HAPPY HALLOWEEN PART DEUX:  

PACKER-THEMED PUMPKINS. ENJOY 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (& OCTOBERFEST) FROM THE PACKER FRAULEINS

 

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"If you're not sleeping in Atlanta, you're camping out." 

- NMU Grad Jerry Glanville as quoted by ESPN upon his arrival at the Atlanta airport regarding rumors of his taking the Falcons job.  I once asked him what it meant and as I recall it vaguely has something to do with the Civil War.  Great Glanville factoids:  a) he traded Brett Favre to the Packers; and b) he later coached Portland State whom NMU lost to in the 1987 D2 Semis.

Elvis has left the building!!

ONE MORE THING . . . . .

SUCK IT BUCKY!!

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Football linemen are motivated by a more complicated, self-determining series of factors than the simple fear of humiliation in the public gaze, which is the emotion that galvanizes the backs and receivers." Merlin Olsen

MI HIGH SCHOOL PLAY-OFF UPDATE 

MENOMINEE MAROONS SMASH KINGSLEY STAGS 49-16

 

 

Gary Stewart's Maroons smashed one of my old Northwest Conference foes, the Kingsley Stags, 49-16.  I took less joy than I normally would as my nephew JT is now Kingsley's AD and the youngest AD in Michigan according to the MHSAA. Good to Stew's Maroons versus Fatty Ghering's Kingsford Fliivers in the Hofer Bowl

 

 

CAT CHAT  

CATS DOWN NORTHWOOD TO GO 3-6 ON THE YEAR.

FACE SAGINAW VALLEY ON SATURDAY.

MIDLAND, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University football team picked up its first road win of the season on its final road trip of the season on Saturday (Oct. 27). The Wildcats scored a touchdown in the each of the first three quarters and defeated the Northwood Timberwolves 21-13 from Hantz Stadium.

With the win, NMU is now 3-6 overall and 2-6 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The ‘Cats wrap up the season with two home games against Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State on the next two Saturdays.

Junior receiver Christian Jessie scored the first two NMU touchdowns on receptions from junior quarterback Cody Scepaniak. The first was scored with 1:18 left in the first quarter as the two hooked up for a 60-yard touchdown reception. NMU went 74 yards in three plays to take the lead after Northwood got on the board first on a 38-yard reception from Mark Morris to Carrington Thompson but missed the point after try.

Two and a half minutes into the second quarter, NMU took an eight-point lead with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Scepaniak to Jessie. It was another quick five-play, 84-yard drive.
Northwood (4-5, 3-5 GLIAC) pulled to within one (14-13) on a two-yard touchdown run by Jordan Jonker midway through the third quarter.

NMU scored its final touchdown on the very next drive as Scepaniak dashed one yard to the endzone after a 13-play, 54-yards drive.

The Timberwolves missed a field goal in the fourth quarter, were intercepted in the endzone by redshirt freshman Levi Perry and had the ball deep in NMU territory but threw two incomplete passes from the eight yard line and turned the ball over on downs with 11 seconds left.

The Wildcats finished with 361 yards of total offense on 179 rushing and 182 yards passing. NMU was 4-for-12 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth down.

Scepaniak finished 9-for-18 for 182 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed 25 times for a game-high 133 yards and a touchdown. Junior Casey Cotta finished with 47 rushing yards on 14 carries. Jessie had 126 yards receiving on three catches, including two for touchdowns.

Sophomore Nick Krause and senior Zach Anderson led the defense with 10 total tackles each. Krause had eight solo tackles, two assisted, one and a half tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a broken up pass. Senior Eddie Knoblock chipped in with six total tackles.

Northern hosts Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. on Nov. 3 at the Superior Dome.
 

HAPPY FRIDAY PART DEUX 

 

HAPPY FRIDAY

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings."

-George Will ,  a noted baseball fan.
 

 

 

THROWBACK THURSDAY
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION --  GRADUATION 1992

Graduation Weekend Mayhem, 1992, featuring Chuck who came up for the softball weekend and ended up staying through to graduation a month later, Strube, who moved in mid-second semester and paid us a sleeve of chew as his rent, and Stitch Jones, a first semester resident who had moved on to student teaching (he's in the 1970's vintage Suttons Bay Norsemen helmet).   

Elvis comes to 1434 - With NMU Alum and then Atlanta Falcon Coach Jerry Glanville.  Glanville stopped me at an official graduation function and said "Hey, where are the good parties tonight?"  

Before the weekend was over, we partied with Jerry Glanville, furniture was smashed, a neck was broken, shaving cream artwork was displayed (check out the windows in the picture below and imagine Chuck's infamous quote "I call it t** f*ck.") and a legend was cemented.

 

Book Burning Party? That's Martin Leroy Crouse with his ample backside facing the camera and Jimmy "You're Huge" Wickstrom in the pink shirt 

 

 

The Aftermath, oh yeah Brad "The Journeyman" Konsdorf smashed the temperature gage for the furnace with a helmet and it dropped into the 40's the next day.  Good times.

 

Love live 1434 Presque Isle or 1434 "Prescott Isle in the unique vernacular of one Chris Rathsack, which of course was torn down to make way for a Subway soon after. 

 

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."   

IN HONOR OF THE OPENING GAME OF THE WORLD SERIES (GO TIGERS!) --

BASEBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY 

"You ladies ever had a quarterback sandwich?"

- Bulls QB Seth Maxwell (as played by Mac Davis) in North Dallas Forty, for my money the best football movie ever.  Plan on seeing NDF featured prominently in this year's blog in case you haven't noticed already.

A QUESTION FOR THE AGES:

WHAT'S A WYKON?

The answer to this eternal question is, of course --

"Play Us and Find Out!"  

This year 9 teams accepted this challenge and 4 emerged victorious. A 5-4 campaign for the Wykons, just one victory shy of a playoff berth. Better luck next year guys.

P.S - Mike Berutti still sucks!  That's him in the background with yet another colored dress shirt from Pamida!  Seriously, I will give someone a $100 for a picture of Mike in a white dress shirt.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL RECAP

OKAY, APPARENTLY ANYONE FROM NMU CAN GET THEIR PICTURE TAKEN WITH THE HEISMAN TROPHY!

Even Agent Orange here.  Seriously Skull Fracture, you live near a power plant or something?

THE CLOSEST ANYONE FROM NMU 
WILL EVER COME TO THE HEISMAN TROPHY

That's part of the NMU crew with not one, but two Heisman winners (Johhy Lattner, ND, 1953, and Ty Detmer, BYU, 1990) along with the trophy itself.   Hey we'd settle for a Harlon Hill trophy at good ol NMU, right? 

TODAY'S PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

DON'T DRINK & DRIVE KIDS . . . . .

Ride in back so you won't spill any of your Corona!

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Every time I call it a game, you call it a business.  Every time I call it a business, you call it a game!"

-O.W. Shaddock (played by John "The Tooz" Matuzak) in North Dallas Forty.  The Tooz gradauted from Milwaukee's Oak Creek High School, also the alma mater (I believe) of Angie "Ang Man" Dalkhe.

CAT CHAT

Football Cats lose to Wayne State, defending DII Runners-Up, 38-31 at Detroit. That is all.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY!   -  posted on Monday

Your 1991 NMU Football Wildcat Seniors

Bottom Row, L to R:  David "Dave Babe" Gregory from the "Cherry Docks" of Suttons Bay, MI, C;  "Cheesey" Charlie Nickel aka "the Mayor or Mayor McAsscheese" from "The Falls", Okunto Falls, WI;  Pat "Mojo" or "Mojo Risin" Modjeski from Brown Deer, WI; G, Whoops, I mean FB (hey a FB is just a sophisticated Guard right?); Jim "Sweet Head of" Devine, from Tosa East in Wawatosa, WI.

Top Row, L to R: Andy "The Spunker" or "Aves" Avery from North Farmington High in MI, G;  Mike "Wendall" or "Wents" Wendtland, from Marquette High in Brookfield, WI, LB/TE; America's Guest, Mark Strube aka "Strube Tube" "Stroobs" "Congo the Mailman" from Green Bay Southwest High, TE/QB; Christopher "Chip" Wall aka "Mystic" or Waldo from Waukesha Memorial High in Wisconsin, LB; and Dennis "Dalkamania" Dalkhe aka "Electric" or "Dalks" or "Yeah hey Denny!" from Sussex-Hamilton High in Menominee Falls, WI, T. 

Not Pictured:  Eric "Shady Grady" Stokes, from Southfield, MI, WR; Ronnie "40 Acres and Mule" McGee, from Richards High in IL, RB; and Sean "Manegro" or "I'm Blackman, tell the Brothers about me!" Manego, from Brookfield, WI, DB.  Of course, Bubba, the only Yooper in the bunch.

A more informal shot at our senior banquet. 

Comments/Questions to Ponder:   We showed up on campus just a shade over 25 years ago for early camp and only 11 of us from the Recruiting Class of 1987 survived to use up 4 years of eligibility.  Sorry, Mojo, you don't count, you were the Class of 88! If you'd have looked at that class and guessed, I probably wouldn't have been on the list of those most likely to survive, perhaps you didn't think you would either.  

Remember, Metevia, Holinka, Mongo, DeWeese, Mike Harris, Kirk Peterson, just to name few?  Everyone of them could have at least a solid starter had they stayed.  Christ what about the the characters like Jersey Joe O'Hanlon Why did we stick it out and others didn't?   Why did you choose NMU? What were your other choices and could you imagine having gone anywhere else?

Do any of us deserve to be in the NMU Sports HOF (note the NMU SHOF Placques in the background?  Maybe Dalkhe and Strube (hey he went pro in 2 sports!).  Did any of it matter? Why do we still get together after 25 years?

TWITTER TIP OF THE DAY

THE AYATOLLAH OF ROCK N' ROLLA, MICHAEL "STITCH JONES" BERUTTI IS ON TWITTER.  FOLLOW HIM HERE --

Mike Berutti @WestIronSchools

He only has 3 followers so I kind of feel bad for him!  Maybe he would have more if he stayed in touch with some of his old buddies . . . .

 Principal Stitch and some random Lions Fans.  Mike, 1995 called and they want their polyester blend blue dress shirt back.  We still love (and miss) you Stitch!!

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

 

"I'm all in favor of it."

-Tampa Bay Buccaneer Coach John McKay responding to a question about his team's execution.   

McKay is wrongly forgotten, one of the funniest football coaches of all time and 4 National Championships at SC, believe it or not they were not that good when he got there.  He also took the expansion Bucs from 0-14 to the NFC Championship game in 4 seasons.
 

CHECK OUT SMOOCHIE WALLACE & OTHER PLAYER INTROS FOR LAST YEAR'S EAST/WEST GAME ON CSEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss

 

DEBATE REACTION CONTINUES . . . . .

 

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Capece is kaput."

- Head Coach John McKay referring to Buccaneers kicker Bill Capece after he missed game-winning field goals in the final game of the 1983 season.

Amid Newfound Glory, Echoes of Old Detroit

J. Kyle Keener/The Detroit Free Press

In 1997, John Butsicaris, then 76, was still working six days a week at the Lindell. More Photos »

By BILL MORRIS, New York Times

Published: October 8, 2012

For more than a century, the city of Detroit has been driven by a pair of powerful but erratic engines: cars and sports. Detroiters are no strangers to the sorrows these engines can bring: layoffs, factory shutdowns, losing streaks, even winless seasons. 

Yet, many Detroiters are feeling giddy these days. The auto industry has come roaring back from the brink of ruin, and the Tigers are back in the playoffs for the second straight year — routine stuff in the Bronx, perhaps, but something that hasn’t happened in the Motor City since the 1930s.

 

To top it off, the star of this year’s Tigers is a slugger named Miguel Cabrera, who led the American League in home runs, batting average and runs batted in, a trifecta last accomplished nearly half a century ago by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox, and by only a handful of others in the history of the game.  

      

The team plays in a sparkling downtown park that was built a dozen years ago and named, to the dismay of many purists, after a bank. More than three million fans have passed through its turnstiles so far this year, and it’s a safe bet that many of them don’t remember or have managed to forget the team’s previous home, a great sooty iceberg built in 1912 just west of downtown. Tiger Stadium is gone to dust now, memories of it growing dimmer every time Cabrera whacks another ball over the outfield wall at Comerica Park. 

      

But Detroiters tend to have a deep, quirky sense of pride, and more than a few of them will tell you that there’s a bygone relic even more worthy of mourning than Tiger Stadium. Or the downtown J. L. Hudson department store. Or Cass Tech High School, whose alumni roster includes John DeLorean, Lily Tomlin and Diana Ross. 
      

That other place was a bar called the Lindell A.C. It was in an unexceptional-looking brick building a few blocks from Tiger Stadium, but it became a legend, a place where the famous rubbed elbows with the unknown.  

      

It was first opened in 1949 in the no-star Lindell Hotel by Meleti Butsicaris. In the 1950s, a regular customer suggested putting signed photographs of athletes on the walls. He even showed Butsicaris and his sons, Johnny and Jimmy, how to cut a baseball bat in half lengthwise, the better to screw it into the wall. Soon other bats and baseballs, hockey sticks and pucks were added, along with the jerseys of local gods like Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Gordie Howe and Dave Bing, a Pistons star who is now the mayor of Detroit.

But the maraschino cherry on the memorabilia was surely Lions linebacker Wayne Walker’s jockstrap, which was fastened to a plaque in a prominent place on the barnacled walls. The customer who came up with the original suggestion about hanging the signed photographs was a Yankees infielder named Billy Martin. 
      

 

After relocating to the corner of Michigan and Cass Avenues in 1963, the Butsicaris family added “A.C.” to the name at the suggestion of a local sports columnist and repeat customer named Doc Greene — a wry swipe at the swells who patronized the nearby Detroit Athletic Club. The Lindell A.C.’s burgers were out of this world, there were three television sets, and the place was always jumping. Jimmy Butsicaris installed himself at the corner of the bar every night, where he could keep one eye on the door and one on the cash register. “He didn’t want to have any seepage,” the owner of a nearby bar says. “And he wanted to know everybody who walked in that door — cop or robber, friend or foe.” For foes, Jimmy kept a set of brass knuckles in his pocket. 
      

In 1963, Pete Rozelle, the commissioner of the N.F.L., suspended Paul Hornung, the golden boy of the Green Bay Packers, and Lions defensive lineman Alex Karras for gambling on games in the Lindell A.C. Rozelle also ordered Karras to divest himself of his one-third interest in the saloon. Hornung was contrite; Karras was outraged. The scandal was excellent for the Butsicarises’s business.  

      

To work out his anger, Karras took up professional wrestling during his suspension. One night, he and a future opponent, Dick the Bruiser, went at each other inside the Lindell A.C., an epic brawl that left the place — and Karras — in tatters.  

     

Six years later, Martin, then manager of the Minnesota Twins, got into a dispute inside the Lindell A.C. with one of his own pitchers, burly Dave Boswell, a 20-game winner that year. Though Martin was giving away several inches and many more pounds, they took their differences into the alley behind the bar. When it was over, Boswell’s face required 20 stitches while Martin’s needed just seven. Apparently impressed by Martin’s way of handling his pitching staff, the Tigers hired him two years later, and he led the team to the division title in 1972. 
      

But perhaps the thing that truly set the Lindell A.C. apart — and the thing that reveals just how different its world was from the world we live in today — was the way professional athletes and other celebrities, from Mickey Mantle to Milton Berle to Andre the Giant, mingled with ordinary fans. 
      

Terry Foster had a ringside seat for this cultural shift. His mother, Roxanne, worked at the Lindell A.C. for 20 years, and Foster, now 53, worked there as a cook while attending Cass Tech, then tended bar during college. “I remember going in after a Tigers game and seeing Willie Horton, Earl Wilson and Gates Brown sitting next to fans, having a beer and a burger, just talking to the fans,” says Foster, who writes a sports column for The Detroit News and hosts a radio sports show. 

“It was almost like they’d just gotten off the third shift at G.M. Players from all the visiting teams came into the Lindell A.C., and there wasn’t all this fawning. They were one of the fellas. Today, I see athletes at parties, and they’re roped off in their private area with their ladies. That doesn’t do it for me.” 
      

The ballplayers back then, of course, often had little choice. Most of them had to work jobs during the off-season because they weren’t multimillionaires who breathed their own ether, safely shielded from hoi polloi. It was a time of greater intimacy, rougher edges and, yes, more excess. It was also more colorful, more vivid, in many ways more alive than our high-dollar, heart-smart, smoke-free, sanitized times. 
      

Vaughn Derderian Sr., who runs the Anchor Bar in downtown Detroit, agrees with Foster. “The players don’t hang out anymore,” says Derderian, 65, whose family has been in the bar business since the 1920s. “The reason is because they’re a little smarter — and they’re making a whole lot more money. They don’t want to get hassled by the fans. The Lindell A.C. was one of the last places where that contact happened.” 
      

It had stopped happening by the time the bar closed for good in 2002. Four years later, the building was demolished to make way for a bus station. 
      

“To call it legendary is an understatement,” Derderian adds. “It was the first sports bar in the country. Now there’s one on every corner.” 
      

There’s a big one on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Montcalm Street, across the street from Comerica Park. It’s called the Hockeytown Cafe. It has 45 TVs, including 30 63-inch plasma sets, and its walls are plastered with sports memorabilia. 
      

There are only three things missing. Actual athletes mingling with the customers. A tough little Greek guy sitting at the corner of the bar with a set of brass knuckles in his pocket. And Wayne Walker’s jockstrap high on the wall.

- Bill Morris grew up in Detroit in the 1950s and ’60s. He is the author of the novels “Motor City” and “All Souls’ Day,” and has finished another, “Vic #43,” set during the 1967 Detroit riot and the Tigers’ 1968 championship season.

Remembering Detroit’s Original Sports Bar: The Lindell AC

EDITORS NOTE:  The first of two articles on America's First Sports Bar, The Lindell AC, in honor of Tigers win last night.

By

Bill Dow

– July 27, 2009
 

The days when athletes used to frequent local sports bars and mingle with the fans stopped some time ago, and definitely came to an end when the Lindell AC Bar on Cass Avenue, truly one of America’s first true “sports bars” closed its doors. It was Detroit’s version of Toot Shor’s in New York. The following is an excerpt of a piece I wrote on the Lindell AC for Hour Detroit magazine.

For half a century, the legendary Lindell AC bar in downtown Detroit was a mecca for visiting athletes, sports fans, hometown heroes, and media personalities who would feast on burgers, fries, onion rings, stories and a favorite drink, while surrounded by wall to wall photographs and museum quality sports memorabilia. The forerunner of its kind, USA Today once crowned it the “number one sports bar in America.”

When Johnny Butsicaris and his son Mel closed the storied saloon at Cass and Michigan under a flourish of media coverage, mourning patrons couldn’t accept the idea of “one last call”. After all, this was the place where Detroit Tiger players squeezed behind the bar and gave out free drinks to customers on the raucous evening the team clinched the 1968 pennant.

In 1949, Greek immigrant Meleti Butsicaris and his sons Johnny and Jimmy purchased the bar located in the seedy and since torn down Lindell Hotel at Cass and Bagley.

Thanks to a suggestion by Yankee infielder Billy Martin, ( who would later create his own Lindell legend) a sports theme was created in the mid 50’s with photographs and donated game used artifacts. Visiting athletes from all four sports stayed at the nearby Leland and Book-Cadillac Hotel and joined local scribes in adopting the watering spot as a favorite hideout. Before long, sports junkies began frequenting the bar to rub elbows with Mickey Mantle, Detroit athletes, and traveling entertainers like Milton Berle who were taken care of by the street wise Butsicaris boys.

When the bar relocated just down the street at Cass and Michigan in 1963, it officially became the Lindell AC (“Athletic Club”) thanks to the late Detroit News columnist Doc Greene, a regular drinking patron and the joint’s “Godfather”. It was Greene who added the moniker “Athletic Club” in a left hook aimed at the high brow Detroit Athletic Club (“DAC”) a few blocks away.

Pugilistic episodes in the 1960’s involving Lion star Alex Karras and Billy Martin along with two television films brought the bar national attention.

In 1963 NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Karras  and Packer Paul Hornung for gambling on games and ordered Karras to sell his one third partnership in the Lindell, claiming the bar was a haven for undesirable characters.

During his one year suspension Karras wrestled professionally. Six days prior to an Olympia Stadium bout against “Dick the Bruiser”, the two were involved in a Lindell brawl that tore up the bar and sent a handful of Detroit police officers to the hospital. Years later as a movie actor, Karras portrayed Jimmy Butsicaris in the CBS film, “Jimmy B and Andre”, the true story of how the tough bar owner had taken a young black ghetto kid under his wing.



Six years after the Karras-Bruiser donnybrook, Twins manager Billy Martin KO’d his own pitcher, Dave Boswell with 20 stitches in the alley behind the Lindell after the drunken hurler “sucker punched” teammate Bob Allison. A decade later, Martin and Jimmy B played themselves in the TV movie, “One In A Million: The Ron Leflore Story” which described how Butsicaris convinced then Tiger manager Martin to give Jackson Prison inmate and future All Star Leflore a baseball tryout.

A favorite pastime of Lindell patrons was walking through the bar and identifying the dozens of sports photographs and 8 by 10s of celebrities who had frequented the tavern.
With the closing of the Lindell, along with Reedy’s Saloon, and the Hummer in Corktown, Nemo’s on Michigan Avenue just east of the Tiger Stadium site is really the last of the true sports bars in downtown Detroit where players used to mix with the fans.

What a shame.

GO TIGERS! 

As Bubba can attest, I really don't like baseball or the Tigers all that much.  However, you gotta hate on the Yankees just a bit right?  And isn't there some weird Rust Belt solidarity in Brew Crew guys rooting for the Tigers especially since the Yanks took Sabathia from you?  What's that, it's too soon after we took Prince Fielder?! 

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I wish I could say something classy and inspirational, but that just wouldn't be our style."

- QB Shane Falco, The Replacements (something I could imagine Mark Strube saying in an NMU huddle).

CLAY MATTHEWS WISHES SUSAN NICKEL A HAPPY 40TH!

  . . . and so does the entire NMU-Packer Weekend Gang. Being married to "the Mayor" makes Sue our unofficial first lady and, as always, the only spouse welcome at official NMU-Packer Weekend Events.  Thanks for putting up with us, putting up with Charlie, and for being our hostess with the mostest!   Happy Birthday Sue!

CAT CHAT II: Cats Blast No. 14 Grand Valley 38-10! 

 

Senior Cody Scepaniak.

Ostrowsky Video | Highlights
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University football team snapped an 11-game losing to streak to Grand Valley State with a 38-10 upset of the No. 14-ranked Lakers on Saturday (Oct. 13) afternoon from the Superior Dome. The Wildcats allowed only 263 yards of offense while totaling 462 yards of their own. NMU is now 2-5 overall and 1-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

NMU received two rushing touchdowns each from senior quarterback Cody Scepaniak and junior running back Casey Cotta. Scepaniak, in his first start at NMU, also threw a touchdown pass to freshman Kelvin Smarwt. Senior kicker Rockne Belmonte boomed a 58-yard field goal to set a new NMU and Superior Dome record just before halftime.

“This is a big time win,” NMU coach Chris Ostrowsky said. “Just a huge win. I can’t tell you how proud I am of these players and their ability to work hard everyday and believe in us. It’s just a great feeling right now.”

NMU set the tone early, scoring on their first drive of the game. The Wildcats went on a seven-play 56 yard drive capped off by Cotta’s first career touchdown. He dashed 11 yards up the middle to give the home team a 7-0 lead with 10:41 left in the first quarter.

“We prepare every week to win and the kids believed and showed it today,” Ostrowksy added. “It was an unbelievable start to finish day for us.”

The Lakers answered with a 37-yard field goal from Marco Iaderosa three minutes later.
Early in the second quarter, Smarwt caught his first touchdown in the Green and Gold with a nine-yard reception. The play was setup by an 82-yard pass from Scepaniak to freshman Sterlin Darling on a third and three to the GVSU nine yard line. It was NMU’s longest play of the season.

GVSU (5-2, 4-2 GLIAC) scored its only touchdown of the game midway through the second quarter (9:02) as Hersey Jackson scored from one yard out. Kirk Spencer rushed five times for 69 yards in the seven play 70-yard scoring drive.

Belmonte’s 58-yarder came 15 seconds before halftime. It was on a third and seven but miscommunication on the sideline sent Belmonte and the kicking unit out onto the field. The kick sailed through the uprights with room to spare.

Scepaniak’s first touchdown was scored with 2:05 left on the third quarter clock on a 15-yard run up the middle. Junior Brandon Parson had an interception deep in Wildcat territory to start the drive for NMU. The ‘Cats marched 95 yards down the field in 14 plays.

Scepaniak found the endzone again in the fourth with a 20-yard run to the endzone after an interception by sophmore Derek Beltrame to setup the three-play drive. It was Beltrame’s second pick in back-to-back drives as he returned it 21 yards to the GVSU 22.

Cotta finished the game’s scoring with a 30-yard touchdown run. The two-play drive was setup by a Laker fumble forced by sophomore Nick Krause and recovered by junior Morgan Stenz on the GVSU 31.

NMU finished the day with a season-high 462 yards of offense on 244 rushing and 218 passing. The ‘Cats were 6-for-11 on third down and 4-for-5 in the redzone.

Scepaniak was 18-for-26 through the air for 218 yards a touchdown and an interception. He also had 115 yards rushing on 20 attempts with two touchdowns.

Cotta finished the game with an NMU season-high 130 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 16 touches. Darling had 116 yards receiving with three catches while Smarwt had 43 yards on four grabs.

The Wildcat defense had four interceptions and a recovered fumble. Krause led the ‘Cats with nine total tackles, including three for loss and a sack. Senior Eddie Knoblock and Stenz each had seven total tackles. Beltrame had two interceptions while Parson and redshirt freshman Levi Perry each had one.
For GVSU, Spencer finished with a game-high 145 yards on the ground. Brandon Beitzel was 9-for-24 passing for 78 yards and four interceptions.

The ‘Cats play their final two road games in the next two weeks, beginning in Detroit, Mich. next weekend for a meeting with the Wayne State Warriors.

Game Notes: NMU last defeated the Lakers in 2000 with a 29-28 win at the Dome…The previous record for longest field goal was by Greg Guthrie in 1986 when he made a 55-yarder vs. Northeast Missouri…The previous Dome record for longest field goal was by Paul Tocco on Sept. 12, 1992 when he made a 52-yarder vs. Saginaw Valley State.
 

CAT CHAT:  NMU TAKES GREEN BAY! Pucks Sweep No. 15 Badgers at Resch Center.

 

 

He may play football, but that's a hockey haircut if ever I saw one!

Senior forward Kory Kaunisto.

ASHWAUBENON, Wis. – The Northern Michigan University hockey team earned a sweep over the No. 15-ranked University of Wisconsin with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory for the second night in a row on Saturday (Oct. 13) night from the Resch Center. The Wildcats scored three third-period goals after trailing 2-1.

Former Badger, NMU senior forward Matt Thurber scored the game’s equalizer 12:18 into the third period on the power-play. Senior forward Kory Kaunisto scored the game-winner a minute and seven seconds later and sophomore forward Ryan Daugherty sealed the victory with an empty net goal with 1:08 left.

“I am proud of all of our guys,” NMU coach Walt Kyle said. “We played Wildcat hockey tonight. We knew they were going to come at us hard. We weathered the storm because Jared Coreau was outstanding in the first period.”

Wisconsin (0-2) opened the game’s scoring three minutes in on a goal by Frankie Simonelli. Brendan Woods picked up the only assist on the goal.

Freshman forward Cohen Adair tied the game at one with his second goal of the series late in the second period. Senior defenseman Scott Macaulay and Thurber assisted on the goal.
The Badgers took the lead again 18 seconds into the third period with a goal by Mark Zengerle. Joseph LaBate assisted on the score.

Assisting on Thurber’s game-tying goal was junior defenseman CJ Ludwig and junior forward Erik Higby. It was Thurber’s 12th career goal at NMU.

“I’m really happy for Matt Thurber having the weekend he did against his former team,” said Kyle. “It’s got to feel pretty special for him.”
Macaulay picked up his second assist of the night on Kaunisto’s game-winner and fourth of his career. Daugherty’s empty-netter was his fourth career goal as Higby picked up his second helper of the game.

Junior goaltender Jared Coreau picked up the win with 18 saves, including 11 in the first period. Landon Peterson had 27 saves in his first start between the pipes for Wisconsin.

NMU took three minor penalties for six minutes in the box. The Badgers took five two-minute penalties. The ‘Cats were 1-for-4 on the power play and Wisconsin was 0-for-2.

“Thanks to all the NMU fans at the Resch Center this weekend,” Kyle added. “It was great to see so many Wildcat fans at a great event.” Northern continues non-conference play next weekend with a road trip to Nebraska Omaha.

Game Notes: The last time NMU started the season 2-0 was 2003-04…Thurber has a goal and four assists in four games against his former team…Five players scored NMU’s six goals on the weekend…Attendance was 4,900 at the Resch Center.
BOXSCORE

# # # NMU # # #

HAPPY FRIDAY

 

FOOTBALL QUOTE OF THE DAY

"That's a team, gentlemen, and either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?"  

- Miami Sharks Coach Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday