How GVSU adjusted on offense to claim seventh straight win

ALLENDALE - Efficient offense, dominating defense. That’s been the mantra for the Grand Valley State University football team all season long.

The Lakers handled Michigan Tech University on both sides of the ball in a 44-13 homecoming victory, extending their win streak to seven and improving to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the GLIAC conference.

The GVSU rushing attack led the way once again gaining 264 of their 449 yards on the ground. Quarterback Cade Peterson led the way with 101 yards on 14 carries and four total touchdowns, backup quarterback Avery Moore had 43 yards and two touchdowns of his own and running back Tariq Reed added 57 yards of his own. The Lakers also went 9-for-16 on third and fourth down conversions.

“Third downs are always an area we’re trying to work on, especially if they’re long,” Peterson said. “We had good conversions and were able to just eat up the clock when we needed to. Whenever we needed to come up with a big conversion, we did.”

Defensively, the Lakers held Michigan Tech to 161 yards of total offense and minus-six yards on the ground and forced two turnovers. Linebacker Abe Swanson led the effort with 13 tackles, two for loss, and a sack. On the other side of Swanson, Anthony Cardamone had seven tackles and two sacks, including a strip sack that he recovered the fumble on.

“I put my hand where the ball was, wrapped up well, and I wanted to hop on this one, to make sure we got it back,” Cardamone said. “It’s due to our defense, guys just flying around, it frees me up to make big plays.”

After going backwards on the first two plays from scrimmage, Peterson led the team down the field, capping the drive with a 11-yard touchdown run to give the Lakers an early 7-0 lead they would not squander.

On defense, Swanson was everywhere to start the game, making the first two tackles and helping force a three-and-out. On the ensuing possession, Moore found receiver Cody Tierney on fourth down and took a designed run six yards to the endzone.

“(Having two rushing quarterbacks) is a game changer, a cheat code,” GVSU coach Scott Wooster said. “They took the tailback run game away, but we can flip the script on them when we have true, dynamic ball carriers at quarterback.”

More: GVSU football trounces Northern Michigan with 73-point performance

More: No. 4 GVSU football stuns No. 1 Ferris State with offensive explosion

The second quarter saw three long drives ending in ten points for the Huskies and seven for the Lakers on a trick play touchdown pass from Peterson to Syone Usma-Harper.

“It was a great coaching scheme, and coach (Matt Vitzthum) called it at the perfect time,” Peterson said. “My job was easy, we practice that play in warmups and in practice every single day.”

Peterson and Moore both scored touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

GVSU defense bends, but doesn’t break against the hurry-up offense

Late in the first quarter, Michigan Tech began to find success with a more up-tempo offense, opting not to huddle between plays and regularly sending receivers in motion. Quarterback Alex Fries carved up the Laker defense, but big plays and costly penalties held Michigan Tech to ten points in the half.

“The ball was coming out in a hurry, but we have guys that are used to playing man-to-man coverage and shutting the opposing team down,” Swanson said. “It’s guys doing their job every single play, just locked into what the call is.”

GVSU sticks to the script; dominates the line of scrimmage

Coming into the game, GVSU was averaging 264 yards per game, and continued to run the ball efficiently. GVSU ran for 263 yards on 44 attempts and had five rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, the front seven held the Michigan Tech run game in check, allowing minus-19 yards in the first half and minus-four overall. They had men in the backfield on nearly every play, sacking Fries six times and forcing him to scramble out the pocket nearly every play.

Michigan Tech’s stingy defense causes problems in the passing game

GVSU’s typically prolific passing attack was bottled up for the majority of the game. They only gained 158 yards through the air, the majority coming in the first quarter, and the Huskies’ defense intercepted Peterson twice. The coverage forced Peterson to tuck-and-run often.

One week removed from holding Ferris State University to under 200 yards passing, they showed that they could compete with the GVSU passing attack as well.

“Coach (Bryan) Thomas does a great job as their defensive coordinator,” Wooster said. “Kyler Blake-Jones processes information like I’ve never seen, he gets us right 99% of the time. The ability to run the football and protect the quarterback, that’s on the entire offensive line,”

The Lakers will travel to Wooster’s alma mater, Wayne State University, next week .

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: GVSU adjusted on offense to claim seventh straight win, beating Michigan Tech