Michigan Tech linebackers Marc Sippel (0) and Josh Cribben (13) celebrate a tackle for loss in a game against Hillsdale Saturday, Sept. 9, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

FAYETTE, Iowa — After jumping out to an early lead against Wisconsin-Platteville last Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies football team improved to 2-0 on the season by holding off the Pioneers in the second half and coming away with a 24-20 victory.

For their first win on the road, coach Dan Mettlach was happy his team earned its second non-conference victory of the season, however, he felt they left an awful lot on the table.

“We felt like we had very little adversity in Week One,” he said. “Week Two, we go on the road for the first time. I thought we moved the ball well, but were really careless with football, turned it over five times. There’s probably four others, two passes, and two other balls that we put on the ground that we ended up getting back, that could have very easily gone the opposite way.Those two things probably stand out the most.”

Mettlach felt that the Huskies’ defense did a tremendous job, considering where on the field the Pioneers would take possession of the ball.

“Every time we put them in a bad situation, they responded to it in a very positive way,” he said. “So it’s all learning situations for everybody. But, no question that the defense was a huge part of getting out of there with a win on Saturday.”

Mettlach and the Huskies already have half as many wins as the team put up last season, so there is still a lot, he feels, the team needs to learn about how to close out games and earn wins. Saturday was a good step, but there is still work to be done.

“That’s something that we talked about since winter conditioning, is that to go from a four-win team a year ago, whether you’re talking about practice in the spring, practice in early camp, learning these types of lessons early in the fall, you’ve got to learn how to win,” he said.

“It’s a skill that’s something that you can work on. It doesn’t just happen overnight.”

While Mettlach is quick to point out the turnovers the Huskies surrendered on offense, he is also pleased with the developing bond between junior quarterback Alex Fries and sophomore wide receiver Ethan Champney. Fries went 27-of-44 for 288 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Champney came up with 11 of those catches for 143 yards and the touchdown.

“I thought they did a nice job,” said Mettlach. “There was some stuff that we left out. (We) know it was not Alex’s best day, and he knows that. Everybody knows that. So, we need to keep harping on that. But, I thought that, for the negatives, the turnovers, and putting the ball in jeopardy, those two had a great day. If you weren’t at the game, it was probably tough to see it.”

Perhaps more encouraging was the play of junior wide receiver Darius Willis. While Willis did not score a touchdown, he proved very important in short-yardage throws and he found ways to turn them into big plays. He finished with 10 receptions for 123 yards on the afternoon.

“Darius played out of his head,” Mettlach said. “(He) didn’t score, but put us in a situation where, whether it was line-of-scrimmage screens to him, or making plays downfield, what we saw last year from Darius, showed out on a Saturday.

“I don’t remember exactly what it was. I want to say eight or nine catches maybe for Darius, but we got him the ball, and the Jet sweeps and whatever else. He probably should have touched it 10 more times, to be honest with you.”

While Fries and Champney have been working well as a pair to this point, Mettlach wants to see his quarterback do a better job of reading the field, especially if a defense starts to take Champney away as an option.

“When they started taking Champney away on the boundary to the field, our best football player is standing by himself quite a bit, and we just weren’t seeing him,” said Mettlach. “That’s all part of what we’ve been talking about since the beginning of early camp. There are going to be some mistakes that a young (quarterback) makes, where things start moving fast, they start changing up coverages. You have to be disciplined with your eyes.”

Mettlach said that his staff is not challenging Fries with an overly complicated offensive scheme at this point, but he expects his young passer to continue to improve as he gets more comfortable under center.

“It didn’t go great on Saturday for him in terms of what happened, but it had nothing to do with his knowledge or what he knows, what he’s comfortable with,” said Mettlach. “He’s done an incredible job of putting the time in the classroom, film study, (he) understands what we’re telling him on the field during the week.

“He threw it 44 other times to where I think he was just under 300 yards passing with a running touchdown, (and) a passing touchdown. It wasn’t like he played completely terrible. It was just his mistakes were very costly.”

SCOUTING THE PEACOCKS

This Saturday, the Huskies hit the road again, this time to the Upper Iowa Peacocks. The Peacocks are 2-1 on the season with a season-opening loss to Concordia-St. Paul followed by wins over Saint Ambrose and Missouri S&T the last two weeks.

The Peacocks offense was anchored by sophomore quarterback Darryl Overstreet, Jr., but he came out of the game against Missouri S&T during the first offensive series. Junior Marcus Orr stepped in and went 21-for-31 for 234 passing with five touchdowns and one interception.

Junior wide receiver Mante Morrow has 13 catches for 250 on the season with three touchdowns. Junior running back Willy Camacho is also a threat on the outside with 20 receptions for 180 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Fifth-year running back Jayden Mitchell leads the ground game with 31 carries for 153 yards for a team that likes to go to the air more than utilize the run.

On defense, senior linebacker John Butsch is tough to stop. He has 19 solo tackles and eight assisted tackles. He also has five tackle for loss and 1.5 sacks.

GAME TIME

Opening kickoff between the Huskies and Peacocks is set for 2 p.m. at Harms-Eischeid Stadium in Fayette, Iowa, Saturday.