Football | 10/15/2015 8:31:00 AM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football team (2-4, 1-4 GLIAC) will try to end its three-game losing streak as the Northern Michigan Wildcats (4-2, 3-2 GLIAC) visit Tom Adams Field this Saturday. The Warriors had their four-game home field winning streak come to an end with last Saturday's Homecoming setback to No. 24 Grand Valley State.  It was WSU's first Homecoming loss since 2004. The crowd of 5,377 for the Laker contest was the second-largest in the 47-year history of Adams Field, trailing only the 5,511 that attended the October 16, 1971, Tartar game vs. Hofstra.

Fans are also encouraged to "Bike to Football" on Saturday. Fans who ride their bike to the game will receive a special WSU bike bell. Bike valet parking will be available at the softball field directly across from the football ticket gates. Ticketed fans who ride their bike will receive a discount on their ticket purchase at the gate. In addiction, the first 1,500 students will get exclusive WSU Warrior Wide Receiving Gloves! Visiting students attending the Wayne State Open House will have the opportunity to pick up a complimentary ticket to the game during their campus tour. This game is brought to you by Michigan First Credit Union.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Northern Michigan is 4-0 in the Superior Dome this year but 0-2 on the road with losses at Northwood (20-7) in the season opener and at Michigan Tech (24-23) on September 26. NMU is riding its second two-game winning streak of the season having defeated Malone 41-13 last Saturday in Marquette.  Junior quarterback Shaye Brown is the lone Wildcat to attempt a pass this year and has completed nearly 70 percent (111-of-162) of his passes for 1,581 yards and 13 touchdowns with four interceptions.  Brown's favorite targets are senior Marcus Tucker and sophomore Keyondre Craig.  Tucker leads NMU with 35 receptions for 511 yards and five scores, while Craig has 23 catches for 359 yards and one touchdown.  Sophomore Aaron Harris has rushed for a team-best 306 yards and three touchdowns.  Tucker is averaging 27.2 yards on 17 kickoff returns with a long of 69 yards, while Austin Young is averaging 13.8 yards per punt return on 11 attempts.  Junior linebackers L.J. Liston (62 tackles) and Julian Hornback (52 tackles) lead the Wildcat defense.  Senior defensive lineman Dante Holmes has a team-high eight tackles for loss, with senior safety Brandon Auguste having two interceptions to lead the squad.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State has dropped the last two meetings (both in Marquette) to Northern Michigan to trail 12-17 in the all-time series.  The Warriors are 7-6 at home vs. the Wildcats having won the last three contests at Adams Field by an average of nearly 10 points (combined score of 88-59).

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State lost its third consecutive game falling 38-17 to the Grand Valley State Lakers on WSU Homecoming night at Tom Adams Field before the second largest crowd (5,377) in the 47-year history of Adams Field.

Midway through first quarter, the Warriors put together a productive 10-play, 74-yard drive that included a 17-yard pass from D.J. Zezula to Jamel Hicks along with a 30-yard completion to Will Wheat which moved WSU into the red zone.  The Warriors scored first on a 30-yard field goal from Paul Graham.

At the start of the second quarter, the Lakers marched down the field to the one-yard line where a Bart Williams pass was intercepted in the corner of the end zone by James Howard for a touchback.

Wayne State drove 88 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a 29-yard touchdown reception by Manny Mendoza from Zezula that increased WSU's advantage to 10-0 late in the second quarter.

The Lakers answered with a 10-play, 77-yard drive in 2:32 which resulted in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Bart Williams to Matt Williams just before halftime.  Total offense was nearly even at intermission with GVSU holding a 206-200 edge.

After a WSU punt on the opening drive of the third quarter, Grand Valley State went 24 yards in two plays with Bart Williams tossing a 16-yard scoring pass to Jamie Potts, which gave the visiting Lakers a 14-10 lead.  The Warriors then fumbled the ensuing kickoff which GVSU recovered at the WSU 24.  Five plays later Grand Valley State took a 21-10 lead on an 11-yard run by Kirk Spencer.

After Wayne State went three-and-out on the next possession, the Lakers scored on a 27-yard pass from Bart Williams to Nick Dodson finishing a 10-play, 66-yard drive.  Grand Valley State completed its 35 consecutive points with a 26-yard touchdown pass from BartWilliams to Brandon Bean on the third play of the fourth period.

Wayne State continued to battle and pulled within 35-17 on an 11-yard scamper by Demetrius Stinson early in the fourth period.  After the touchdown, WSU succeeded in the onside-kick attempt and recovered the ball at Grand Valley State's 48-yardline. However, the Lakers recovered a fumble on a sack of Zezula at the WSU 44.  With a little over two minutes to go in the game after the fumble recovery, GVSU concluded the scoring with a 27-yard field goal from Joel Schipper.

HICKS HAULING IT IN
Junior wide receiver Jamel Hicks led the Warriors with six receptions for 106 yards against Grand Valley State.  It was the third time this season Hicks had six catches in a contest.  His career-long 51-yard reception in the fourth quarter set up WSU's final touchdown.  Hicks' 29 receptions this year are more than double his total of last year (14), while his three touchdown grabs are one more than his total from all of last season.  His 630 career receiving yards rank 35th in school history, while his 43 receptions are tied-for-45th.  Hicks five touchdown catches are tied-for-28th with his 14.65 yards per catch ranking 17th (minimum 30 receptions) in the WSU annals.

MANNY BEING MANNY
Sophomore wide receiver Manny Mendoza hauled in his team-leading fourth touchdown catch of the season in the second quarter vs. the Lakers for the first touchdown of the game.  In addition to his team-best four touchdown receptions, Mendoza also leads the squad in yards per catch at 20.4.

FRESHMAN RECORD SET BY ZEZULA
Quarterback D.J. Zezula broke the WSU record for touchdown passes by a true freshman signal caller when he completed his 10th scoring toss of the year to Manny Mendoza in the second quarter vs. GVSU.  The previous record of nine was set by GLIAC Freshman of the Year Kevin Smith in 2008. 

BILLINGSLEA EQUALS SCHOOL RECORD
Redshirt freshman kick returner Jordan Billingslea tied the Wayne State record for kickoff returns in a game with seven, set four times previously -- John Kocher vs. Wheaton (Oct. 7, 1961), Derrick Coakley vs. Grand Valley State (Sept. 30, 1989), Roger White at GVSU (Nov. 3, 2001) and Jerriel Burrus at GVSU (Sept. 20, 2003).  Billingslea's 323 career kickoff return yards ranks 39th in school history, while his 24.85 yards per return average ranks eighth in WSU history (minimum 10 returns). 

GO-TO TIGHT END
Junior tight end Trent Brodbeck had his 11-game reception streak end last Saturday.  During the streak, Brodbeck totaled 20 catches for 276 yards and two touchdowns.

FINISHING STRONG
In the six final quarters this season, D.J. Zezula is:
- 17-of-27 passing for 339 yards and four TD in 37:06 (team has scored seven TD's with him at the helm; other three TD's were rushing).
- He has rushed 10 times for 1 yard and accounted for 340 yards of total offense.
- WSU has ran 80 plays for 487 yards and collected 24 first downs (12 rushing, 11 passing, 1 penalty) and Zezula has accounted for 12 of those fist downs (11 passing, 1 rushing).

TRUE FRESHMAN SIGNAL CALLER
There have been 10 previous true freshman to see significant playing time at quarterback prior to D.J. Zezula.
1951 - Richard Lisabeth, 15-34, 370 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT, 112.0
1980 - Greg Goldstein, 31-85, 402 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 79.3
1986 - Mike Grennier, 18-52, 246 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT, 65.3
1992 - Anthony Frederick, 10-17, 73 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 83.1
2001 - Randy Hutchison, 30-62, 362 yards, 4 TD, 6 INT, 99.4
2003 - Chad Blair, 18-34, 167 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 98.0
2004 - Nolan Martin, 68-177, 747 yards, 1 TD, 6 INT, 69.0
2006 - Zack George, 18-34, 320 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 141.7
2006 - Trent Pohl, 93-184, 1233 yards, 8 TD, 8 INT, 112.5
2008 - Kevin Smith, 74-159, 805 yards, 9 TD, 6 INT, 100.2
2015 - D.J. Zezula, 65-110, 922 yards, 10 TD, 4 INT, 152.23

- Zezula set the record for most passing TD's by a true freshman QB.
- Has the second-most passing yards with 922 (Trent Pohl had 1,233 in 2006).
- Owns the highest passing efficiency rating at 152.23 (2nd is Zack George from 2006 at 141.7).

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
WSU has won its last seven games including Sept. 19 vs. Malone when rushing for over 200 yards. During the past four seasons, the Warriors are 17-4 when accomplishing the feat including an 8-1 mark on the road. The only loss in that span came at Michigan Tech in 2013 (28-21). Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 36-13 under those parameters including a 21-6 mark at home.

WINTERS ON WEDNESDAYS
The weekly Winters on Wednesday's radio show is in its fourth season with head coach Paul Winters joining host Rod Beard and co-host Nicole Stoll. The Winters on Wednesday's radio show airs every Wednesday from 7-8 PM on 1400 AM / 92.7 FM and is simulcast on WDTKAM.com.  A new feature this year is that the broadcast will occur live at Tony V's Tavern in downtown Detroit. Fans are encouraged to attend and participate in the exciting event leading up to each game this season.

100 GLIAC WINS
Wayne State earned its 100th GLIAC with a victory against Malone on Sept. 19. WSU was a part of the GLIAC from 1975 until 1989, and currently since 1999.

JUCO CAPTAINS
The last three Junior College players to be a captain at WSU prior to Ashawn Butler this season were Daunte Akra in 2010 after playing two years at Grand Rapids CC, Andrew Bates in 2008 after also playing two seasons at GRCC and Craig Duppong in 2003 after playing two years at Joliet JC.

TEAM CAPTAINS
Prior to a scrimmage on August 22, head coach Paul Winters selected his captains for the 2015 season. The 2015 WSU captains are senior quarterback Carl Roscoe, senior safety Zak Bielecki, senior tight end Ethan Walsh and senior defensive end Ashawn Butler. All four are first-year captains. Prior to the announcement of the 2015 captains, nine previous WSU captains spoke about their time in Detroit:  Leit Jones (1967-69), Tom Sheppard (1967-70), Enrico Odorico (1961-63), Ed Skowneski (1972-75), Tom Hurley (1972-75), Dale Dwojakowski (1989-92), Grant Fodor (2003-06), Leo Wells (2002-05), Frank Lietke (2004-07) and Steve Lee (1988-91).

2015 SIGNING CLASS
The 30 NLI signees for 2015 marks the second largest class in Paul Winters 12 years at WSU.  The only larger signing class was in 2012 (31).

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters became the second-longest tenured football coach in program history this fall with 12 seasons.  He was tied with the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes at 11 seasons (1918-28).  Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis holds the WSU record with 14 seasons (1932-45).

STAFF CONTINUITY
The football coaching staff entered the 2015 season with several names that have been with the program for a number of years. Along with Winters entering his 12th season, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Scott Kazmierski is in his 12th season with the Green & Gold. Linebackers coach Keith McKenzie is in his eighth season, offensive line coach Scott Wooster is in his seventh season, defensive coordinator and secondary coach Brad Wilson is in his fourth season and quarterbacks coach Jeff Reardon is in his third season with the Warriors. E.J. Henderson returns to the program after serving three years previously (2004-06).

MODEL OF SUCCESS
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in six of the last seven years (2008-14) combining for a 50-31 mark in that span.  Prior to Coach Winters arrival in 2004, the Tartars/Warriors had 10 consecutive losing seasons on the field and only one winning season on the field in 19 years.

WARRIORS ON TV
All four of Wayne State's remaining home games will be broadcast on Comcast Xfinity Channel 900.  The broadcast team of Joe Abramson, Rod Beard and Kevin Brechmacher will have the call from Tom Adams Field.  Every contest will be shown live plus each game will also be available On-Demand.

WDTK AND WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
All Wayne State football games can be heard on WDTK Radio (1400 AM/92.7 FM).  Fans can listen to the games online at wdtkam.com or watch the home games via Warrior All-Access for a $5.95 per game fee.  Sean Baligian and former WSU running back Josh Renel will call the action from the broadcast booth. Former Warrior Ryan Oshnock will serve as the color analyst for three contests.