Drake Davis threw two touchdown passes and ran in another score in his Wildcat debut. Tyshon King rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown as the ‘Cats played their first game since November, 2019, and won for the first time since September, 2019.
Northern won despite a rough day on special teams, as kicker Daniel Riser missed field goals of 39 and 44 yards, and he hooked an extra point kick in the first half. The Wildcats also overcame a second half fumble by Cox that ended a Wildcat drive.
Davis, a transfer from the University of Illinois, led the ‘Cats on an 86-yard, nine-play drive to start the game. He scored from three yards out and Riser made the extra point kick, putting NMU ahead, 7-0.
The Wildcat defense was dominating in the first half, forcing the Bearcats into multiple three-and-out possessions.
NMU appeared ready to score another touchdown after two punts, but two negative plays near the goal line knocked the team beyond the 20 yard-line at Riser missed the field goal wide left.
Finally, the ‘Cats forced the Bearcats to punt from the back of their end zone and Northern took over at the 37 yard line. It took one play for King to navigate those 37 yards and he scored on a breakaway touchdown to make it 13-0.
Riser’s extra point was missed, though, and it was 13-0 at the half.
The Bearcats came back in the second half as the NMU offense sputtered. They scored a touchdown and added two field goals to tie the game at 13.
Tyquan Cox returned the kickoff 95 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the run was called back by a holding penalty.
But NMU regained the lead in the fourth quarter on another nice drive engineered by Davis. A 18-yard touchdown pass to Yale Van Dyne broke the tie. He is another Big Ten transfer, coming from the University of Minnesota. Van Dyne also made a nice catch earlier in the game and took it inside the five yard line, but NMU failed to score.
McKendree battled back again to retie the game at 20 on an outstanding catch by Steven Towns.
With the game tied at 20, Davis led his team on another long drive. This time it was 75 yards in seven plays, and it ended on Davis’ nine-yard touchdown pass to Cox with less than four minutes on the clock.
NMU’s defense held from there, forcing a punt. Northern converted a 3rd-and-10 on a run by King with 1:49 left and went to the victory formation to run out the clock from there, making for a happy 650-mile bus ride home to Marquette.
Davis completed 10 of 17 passes for 153 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The Wildcats played most of the game without senior captain Deandre Caldwell. He rushed for 73 yards on three carries early in the game before leaving with a leg injury.
NMU (1-0) will host the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in their home opener next Saturday, Sept. 11, at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WUPT-FM (100.3 The Point) in Marquette, and on WCHT (FM-93.5/AM-600) in Escanaba, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.
