Michigan Tech wide receiver Brandon Michalak looks for way around a Wayne State defender during a game Saturday, Oct. 5, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

CHICAGO, Ill. — With a big, 39-9 victory last Saturday over their rivals, the Northern Michigan Wildcats, the Michigan Tech Huskies football team got just what it needed, a win. The Huskies had dropped the previous two games, but with the victory, they improved to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play.

“I thought we had a great week of prep,” said Huskies coach Dan Mettlach. “The two weeks that came before that had nothing to do really with what we were doing moving forward. Our guys were in a good place, a good space mentally, and approached it the right way. Any time you can get off the mat after two in a row, it’s a positive deal.”

The Huskies defeated the Wildcats for the 14th straight year, a feat that is not easy, by any means.

“It’s something else we talked about throughout the week, the streak and so on and so forth,” Mettlach said. “I thought our guys did a nice job of understanding that it was about this current team, and winning this current game. Once the final horn went off, obviously, then you can look at the streak and be proud of that.

“(We) had a ton of alums in town for the game, so there’s a whole bunch of people here to celebrate it. But you know, I was proud of the way our guys went about it.”

Mettlach could not help but feel happy about the way his team dealt with the external pressures of facing their rival and all of the hoopla that comes along with it.

“I think I mentioned this after the game a couple times about how amped up our guys were for the game,” he said. “Again, coming off of two losses, then your rival coming to your place and a whole bunch of stuff going into it, I felt like looking back on it now, we probably should have calmed them down a little bit after the warm up. But, I’m not ever going to be mad at our guys getting up for that game, especially. We got settled down and obviously did some things there in the second quarter through the fourth.”

At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were tied at 3-3, before senior wide receiver Brandon Michalak broke things open with a 25-yard touchdown reception and freshman wide receiver Jaxon Lippert broke the floodgates with a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown shortly after.

“We weren’t ever stressed from that standpoint, to be honest with you,” said Mettlach. “It wasn’t really stressful at any point. It was more of a frustration than stress. I just felt like we had left a ton out there in the first quarter. (The) second play of the game, ‘Mishy’s’ (Michalak) clean behind the defense, and we’re just eyes around the wrong side of the field. Then, (we) end up having to settle for three on that drive. But (I) wasn’t upset or stressed out about anything that we were doing. It was just more of, ‘All right, let’s calm down and start taking advantage of some of the stuff that they’ve given us.’ We did that eventually.”

Mettlach was especially proud of the way Lippert handled himself on the punt return.

“I felt like, after he made the first two guys miss, (there was) really nobody left,” Mettlach said. “We had guys doubling back to get into contact that maybe got beat off the line of scrimmage, and (Luke) Gorzynski gets the last one to get him clean into the end zone. I just felt like it was, you talk about any play needing 11 guys to be able to go execute. That was as good of an example, as we had of everybody playing right to the whistle. Jaxon’s electric with the ball in his hands. He’s fast, quick. Once he got into the grass, it was hoping there were no flags at that point, because he was clean up our sideline at that point.”

SCOUTING THE LAKERS

The Huskies have three games left in the regular season, and this weekend, they will face a bit of a different test conference-newcomer Roosevelt, who earned its first win in GLIAC play two weeks ago with a win over the Wildcats.

The Lakers are 1-6 after their overtime win over Northern Michigan and they are coming off a 19-14 loss to Davenport on Saturday.

“They play hard,” said Mettlach. “(They are) talented. (They have) skilled guys (that) are talented. They have a receiver that’s as good as anybody in the league, so he’s a big part of their offense. Defensively they’re aggressive, going to blitz us a ton, which usually brings the coverage up in our face.

“It gets back to (the) same game plans as you might see against the Davenport or Ferris (State) or, any one of those other aggressive defenses, where we’re going to have to be good with our communication up front in the run game, making sure we’re getting pick guys picked off in our gap schemes and so on, to be able to run the football and then, obviously, protection-wise, being sound as well so we can get some of our crossers or intermediate pass game into the package, so we’re not just throwing quick the whole time. You have to be able to take advantage of taking some shots, as well, so they’re good. Any time you go on the road in this league, it’s not easy to win.”

Senior quarterback Carson Budke leads the offense. He is 125-for-222 for 1,547 yards and six touchdowns. His primary target is sophomore wide receiver Keonta Nixon, a local kid with 30 catches for 716 yards and three touchdowns.

Senior running back Cyrus Zuell drives the ground game with 139 carries for 472 yards and five touchdowns.

GAME TIME

The Huskies and Lakers are set for an opening kickoff of 2 p.m. Saturday in Chicago, Illinois.