Michigan Tech’s Hunter Buechel (35), Josh Cribben (52) and teammates celebrate after a defensive play during a game against Northern Michigan Saturday at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — At this point, the Miner’s Cup is as synonymous with Michigan Tech as Winter Carnival.

On a wet, overcast day best suited for ducks, the Huskies (3-4, 2-1 GLIAC) wrangled arch-rival Northern Michigan with a 21-7 win on Saturday to win the Miner’s Cup for the 12th straight year and 17th of 20 overall.

The Miner’s Cup is nearing a point where the passage of time since Northern Michigan last won the coveted rivalry trophy in 2009 will be measured in the number of U.S. Presidents in that time, and perhaps the change in price of gas.

Until then, it’s another year for the Miner’s Cup to go out on the town in Houghton as the football team celebrates another year of triumph over its Upper Peninsula counterpart.

“Like usual, it was a hard fought game expected to be close and tight and both teams battled hard,” Michigan Tech head coach Steve Olson said. “Just very proud of our staff and our kids in terms of how they came out after an emotional game last week, and practiced and prepped all week and I’m just really proud of what those guys went out and did.”

Saturday’s 14-point win was the largest margin of victory since the Huskies’ 24-point win in a 31-7 rout of the Wildcats in 2013. Saturday was also the eighth-largest margin of victory in 17 of the Huskies’ wins.

Sophomore wide receiver Darius Willis highlighted the Huskies’ day as he caught six passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw for a touchdown on a trick play in the third quarter for 24 yards to Brandon Michalak.

The Wildcats (3-4, 1-2), meanwhile, struggled to generate a rhythm on offense and, despite flashes here and there, were largely kept stuck in neutral by the Huskies’ defense.

And that was the key going into the weekend: how well the Huskies rebounded from a poor showing in the run game and run defense the previous week against Wayne State, rushing for 70 yards and giving up more than 400 rushing yards to the Warriors.

On Saturday against the Wildcats, Michigan Tech reigned in those two aspects. The Huskies rushed for 134 yards while holding the Wildcats to 47 yards on the ground.

“We’ve had a couple rough games the last couple, so it means a lot to everybody in this program right now of getting that Miner’s Cup for the 12th straight year. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Northern, they battled their tails off out there. We saw some stuff that we didn’t see on film, so credit to our guys for getting lined up.”

Sophomore linebacker Marc Sippel led the Huskies’ defense with 13 total tackles. Jason Janquart’s sack for an 11-yard loss in the first quarter stalled a Wildcats drive that had gained some momentum with two first downs and ventured into Huskies territory.

The Huskies earned the win with a gutsy defensive showing, coupled with a humble improvement on offense from recent trends. It wasn’t so much a statistical improvement, but one of execution and resilience.

Darius Willis broke the stalemate nine minutes into the second quarter when his defender sagged underneath Willis, who stayed along the sideline where Ark found him in stride for a 41-yard score.

The Huskies looked to tighten their grip on the lead with an interception by senior defensive back Braxton Blackwell nine minutes into the third quarter as he returned it 33 yards to the Wildcats 25. This came just minutes after the Wildcats narrowly converted a fourth-and-1 from their own 22. Northern Michigan’s defense stood on its head, though, and the Wildcats dodged a bullet as senior defensive back Brian Schieweck sacked Ark for a 9-yard loss, pushing the Huskies out of field goal range and forcing a punt.

The Huskies held the Wildcats to six first downs in the first half. Willis’ score was a patch of Gorilla Tape on the Huskies’ continued offensive struggles. Tech had just five first downs.

Michigan Tech posted 297 yards of total offense with an even attack including 134 rushing and 163 passing.

It was nearly back-to-back 100-yard receiving performances for Willis, who caught nine passes for 183 yards against Wayne State.

Huskies quarterback Wlll Ark completed 13 of 19 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Ark also led the Huskies rushing attack, gashing the Wildcats on the QB draw and gaining 52 yards on 12 carries. William Marano ran 48 yards on 17 attempts, and Alec Moriarty complemented the rushing attack with 26 yards on six carries.

The Wildcats gained 220 yards of total offense including 173 passing and 47 rushing. NMU quarterback Drake Davis completed 12 of 20 passes for 93 yards. Zach Keen completed 6 of 11 passes for 80 yards, including a 46-yard strike to Charlie Gerhard in the third quarter.

Gerhard led the Wildcats with three catches for 56 yards. Wyatt Davis had four catches for 37 yards and Brenden Sersaw caught three passes for 33 yards.

Tyshon King led the Wildcats’ ground attack with 13 carries for 42 yards.

Blackwell, with three interceptions on the season, is tied with three other GLIAC players for the most interceptions in the conference. His 113 interception return yards is by far the most. Thomas said Blackwell is a special player.

“He’s been a four-year starter for us, moved him from outside linebacker to safety for the last couple years and he’s as good of a safety as we’ve had in this program since I’ve been here. He does everything right. He’s a little banged up going into today’s game and then, you know, he gutted it out.”

Blackwell said his three interceptions have been a combination of luck with being in the right spot, and reading the quarterback’s eyes to leverage the throw in his favor.

“I think part of it is luck,” he said, “but you know, when you’re in the right position and the opportunity arises, you just got to make the play. I know sometimes in my previous seasons, I didn’t always make those plays, but I just think seizing every opportunity this year has really gotten me in that position.”

Blackwell said positioning himself to make an interception is a combination of film study and on-field reads.

“It’s definitely more of an in-game thing,” he said. “You have to get an idea of what they’re going to do. But just going out there and actually reading his eyes and making that instinctual play is I think the biggest thing.”

The Huskies visit No. 1 Ferris State next, and host No. 2 Grand Valley State on Oct. 29. The Bulldogs were defeated by Grand Valley State 22-21 on Saturday.

Northern Michigan visits Grand Valley State next.