Michigan Tech’s Jacob Wenzlick runs through the tackle attempt of Wayne State’s Ray’Jon Williams-Jackson, Saturday, at Sherman Field. Tech lost 20-14. (Daily Mining Gazette/David Archambeau)

HOUGHTON — With eight returning starters on a defensive unit that featured a boatload of experience, the Michigan Tech Huskies set out to be one of the GLIAC’s best defenses in 2017. 

Eight weeks later, and that preseason idea now seems like a pipe dream. 

Tech’s defense was pushed around for 243 yards rushing in a 20-14 defeat to the Wayne State Warriors Saturday at Sherman Field. The Warriors averaged 4.86 yards per carry and converted 10 of 19 third-down conversions despite starting two true freshmen on the line and giving sophomore quarterback Dakota Kupp his first career start. 

But the veteran Huskies were outplayed in the most simple form of football: power running. 

Wayne State senior back Romello Brown ran for 114 yards on 25 carries while routinely running over Tech defenders as if he was a bowling ball. Senior Demetrius Stinson provided a change-of-pace option, and the more agile back finished with 103 yards (7.9 per carry), including a 27-yard touchdown. 

Tech now surrenders the second-most rushing yards per game in the GLIAC (191.8).

“When (Brown’s) healthy, he’s a very good running back,” Olson said. “He ran extremely hard with an extreme desire to get extra yards. We need to have a better desire to make sure those extra yards aren’t there.”

In a game with no postseason or conference implications, the two struggling teams were simply playing for pride. If there was any doubt about who wanted to win this game more, it was proven on the contest’s most pivotal play. 

With a 20-14 lead and less than 2:30 remaining, Wayne State faced fourth-and-inches from its own 39. Brown, the 5-foot-11, 243-pound stocky back, took the handoff from Kupp and broke two tackles behind the line of scrimmage before charging ahead for 6 and the first down. 

“That’s a desire play,” Olson said. “(Brown) had a desire to finish that football play and finish that football game with them as the winning team, and we’ve got to have a better desire to finish the game in the other direction… If we run our feet better, we get off the field.”

Wayne State (3-5, 2-4 GLIAC) head coach Paul Winters didn’t hesitate on the call to go for it. His team entered with a four-game losing streak and he figured he had nothing to lose. It’s an easier gamble to make after you watch your offense convert four third-and-short situations prior to the fourth-down run by Brown. And it’s not the type of risk you take against a defense that you fear — and that disrespect should tick off Tech more than anything.

“We’ve lost some games that we should have played better in, so we thought, ‘Why should we give it to (Tech) and let it go in their hands?'” Winters said. “Our guys were determined to do it and were excited to do it.”

Tech simply lacked the same type of determination as Wayne State. Facing fourth-and-1 on its first drive of the second half, Tech failed to get any push up front and senior quarterback Jake Brown was stuffed short on a sneak, turning the ball over at the Wayne State 29. 

The Huskies had just 50 yards in the second half and turned the ball over on a fumble. 

Senior back John Williams ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries in the first half but was unable to play in the second half due to an injury. 

But Williams’ presence might not have made a difference given how Wayne State controlled the line of scrimmage after halftime adjustments and limited Tech to 29 yards rushing (2.23 per carry) in the second half. 

“One of the things we talked about during halftime was that we were tackling high and grabbing,” Winters said. “We wanted to bend our knees, sink our hips and stop people, and I think we did that.”

A week ago Kupp was the third-string quarterback. But injuries to junior D.J. Zezula — and the lack of production from freshman Jake AmRehin and senior Trevor Van Tubbergen in the second half of a 20-10 loss to Northwood — gave Kupp the opportunity to start. Prior to Saturday, Kupp completed just 3 of 17 passes for 20 yards in his career. 

Besides a fumbled snap that resulted in a Wayne State turnover at the Tech 16, Kupp was good enough with an efficient ground game behind him. He completed 12 of 23 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. 

Facing fourth-and-5 from the Tech 32, Kupp fired an out route to senior Manny Mendoza. Tech sophomore Travis Tidwell broke on the route and went for an interception, but misplayed the ball, allowing Mendoza to race up the sideline for a 15-14 lead.

Kupp then connected with a wide-open Corey Ester on a slant from the slot for the 2-point conversion.

“He’s prepared well all through the season,” Winters said of Kupp, who was named the starter the evening after the Northwood loss. “I would feel comfortable if we had to start any of the four quarterbacks that they would do the job.”

Tech’s special teams blocked the extra point on Stinson’s game-opening score and followed it up with a 93-yard kick return from Jacob Wenzlick for a 7-6 lead. Wenzlick found a seam up the right sideline before outracing the Wayne State coverage. 

“We felt like we could get them blocked up,” Olson said. “You don’t necessarily feel like every time you can take one to the house, but you always work on it. You don’t know that’s it’s going to happen every week, but we felt like we could get a good return.”

Williams capped Tech’s finest drive of the game — 13 plays, 85 yards — with an 11-yard run for a 14-6 advantage. 

Wayne State senior Paul Graham converted a 45-yard field goal for the second-longest kick of his career to start Wayne State’s run of 14 unanswered points, cutting the deficit to 14-9.

Graham also made it 20-14 on a 27-yard field goal after a holding call negated a 2-yard TD run by Kupp.

Next, Tech will host Davenport (1-7, 0-6) on Saturday.

– – –

Wayne 6 7 8 3 — 20

Tech 7 7 0 0 — 14

First quarter

W — Demetrius Stinson 27-yard run (Paul Graham kick blocked), 6-0, 5:14

T — Jacob Wenzlick 93-yard return (Evan Gornick kick), 7-6, 5:01

Second quarter

T — John Williams 13-yard run (Evan Gornick kick), 14-6, 5:14

W — Paul Graham 45-yard field goal, 14-9, 5:05

Third quarter

W — Manny Mendoza 32-yard pass from Dakota Kupp (2-point good on Corey Ester pass from Dakota Kupp), 17-14, 7:33

Fourth quarter

W — Paul Graham 27-yard field goal, 20-14, 11:20

Passing (completions-attempts-yards-touchdowns-interceptions)

Wayne State — Kupp 12-23-127-1-0; Tech — Brown 13-26-125-0-0.

Rushing (attempts-yards-touchdowns)

Wayne State — Brown 25-114-0, Stinson 13-105-1, Kupp 9-26-0, Moffett 1-4-0; Tech — Williams 11-76-1, Henderson 13-50-0, Wenzlick 1-6-0.

Receiving (catches-yards-touchdowns)

Wayne — Ester 5-21-0, Mendoza 2-43-0, Jackson 2-20-0, Ketterman 1-24-0; Tech Wenzlick 5-51-0, Falish 4-50, Hartley 2-12-0, Ferguson 1-16-0.