Wayne State Weekly Game Notes

• LAKE ERIE GAME STORYLINES

Wayne State will attempt to start 5-1 for the second consecutive year. Last year's 5-1 start was the best since the 1976 squad began 7-1.

The Warriors will meet the Lake Erie College Storm for the first time this Saturday.

WSU enters the contest tied-for-first in the GLIAC South Division with Hillsdale. Both squads have 3-1 conference ledgers.

• NORTHERN MICHIGAN RECAP

Wayne State improved its all-time Homecoming mark to 38-35-1 with a 26-18 victory over Northern Michigan last Saturday.

The Warrior defense caused four turnovers and limited the Wildcats to 95 rushing yards.

Not to be out-done, the WSU offense scored 26 points against the league's second ranked defense (13.2 points per game) and gained nearly 100 yards more of offense against the GLIAC's top-ranked defense (238.0 yards per game).

On NMU's second play, Jeremy Jones stepped in front of the receiver for his fourth career interception. The Warriors struck quickly as Mickey Mohner tossed a 12-yard scoring pass to Ed Sanders on WSU's second play of the game.

Northern Michigan had to punt on its second possession and the WSU offense drove 33 yards in 10 plays following a 44-yard punt return by Josh Renel for a 29-yard field goal by Stefan Terleckyj. Mohner had a 14-yard completion to Travis Campbell on a second-and-12.

The Wildcats made it a 10-3 on a Rockne Belmonte 38-yard field goal, and then pulled within one at 10-9 after a one-yard quarterback sneak by Carter Kopach. The PAT kick was wide left.

NMU took the lead as Edwin Knoblock returned a pick 70 yards for a go-ahead score with just 19 seconds left in the first half. Kopach's two-point pass attempt was batted away by Cortez Smith.

On Northern Michigan's second drive of the second half, Jones returned his second interception of the contest 21 yards to the NMU 36. On the ensuing play, Mohner hit Donald Brown for a 36-yard touchdown pass. The Warriors two-point pass attempt failed leaving WSU with a one-point advantage at 16-15.

The Wildcats regained the lead with Belmonte connecting on a 44-yard field goal attempt. NMU's lead lasted barely two minutes as the Warriors drove 59 yards in seven plays with Terleckyj making a 20-yard field goal attempt putting WSU in front 19-18. The key play of the drive was a 44-yard reception by Troy Burrell.

The Wayne State defense rose to the occasion on Northern's ensuing drive as Jordan Miller knifed through the Wildcat offensive line and dropped running back Phillipe Smith for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-one from the WSU 19.

The Warriors put together a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive using over six minutes. WSU converted three third-down plays on the drive including a nine-yard touchdown run by Burrell on a third-and-seven from the NMU 9. Terleckyj's PAT kick concluded the scoring.

• ON THE HEADSET

Wayne State's Paul Winters has a 31-38 record in his seventh year with the Warriors. WSU is 18-9 in its last 27 games. The Warriors are 1-1 on the road this season and 5-4 in the last nine road contests.

Lake Erie's Mark McNellie has compiled a 10-17 career record in his third year as a collegiate head coach.

• ALL-TIME SERIES

This will be the first meeting between Wayne State and Lake Erie.

• SCOUTING LAKE ERIE

Three of the Storms' five losses have been by a combined 21 points.

Quarterback Sean Bedevelsky leads LEC in rushing yards (293) and has completed 71-of-119 passes for 921 yards and six touchdowns.

Brandon James has 17 catches for 215 yards and two scores, while David Romeo has 13 receptions for 223 yards.

Gus Armbruster has a team-high 43 tackles, including 5.5 for loss.

• STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS

Jeremy Jones had a two interception game for the second time in his career. The first time was Oct. 18, 2008, at Ferris State. The “picks” were the first since Sept. 12, 2009, at Indianapolis.

Sanders had his fourth career TD reception and first since Sept. 19, 2009, vs. Findlay.

Brown had his first touchdown reception of the season, and first since Nov. 1, 2008, at Northwood. It was also Brown's second career TD catch against the Wildcats (first was Oct. 11, 2008, vs. NMU on WSU's Homecoming).

Marc Cuddeback made his 30th career start on the offensive line (27 at center, 2 at right guard, 1 at left guard) last Saturday.

Mohner is 7-5 as a starting quarterback. He also earned a win in relief last year vs. Findlay.

Mohner had two touchdown passes vs. NMU, his fourth career game with multiple touchdown passes.

Burrell extended his reception streak to 16 games with a game-high six catches for 63 yards.

Renel finished the game with 213 all-purpose yards (84 rushing, 31 receiving, 57 punt return, and 41 kickoff return) and over 1,000 all-purpose yards for the season (1,023).

On his next punt return, Renel will tie Kevin Dixson (1990-91) for fourth place with 49.

Thornton has 15 career interceptions which is tied-for-fourth in WSU history. His 303 interception return yards ranks second behind Chuck Aldrich's (1979-82) 373.

• THIS AND THAT

All Wayne State football games can be heard on WDTK Radio (1400 AM). Fans can also listen to all WSU football games online at wdtkam.com.

Five Things You Should Know

• Wayne State went 4-2 at home in 2009, and is 12-3 over the last two-plus seasons with setbacks to Grand Valley, Saginaw Valley and Northwood.

• Wayne State is 18-9 over the last three seasons, including a 6-6 mark on the road.

• The five captains for WSU in 2010 are senior defensive end Daunte Akra, senior offensive lineman Marc Cuddeback, senior cornerback Stan Thornton, junior offensive lineman Joe Long and junior linebacker Nick Thomas.

• Comcast Television televised two games this year -- Sept. 25 against Ohio Dominican and Oct. 2 versus Northern Michigan.

• Former Tartar gridiron star Joe Gough will be joined again this year by play-by-play announcer Sean Baligian on WDTK 1400. Lisa Seymour has joined the broadcast crew as the sideline reporter.