GVFootball.com

A lot can happen in twenty seconds. What happened Saturday night on the South side of Indianapolis left many at a complete loss for words. The lack of ability to express what we witnessed confirms this is completely new territory for many Laker fans. The high possibility of being un-ranked when the next polls come out, a losing record and a complete feeling of vulnerability. We’ve never looked at Findlay with questions like we are right now. We haven’t been here since the 2000 season, and that’s before a lot of us were around Grand Valley football.

With :36 seconds left in the 4th quarter of the game against the Greyhounds, Laker QB Heath Parling found Andrew Lorman inside the 5 yard line, hit him with a pass and Lorman stretched into the endzone. The GVSU sideline went nuts, the Lakers had a 33-28 lead with half a minute to go. What happened next gave us witness to a feeling not had since the 2001 national championship. A prolific Indianpolis touchdown drive ended in only twenty seconds and Ryan Forney grabbed a 22 yard pass with :11 seconds to play to rip out GVSU’s collective heart.

“You’re at the top of the world one second, and then your heart is in your throat the next, it’s just an empty feeling.”, Jarrod Cox was quoted in the Grand Rapids Press (Zuidema).

It took only three passing plays for Indy to get that winning touchdown. All complete and all for sizeable, deadly yardage (14, 27 and 22 yrds.). That one drive highlights a night where the Lakers fought from as much as 21-7 down, for the second week in a row. The GVSU secondary got schooled for 344 yards through the air which marks the second week in a row our opponent has thrown for over 300 yards.

It’s becoming plainly obvious to see that there are issues with the 2011 Lakers that they must find a way to overcome or face a long season. The defensive side of the ball needs to find a way to limit opponent’s effectiveness. A five-point lead with half a minute to go in the game should be enough. Thirty-three points should be enough as well. Allowing an opponent who has not made the playoffs in the last decade to get over 500 yards of offense is too much to overcome for almost any offense.

Look for more to come later. Here’s a link to the official recap, as well as video highlights from the game (if you dare to watch).

Twice in three years, and it might as well be a three-year run for Hillsdale as the Lakers got outplayed in last year’s matchup as well. Once again the Muddy Waters Stadium crowd got to witness a thrilling last-second upset of the #3 ranked Lakers. For the second time in three years the Hillsdale students stormed the field. It’s not a sight one can really get used to, especially with the way the game was lost. You could not nail it down to one thing. Much like in the loss to Augustana last season, everything seemed to go wrong at all the wrong times.
Speaking of that fateful playoff game last season, this makes two losses for the Lakers in their last three games overall, something not seen since the back-to-back losses to Saginaw and Northwood in 2004.

For second-year coach Matt Mitchell, the pressure has got to be ringing off the hook. After Saturday night’s defeat he discribed the loss as a “complete lack of execution” by coaches and players on all sides of the ball. Every positive turned in by the Lakers squad was met with an equal or greater setback. The momentum ever so close, but hopelessly out of reach. When one looks at the statistics from Saturday night, you can’t help but wonder “Do they have our number now?” That question goes back to the complaints from some of the alleged “un-creative” and “highly-predictable” offensive play-calling of Chuck Martin.

Speaking of those stats, let’s have a look at some standouts.
First Downs: HC-23/GV-14
Total Offensive Yards: HC-462/GV-338
Turnovers Forced: HC-3/GV-1
Third Down Conversions: HC-6-16/GV-3-11
Fourth Down Conversion: HC-3 of 4/GV-0 of 1

Now for the last one, remember what we mentioned last week about time of posession? Well Hillsdale did it again, holding the ball for almost 35 minutes while the Lakers had the rock only 25 minutes. This is all emphasized by a disasterously lost 2nd quarter where the Chargers held the ball for 12:13! Furthermore, while GV started the game with the ball and scored first, the Chargers answered right back in under four minutes. From there the first-half was off and running, where the Lakers would put themselves in a 21-7 hole at one point.

Now in the past two days many have argued and have felt GVSU got unfairly screwed at the end of the game on a roughing the kicker call, giving Hillsdale a second shot at kicking the game-winning FG. All emotions aside, if you’re the #3 ranked team in the country you should not have put yourself in the position to be relying on blocking a last-second field-goal attempt to simply go into overtime. It’s very hard to allow the opponent to score 31 points and expect to win that ball game at the end, especially spotting them a 21-7 lead in the first half.

Now the MLive beat-writer for the Lakers (Michael Zuidema) has come out with a peice that states what many of us are thinking in the back of our minds. The game was worrisome, and on so many levels it makes you want to look at the remainder of the season with question. Michael has done a great job in following the program and giving insight to the players and staff goings-on in my eyes. I think he’s very right to see this as a cautionary possible pivitol point. Link to the article

As I mentioned to start the article, the pressure of Mitchell and crew escalates again. Many see GVSU success as all-or-nothing. The coaching staff know this, so do the players. I’ve been quoted as saying early and often that as a fan-base we’ve become extremely spoiled. A win by 15-20 points is “not good enough”. An 11-2 first season as head coach was to some voices I heard last winter a “fireable offense”. Some voices scream of it as a “nepotistic experiment failure” in less than two full seasons. Other voices proclaim with gloom (and glee in some cases) “The reign is over! GV is no more!” These are the extremes I’ve heard out in D2 fan-land, but they lend an insight into what some are thinking. Are any true? There is the chance, as in any situation. What is far more likely is for the program to continue it’s winning ways, even if that means 9-2/10-1 seasons with no national title in the next couple of years. Success builds on success, and the athletic staff at Grand Valley don’t allow their programs to stay “down” (if you can even use that word here) for long.

However now it’s playoff time in Allendale, we have to win-out. The GLIAC is stacked, and with Augustana, UMD and St. Cloud State in our region two losses won’t get you a sniff of a playoff birth. Homefield advantage is gone. Just win baby. The cliches are endless. The season just got a lot more interesting, and stressful.

Go Lakers!!

A rare and exceedingly hot and humid September day greeted the Wolves first trip to the Eastern time zone on September 1st, 2011. Temperatures exceeded 90 degrees F with high humidity right up until kickoff. 2011’s Opener would be Coach Matt Mitchell’s second season with something to prove.

The July-like weather greeted a great crowd of 15,004, the third largest in GVSU history along with GVSU football alumni Brad Iciek, Scott Blasko, Alex Gilde, Curt Anes, Nick Lawrence and more, including a huge GVSU student presence.

A crazy first half resulted in 23 points for the home boys in black and none for the visitors from Oregon. Highlights from the opening half included GVSu’s first-half drive of just over two minutes which drove the Lakers sixty-some yards to go ahead 7-0. Later on the Lakers fumbled the ball inside the Wolves ten yard line squandering a major scoring chance. The next play from scrimmage the boys in black got a controversial call that resulted in a safety in the South endzone taking the home team to a 9-0 first half lead. Up next, Jovonne Augustus climbed the ladder to give GV a 16-0 lead, and then Grand Valley blocked a Western Oregon punt deep in Wolves territory and ran it to pay-dirt to give the Mitten-men a 23-0 lead going into the half.

The second half started with a GVSU kickoff to the Wolves, which was fumbled and ultimately recoved by the vistors to their fortune. Both teams traded scores and in the end the Lakers ended up with a 44-20 season and home opening win to start 2011. The Lakers second and thrird strings came on late to close out the opener and did a pretty respectable job.

Parling went 15/27 for 205 yards, and on defense Brandon Allen recorded five tackles and a sack on the night. We’ll have more stats from the opener as well as a look-ahead to Hillsdale in the coming week. Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend GV nation!!

Go Lakers!

Peter James - Writer and Columnist - GVFootball.com

So this is listed as a rivalry officially between the two schools and the rivalry even has its own trophy. It certainly was a rivalry in the 1990’s when the series was a close, hard-fought battle between Ferris and GV whom the Lakers edged 5-4-1 in that decade. Ferris actually brought something to the table in those days. I’m curious as to the health of the rivalry almost more than a decade later. As we noted in the preview Ferris hasn’t won a game in this rivalry since 1999. A lot has changed since that time and in a lot of ways.

It was a slightly chilled day Saturday with pesky intermittent rain showers throughout the morning and first half of the game. Despite the annoying conditions, a rather decent GVSU following showed up. However not quite as many students as I would have liked to see. As kickoff approached, it was apparent there was an evident apathy amongst the Ferris faithful. A home crowd that was far from being a sellout with hardly a sniff of an organized student section (on a campus with 12,000+ undergrads). The announced crowd was only 3,256 in a stadium of 5,000 total seats and plenty of open lawn area. The lead-up to the game hardly felt like a rivalry and what followed confirmed the suspicions.


Grand Valley started off the day with a drive that lasted almost eight minutes of the first quarter, ending with a four-yard touchdown run by QB Kyle McMahon. That drive set the stage for the rest of the day. A grinding, meticulous GVSU offense ground down the Bulldogs without much flash or fanfare. They just did their job and it showed. After forcing a Ferris three-and-out on the “Dawgs first posession, the Lakers took less than two minutes to drive down to the FSU red-zone and convert a Ryan Stokes field goal to make the lead 10-0. At the 7:03 mark of the 2nd quarter, Norman Shuford rushed up the middle for a one-yard scoring drive to grow the GVSU lead to 17-0. After forcing another Ferris punt, the road-warriors from Allendale put on their most explosive offensive show of the day to that point. McMahon found Jovonne Augustus for a deep, 55-yard touchdown pass. At the 2:13 mark of the 2nd quarter, it was now 24-0 Grand Valley, and the outcome was certainly stamped.

The game followed much of the same script in the second half, this time with a lot of the second string getting valuable playing time. By the time the clock hit 00:00, the Lakers had racked up 41 points, and had recorded their first shut-out win since 2008. The effort was a full-team achievement. All aspects of the game were executed as needed culminating in what many feel is the most complete game played to date by the Lakers. Let’s go over some of the notable game stats that really help tell the story of this win.

Grand Valley racked up 503 yards of offense on the day and held the Bulldogs to only 118 total, all-purpose yards. An even more shocking number was that Ferris was held to a frighteningly measly 29 yards of rushing. That means that the FSU passing attack was equally tepid, amassing less than 100 yards on the GVSU secondary. GVSU recorded 29 first downs, to only 9 for Ferris. GVSU only punted once in the game, compared to eight times for FSU. The Lakers had seven total red-zone scoring chances, converting on six of them. The Laker defense was in the face of the Ferris QB all day long, sacking him six times for a total loss of 41 yards. The Bulldogs on the other hand had ZERO, yes (0) red-zone scoring chances on the day, and despite having more than twenty three minutes of posession time. It doesn’t matter how long you have the ball, if you can’t move the chains, you won’t score!

How is this still a rivalry? Well, it’s a rivalry it appears in name only lately. Maybe down the road it will heat up again, but we will have to wait for that day to come for at least one more year. The photo below really sums up the rivalry from the past ten games between the schools.

The Lakers travel to their farthest location of the year next weekend, as they will take on the Huskies of Michigan Tech on the tundra of Sherman Field in Houghton, MI. The match-up looks to be a fun one, and we will see if the Techies can give the Lakers a challenge in the Keweenaw. CowboyEric and a small crew will be present with the camera at the game. Look for my preview later in the week.

Congrats again to the Lakers!

As Kyle McMahon looked toward the Northeast corner of the endzone as time wound down in 4th quarter of last night’s game, he saw a familiar number. Jovonne Augustus’ number ‘80′ was headed for the corner. McMahon floated up a fade pass “jump ball” that Laker fans have become very accustom to seeing in the past six years. Martin was known for using it all the time with his big wide recievers and now it appears Mitchell is continuing the trend. That very play was used in the red-zone last night countless times, sometimes even twice in a row to the same player and to the same corner. Sometimes even, failing to convert but this time the play worked to perfection. Augustus came down with the ball with the game clock reading 00:30. A PAT was added to make the final score 38-31 in the Laker’s favor.

A late win in a tight game. Deja Vu. The thrilling cheers from last weekend’s Hillsdale game seemed more hushed. It seemed far more like relief than excitement amongst the family day crowd of 11,682. Too close for comfort has been the M.O. for the season so far after just three games. At the same time, it has been “just three games” and we are still undefeated. The question will be for how long though?

Can the defense find the cohesion it needs? They held Indy to only 255 total yards for the night. That is a vast improvement over the past two weeks, however that is against a team that is not exactly of the same caliber of West Texas or Hillsdale. The problem seemed to come with keeping Indy off the scoreboard. If the Lakers can’t keep the opposing team off the scoreboard well enough, we will lose GLIAC games. The new question then becomes, how many will we lose? I’ve heard people talking about playoffs already. “Playoffs?!! PLAYOFFS?!?!” I thought but you get my drift. Right now, it’s one game at a time. Until we have that breakout game, it’s simple survival right now and there is no more simple way to state that fact or get around that truth.

Once again GV relied on a balanced offensive attack to carry the day. Three rushing touchdowns were complimented with two scores converted through the air. McMahon compiled 239 yards and spread the ball around evenly to his recievers including Justin Sherrod. Luther Ware is continuing to show his worth to the team on the defensive side of the ball. Ware dropped Indy QB Rob Doyle for two sacks for a total loss of 20 yards. Carlisle and Breen both intercepted Rob Doyle passes for the Lakers and Breen also recorded 11 tackles. On the flip side of the ball, the GV O-line kept the Indy D from getting to McMahon pretty well last night. No sacks allowed and no interceptions is a good sign as the first game of the road schedule nears.

For right now, let’s just live in the moment with this team. Live in the moment of close games, count our blessings this past decade from the football Gods and just be thankful that we have a group of kids who appear to be able to rally together very well in tight games.

The Lakers travel to Ohio next weekend to take on the Findlay Oilers. It’s a noon kickoff just minutes off I-75. GVFootball.com will be there and we hope to see you as well!

Go Lakers!

What can you do in 77 seconds? You could wash some dishes. You could do an insufficient job of brushing your teeth. You could download some music, send some text messages or make your bed. You could also orchestrate one of the most thrilling come-from-behind wins in Laker football history. What GVSU did in the last 77 seconds relied on a lot things to go right, and a lot of things to go wrong. What happened at Lubbers Stadium last night was an instant classic witnessed by 11,637 hearty fans.

So you’re up one on Grand Valley with a minute and a half to go in the fourth quarter, on the road, you’ve got possesion, momentum and the clock on your side. You can see the light and you’re so close you can taste it. You can barely stand it. You’re anxious to make a statement and put points on the board. You decide to go against logic and don’t burn the clock. You drive right down the field and give the ball to Joe Glendening (who’s already scored two rushing TD’s and compiled over 200 yards so far for the night) for a seven yard touchdown run. And just like that, you’ve built a seven point lead. Your crowd and sideline are hysterical. You figure kick the field goal to go up eight, so GVSU will have to go the distance, score a TD AND get a 2-point conversion to tie. Keeping in mind, you will have left them only 1:17 to do so.

Here’s where your nightmare starts.

The Laker’s Luther Ware breaks through the line and blocks your PAT. He scoops up the loose ball and runs clear for a defensive 2-point conversion. Your lead is now only five with little over a minute remaining and the home crowd is back in it. Here’s where you’re second decisive coaching directive comes into play. Instead of kicking it off deep to make the boys in black go the length of the field, you gamble. You want the ball back. You squib the kick which GVSU ends up recovering in great field position. The Lakers need to go only 53 yards to your endzone and have 1:01 in which to get it done. Now the crowd is roaring with hope and the home sideline believes they can work a miracle.

Laker QB Kyle McMahon drives his team right down the field and they now sit at your 8-yard line with 16 seconds remaining. You watch as McMahon sees Jovonne Augustus in the back of the endzone. McMahon floats a pass up and the 6′5″ WR toes the back of the endzone and comes down with the go-ahead score. In a dizzying amount of time, your 7-point lead has been erased, you’re down 42-41. Then Grand Valley’s QB calls his own number for the 2-point conversion and runs it in to make the score 44-41. Your fans and sideline are in silent shock. When you get the ball back, you call a timeout. Your final effort is a heaving pass down to the GVSU 19 yard line that is picked off by Erik Thompson. So close and yet so far, all at the same time. That’s what you can do with 77 seconds.

Folks, Hillsdale is for real and they have one heck of an offense. They came perilously close to taking us for the second year in a row. I’d be surprised if they don’t run-the-table the rest of the season and get a playoff birth. It’s a good bet we see them again in November for second year in a row.

The start of this season has seemed more like a playoff run than anything else. We’ve been treated to two wild, hard-fought matches with nationally ranked opponents. If this keeps up, the Laker faithful might aquire a collective cardiac arrest by season’s end.

Our third home game in a row is next Saturday, Sept. 18th against Indianapolis. We’ll see you there!

That feeling of sheer relief when the final play is downed and the clock is running out after a nerve-wracking, hard-fought, back-and-forth slugfest is not one Laker faithful have had to feel often at the end of a game. Over the past decade, we’ve become accustomed to knowing many a game is in the bag by the third quarter, or sooner. Rarely do we get treated to a true challenge by a top-ten opponent on our own field, on national television. Many of us this morning can point out short-comings we spotted on our team last night. Many of us, at the same time, can point out a few really bright things that give us hope for the coming season. In the end, we escaped with the win.

The rain ended just in time and sun began to peek out as Lubbers filled up. West Texas A&M had come calling on opening night in front of a crowd of 13,128. One notable game-sponsor handed out boxes of mac and cheese to the students before the game. Sure enough, a mac and cheese throwing frenzy ensued before kickoff in the student section.

GVSU got to work early in the first quarter. Jay Jandasek nailed a field goal to cap the Laker’s first drive, followed by a Justin Sherrod 3-yard TD run. The boys in black were up 10-0 and a sense of complacency fell on Lubbers Stadium. Before anyone knew what had hit them, the Buffs had scored 17 un-answered points and were looking to add to the lead late in the first half. Freshman Luther Ware stepped in front of a pass and gave the Lakers momentum, which they turned into a field goal at the end of the first half to cut the WTAM lead to 17-13. One thing was clear, Matt Mitchell’s squad was having some trouble inside the red-zone after a couple stalled drives which failed to capitalize.

The second half started promising with a deep GVSU drive into WTAM territory. Similarly to the first half of the game, the drive stalled and resulted in a field goal to pull the Lakers to within one, 17-16. The visitors responded quickly, once again pitting the host Lakers in a hole, 24-16. You could sense the crowd begin to wonder whether tonight was really GVSU’s night or not. What the team needed was momentum, and a big defensive stop. On the ensuing WTAM drive the Laker defense came up huge, stuffing the Buffs on a fourth down play. The other spark the team and crowd needed was a big offense play to get the wheels moving again.

As the Laker offense took over, senior QB Kyle McMahon dropped back on the first play of the drive and spotted WR Jovone Augustus deep. McMahon hurled a pass which Augustus brought down, fought off defenders and sprinted clear into the endzone for a 70-yard, one-play score. The crowd was back in it once again and despite a missed PAT, GVSU was back within two, 24-22. Two more quick Grand Valley touchdowns and a stout defensive effort gave the Lakers a 34-24 lead with just under eight minutes to play in the 4th quarter. The Buffaloes were relentless and with just under two minutes to play in the 4th, WTAM scored to bring the game within three, 34-31. One began to get the feeling that this was a game in which the last team to have the ball would win. The tense air thickened and as WTAM lined up for an on-side kick, you could sense the fan’s collective mindset turn to an almost hushed foreboding. With thousands of crossed fingers in the stands, the Lakers victoriously recovered the on-side kick to seal what was one of the most exciting games I have witnessed at Lubbers in my eight years following the team.

The eighth-ranked team in the country came into our building, gave us their best shot, and we had just enough to come away on top. There are many brightspots, as well as many areas of improvement, none of which I will get into today. I can tell this team has a ways to go to gel, but it fought and pulled together last night when their youth might have otherwise gotten the better of them.

The Lakers host a key GLIAC matchup next week Saturday, Sept. 11 against the top-25 ranked Hillsdale Chargers. Look for a preview later in the week!

Go Lakers!

The Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State University have claimed the 2009 DII National Championship over the Lakers with a final score of 30-23. During the first half, the Lakers tried to keep up but the 21 points that NW quickly put on the board were hard to overcome. The Lakers made a valiant second half effort outscoring NWMS 23 to 9 but they couldn’t top the prowl and desire of the Bearcats. This is the Cats 5th straight NC appearance in Florence and the first victory in five trips. They lost to GV in 2005 and 2006, Valdosta in 2007 and Minnesota-Duluth in 2008. It has to feel good to finally bring the trophy back to Maryville.

After the game, Laker fans returned to the Florence Coliseum for the traditional season celebration. The event was catered by Rick’s Barbeque this year and damn that was some good stuff. MMMMMM. President Haas and AD Selgo helped celebrate with fans/family/players before introducing Martin to the stage for an emotional speech about the game. Good job Chuck! I would have had just as hard of a time doing the same thing myself. Selgo returned to introducing a handful (Gilde, Gates, McDonald, McGuckin, Smolen and Iciek) of seniors to make some remarks about their time as a Laker athlete. This year’s senior class included 4 that missed graduation today in order to play in the game.

Seniors
Gary Anderson
Robert Carlisle
Matt Flutur
PT Gates
Alex Gilde
Brad Iciek
Jahan Jones
Nick McDonald
Jake McGuckin
Jordan Munson
Blake Smolen
Bryan Thomas
Justin Trumble
James Wojciechowski

Congratulations to NWMS for a win today after a tough game. Thanks to the 09-10 Seniors for all the memories. And… is it August yet?

GO BLUE!

The Lakers of Grand Valley State University will once again be travelling to Florence, Alabama for the Division II National Championship game!

With a 41-27 win over the Eagles of Carson-Newman, the Lakers are set to take on the rival Bearcats from Northwest Missouri State University. The Bearcats advanced with a 56-31 semifinal win over the Vulcans from California University of Pennsylvania on Saturday December 5th.

The championship game is set for 1pm on Saturday December 12th and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

More championship details as well as semifinal photos tomorrow.

GO LAKERS!

Back from the trip this weekend! It was a LONG time in the vehicle but totally worth it! I just posted at small photo preview on our Facebook Fan page.

Check it out!