Michigan Tech wide receiver Darius Willis turns upfield during a punt return against Davenport Saturday at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After three weeks of success, both at home and on the road, the Michigan Tech Huskies football team returned home Saturday for their first GLIAC matchup of the season against the No. 18 Davenport Panthers. The Panthers had the ball for 41:07 on the afternoon, and that translated to a 28-0 blanking of the Huskies when the final buzzer sounded.

Huskies coach Dan Mettlach said that the loss, the team’s first of the season, was not “the end of the world,” but also felt that the team will need to regroup.

“It’s not the end of the world,” he said. “Three-and-one now, but we have to regroup and look at some things on Monday throughout the week to make sure that our guys are mentally ready for the speed and athleticism that we’re going to start seeing in league play now, moving forward.”

The Panthers beat the Huskies in offense, defense and special teams, combining for 356 yards of total offense, 150 through the air and 206 on the ground, and one punt return for a touchdown.

“Hats off to Davenport,” Mettlach said. “I thought they played really well today in all three phases, physical, fast, talented on the edges, in their skill spots. Give them a lot of credit.”

On the flip side, the Huskies had only eight first downs during the afternoon. They ran just 43 offensive plays, 22 of which came in the first half, for just 117 yards combined.

Mettlach loved the effort his team played with, but felt that, offensively, they left an awful lot on the table all afternoon.

“I thought our guys had a great week of practice,” he said. “Showed up this morning, ready to go. I appreciate our effort throughout the game. I thought we played hard.

“If there’s anything, without watching the tape, that I think I can take from the sideline is I just felt like the execution offensively was severely lacking. Obviously, looking at the numbers, you don’t have to look too far into that, but (we) couldn’t get any rhythm.”

Part of the problem for the Huskies was a distinct lack of momentum, in part due to how the Panthers’ defense attacked the Huskies’ offensive line.

“We had a tough time up front with their speed and athleticism, and at the end of the day, again, something we’re going to have to look at when we get to film,” said Mettlach. “I’m fairly confident saying that most of the game they were only bringing four, which allowed them to drop everybody off into coverage. You have guys at the point of attack from the LOS (line of scrimmage), and then another guy over the top of it. It was hard for our guys to get any space.”

The Panthers opened the scoring on their second drive of the first quarter when running back Caleef Jenkins crossed the goal line from seven yards out to take a 7-0 lead.

Things stayed that way until the end of the second quarter when quarterback Jason Whittaker hit wide receiver Peyton Brown from five yards out as time expired.

Heading into the locker room trailing 14-0, Mettlach felt that the Huskies’ defense was giving them every chance to get back into the game.

“I thought our defense played really well,” he said. “To only be down two scores at the half, after the way that the first half went, give them a lot of credit. We needed to come out and get a stop in the third quarter. Weren’t able to do that.”

The Panthers opened the third quarter with a 14-play, 69-yard drive that culminated in a Jenkins touchdown from a yard out that made life very difficult for the Huskies to attempt a comeback. The drive took 8:34 to complete, and Davenport ran the ball 12 times on the drive picking up around four yards a carry on their way to extending their lead.

“I’m not sure how many plays they ran in that first drive of the second half, but I felt like they asserted themselves a little bit at that point, running the football as well as they did, as many reps as they did,” Mettlach said. “I felt like they did a nice job staying patient on that drive, taking what they were getting. They didn’t get bored with running it for the chunks, and put the ball in the air.”

Jenkins ended his day with 14 carries for 58 yards. Paired with Myren Harris, who rushed for 112 yards on 26 carries, the Panthers’ ground attack punished the Huskies’ defense, especially in the second half.

The Panthers’ final score came with 12:21 left in the fourth quarter as Micah Wilson collected a good punt from the Huskies’ Brenden Lach and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown to seal the win.

The Huskies’ junior quarterback Alex Fries struggled to find any open receivers throughout the afternoon, going 9-for-25 for 76 yards and an interception. His best pass of the day was the one throw he made to sophomore Ethan Champney, which went for 26 yards.

Junior wide receiver Darius Willis had five catches for 43 yards and he also ran the ball three times for -8 yards on the afternoon.

Defensively, junior linebacker Marc Sippel had four solo tackles and eight assisted tackles. Junior defensive back Hunter Buechel was also good, getting seven solo tackles and four assisted. He also had 1.5 tackles for a loss.

UP NEXT

The Huskies will have to bounce back quickly as they hit the road next Saturday to face Wayne State at 1 p.m. at Tom Adams Field in Detroit.