Sept. 29, 2011

Wayne State at Northern Michigan Game Notes


NORTHERN MICHIGAN GAME STORYLINES
The ninth-ranked Wayne State University football team has started 4-0 for the first time since 1967 and is riding a school best eight-game winning streak, dating back to last season. WSU currently has the longest GLIAC winning streak (all games) at eight and is tied with Colorado State University-Pueblo and Washburn University for the longest in Division II. Along with receiving their highest national ranking ever by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Warriors are in the top 25 for the ninth consecutive poll.

The Warriors, in the midst of a stretch that has them playing four of five games away from home, travel to Marquette to face Northern Michigan University on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Wildcats suffered their first setback of the season last week at Ashland University, 45-16.


OHIO DOMINICAN RECAP 
The Warriors moved to 4-0 for the first time in 44 years following their 31-24 road win at Ohio Dominican (2-2 overall, 1-2 GLIAC) last Saturday evening.

After Ohio Dominican knotted the score at 17 on a 31-yard field goal with 8:31 remaining in the third quarter, the Warriors responded with 14 unanswered points to pull away. First, junior quarterback Mickey Mohner found senior wide receiver Troy Burrell from 23 yards out to cap a 10 play, 58-yard drive , and then with eight minutes left in the contest, sophomore running back Toney Davis scored his second TD on a 10-yard run.

Ohio Dominican put together a 14-play drive, but it stalled in the red zone with an illegal shift penalty on the Panthers, two plays for four yards and sack of ODU signal caller Jeremy Fudge by sophomore linebacker Ed Viverette on third down and a fourth down sack by freshman linebacker Nores Fradi.

WSU was unable to run out the clock, and the Panthers scored with seven seconds left to complete the scoring. However, senior Josh Renel recovered the onside kick and the Warriors only had to run one play to end the game.

 
OHIO DOMINICAN HIGHLIGHTS
* Davis rushed for a game-high 127 yards, the second most in his career and two touchdowns (the fifth time in his career he had at least two rushing touchdowns in a game) .

* Renel compiled his ninth 100-yard game and seventh in the last eight contests after gaining 107 yards on the ground. His three-yard TD run in the first quarter was the seventh consecutive game he has scored.
 
* For the third time in their careers, Renel and Davis both ran for more than 100 yards in the same game. The pair did it twice last season.

* Mohner passed for a season-high 231 yards on 14-of-25 with one touchdown and no interceptions. For the year, he has completed 46-of-80 passes for 805 yards and 10 touchdowns with one interception.

* For the fifth time in the last six games, Burrell had 100 receiving yards in a game after grabbing eight passes for 163 yards and a score. It was his eighth 100-yard game, while the eight receptions was the second-most in his career.

* Senior safety Jeremy Jones recorded his fourth interception of the season and ninth in his last 10 games played. Jones has 12 career interceptions, while his four picks this year lead the GLIAC. 

* Sophomore place-kicker Stefan Terleckyj scored seven points and leads the Warriors with 32 points on the season.  


HISTORIC START 
After last Saturday's 31-24 road victory at Ohio Dominican, the 2011 Warriors became only the fifth team in school history to start 4-0. The 1967 squad began 7-0, but lost its last two games to finish 7-2.

In 1956, the team began 4-0 and finished 0-2-1, while the 1934 team started 4-0, then lost to CMU, but won its last three contests to finish 7-1. The 1918 squad went 4-0 but only played four games. 

 
IN THE POLLS 
The Warriors are in the top 10 in all three polls for a second consecutive week. WSU remained ninth in the AFCA Division II Coaches poll, while staying seventh in the D2Football.com rankings. 

WSU fell one spot to third nationally in this week's Massey Ratings.

The Warriors were selected to win the GLIAC South Division, receiving 80 out of a possible 85 points, along with 10 out of a possible 13 first-place votes. The Wildcats were picked to finish fourth in the GLIAC North Division, earning 43 points, in the preseason poll.

 
ON THE HEADSET  
Head coach Paul Winters, reigning AFCA Region Coach of the Year, is in his eighth season at the helm of the Wayne State football program. Winters (40-39) is second on the WSU career wins all-time list. He needs two victories to tie Joseph G. Gembis for first all-time. WSU is 27-10 in its last 37 games and 11-1 in the past 12 contests.

In his sixth season as head coach of Northern Michigan, Bernie Anderson is 24-31 with the Wildcats and 117-127 overall during his 24-year college coaching career. 

 
ALL-TIME SERIES 
Wayne State trails 14-11 in the all-time series with Northern Michigan. The Warriors are 4-7 in games played at NMU. The teams have split the last 12 contests dating back to 1995. 


SCOUTING NORTHERN MICHIGAN  
While Wayne State has the conference's best offense (468.0 ypg) and running game (248.0 ypg), Northern Michigan is  seventh in total defense (359.8 ypg) and eighth (179.3 ypg) at stopping the run. The Wildcats' offense brings a balanced attack as they rank ninth in total offense (368.5 ypg), seventh in rushing offense (175.5 ypg), and ninth in passing offense (193.00 ypg). NMU's defense sits sixth in passing defense (180.5 ypg), while the Wildcats' punt return ranks first in the GLIAC, averaging 14.4 yards a return.

Senior Carter Kopach ranks fourth in the conference in total offense at 265.0 yards per game. Kopach, a dual-threat quarterback, is eighth in the conference in passing (193.0 ypg) and 10th in rushing (72.0 ypg). 

Junior Prince Young is the ninth-leading rusher (73.5 ypg) in the league, while sophomore Christian Jessie is tied for seventh in receptions per game (4.5) and eighth in receiving yards per game (65.8). Senior John Privitelli is first in punt returns (17.7 ypr).  

  
COACH WINTERS ON WDFN 1130 AM  
Tune into WDFN 1130 AM every Thursday at 5:15 p.m. when WSU play-by-play announcer Sean Baligian talks with head coach Paul Winters. The interview will recap last week's contest and preview the Warriors' upcoming opponent. 

  
JONES EARNS NATIONAL ACCOLADES   
Jones was selected national defensive player of the week on Sept. 20 by D2Football.com for the second time in his career. He earned the award last year on Nov. 3 after recording a game-high 13 tackles (4-9), two interceptions and a pass break-up at Saginaw Valley.

In the Warriors' 27-10 win over Michigan Tech on Sept. 17, Jones totaled a game-best 11 tackles (all solo) including a sack and two interceptions.

His first pick came on MTU's first drive of the second half with WSU holding a 13-10 advantage.

Two plays later WSU led 20-10. Late in the third quarter after MTU had driven to the WSU 25, Jones intercepted his second pass of the game at the Warrior five. On what proved to be MTU's final drive, Jones had a five-yard sack on first down and tackled receiver Cedric Barber after a four-yard gain on fourth-and-eight allowing WSU to run out the clock. 

  
COMCAST REPLAYS  
Relive WSU's victory over 22nd-ranked Michigan Tech as it will be replayed on Comcast Channel 900 on Oct. 3 @ 12:00 p.m., Oct. 11 @ 9:00 p.m., Oct. 12 @ 9:00 a.m., Oct. 17 @ 12:00 p.m., Oct. 25 @ 9:00 p.m., Oct. 26 @ 9:00 a.m., Oct. 31 @ 12:00 p.m., Nov. 1 @ 9:00 p.m., Nov. 2 @ 9:00 a.m., and Nov. 7 @ 12:00 p.m. 

  
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES  
* Renel needs three rushing touchdowns to move into a sixth place tie with L.C. Bulger III  (1983-85, 87) on the WSU all-time list. He needs 314 all-purpose yards to move into a fourth place tie with Thabiti Williamson (1999-02) on the WSU all-time chart. He needs 107 rushing yards to move into a tie for 10th with Chris Middlebrooks (2003-06). He needs four punt returns to tie Keith Bennett (1983-86) for second place.

* Burrell needs two receiving touchdowns to tie Ray Ponder (1989-92) for third all-time. He needs 42 receptions to tie Pierre Brown (1998-01) for third on the WSU all-time list.
  
* Mohner needs five touchdown passes to move into a first place tie with Michael Gluski (1994-95, 97-98) and Jason Charron (1999-01) on the WSU all-time chart. He needs 345 passing yards to tie Jason Charron (1999-01) for third all-time.
 
* Jones needs four passes defended to tie Derrick Mason (1985-88) for third on the WSU all-time list. Jones needs 84 interception return yards to move into a second place tie with Stan Thornton (2007-10) on the all-time chart. He needs one interception to tie Matt Didio (1981-83) for eighth all-time.