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Bueno lifts Huskies football over Grand Valley
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HOUGHTON -- After the No. 6 Grand Valley State Lakers botched the snap on their field goal attempt in overtime, the No. 19 Michigan Tech Huskies had a chance to do something they had not done since 2014, beat the Lakers.
A 1-yard run up the middle on the fourth play of the drive by junior quarterback Alex Bueno was what was called for, and he delivered exactly that to give the Huskies a 41-35 victory at Kearly Stadium.
"I still haven’t taken it in yet," he said. "It’s just surreal. One of my favorite games of my career ever. I have no words. I’m so proud of these guys. Coaches put a hell of a game plan (together) and the guys came out and executed it, even with adversity. I’m so proud of these guys."
If Huskies coach Dan Mettlach had his way in the moments leading up to Bueno's run, he would have subbed in sophomore quarterback Elliott Larner for the goalline play, but Bueno, who finished his day with 11 completions for 134 yards through the air, and seven rushes for 49 yards on the ground, insisted he get the chance to finish the game.
"He’s come in those short yard situations," said Bueno. "He does a great job. He’s earned that spot to do that. But, I feel that took us down there. This whole game, I kind of had us on our back with the 'O' (offensive) line, and the rest of the receivers.
"I just, I couldn’t, give it to Elliot. I love Elliott, but I couldn’t give him that one."
Bueno set up the Huskies' multiple chances from two yards out by first breaking out on the first play of the Huskies' drive for 23 yards down the left sideline before stepping out of bounds. He tried once to get in, and was pushed back three yards. He handed off to senior running back Jake Rueff, who got the ball down to the 2-yard line. Bueno tried again, and got only a yard before scoring on the next play to seal the win.
Mettlach firmly believed the Huskies could get the win, but they were going to have to put in a better effort than they had this season.
"They’ve been a kind of a thorn on our heels for a long time," he said. "Last year, we were close. I felt like we had the team to get them down there. (But we) made too many mistakes. Even the years before, we’re in the game with them, and we just shot ourselves in the foot."
One of the keys, in Mettlach's opinion, was taking care of the football.
"I thought we did a nice job taking care of the football today," he said. "They had some chunk plays, but there was nothing obnoxious behind our head like we had in the first five weeks. We felt like, if we could keep all that stuff to a minimum, we had a team to get them. The guys stuck with it the whole time, were patient, and, obviously, we made plays when we needed to."
One of those plays Mettlach referred to came on the opening kickoff, when Abram Larner caught the ball at his own 18-yard line. He exploded out from there, and when the play ended, he had scampered 70 yards, giving the Huskies a very short field to work with.
Two plays later, Bueno hit Abram Larner from 14 yards out for the first touchdown of the day.
"You always want to come out with seven when you get some kind of play like that, whether it be defensive or your special teams," Mettlach said. "So, to be able to execute at that point. I think it took two plays to get in. We were able to stay on script with what we had planned to going into it, and the guys executed the plan, so it was good."
Grand Valley marched the next eight minutes to even things at 7-7, capping a 14-play, 79-yard drive with a 2-yard pass from Andrew Schuster to Harrison Unger.
Michigan Tech stormed right back, and 11 plays later, Elliott Larner crossed the goal line from a yard out. The Huskies led 14-7 at that point.
The Lakers answered that touchdown on the ensuing drive when Bryce Hurley scoffed from two yards out, capping a seven-play, 49-yard drive.
Senior linebacker Chase Koch and the Huskies' defense settled in after that, and worked hard to stymie the Lakers from there. Koch finished with four solo tackles and 10 total in the game as one of the leaders of the group. "This is a big one for me, and the program," he said. "This is my fifth year, and we haven’t beaten this team yet. Obviously, they’re a top-10 team, so it always makes me feel a little bit better when we can get a win like that."
The Huskies regained the lead for the third time when Elliott Larner crossed the goal line from a yard out again. The play capped a four-play, 49-yard drive that featured a 30-yard pass from Bueno to Abram Larner down the right side of the field.
Michigan Tech carried that 21-14 lead into the second half. However, just 4:20 in, the Lakers evened the game on an 11-yard pass from Schuster to Jake Vermass, ending a six-play, 82 yard opening drive.
Grand Valley took their first lead of the afternoon on their next drive, which crossed over into the fourth quarter as Zak Olejniczak found the end zone on a 58-yard run.
On their next drive, the Huskies' defense forced a punt, and Abram Larner surprised the Lakers with a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown.
"It was something we’ve been working on all week, trying to hide Abe up our sideline," Mettlach said. "Obviously, with the ball spotted on the right hash, it played right into the return. The kid, I think, shanked one perfectly to him, and it just couldn’t have worked out any better.
"Coach (Phil) Milbrath's been working on it for a little bit with a couple of the other coaches, and we executed in practice, but to do it on Saturday, that’s a different deal. The guys took advantage of it, and obviously Abe made a play. (He) dropped it to start with, but kept it in front of him, and then we’re gone."
Olejniczak regained the lead for Grand Valley with a six-yard strike to Kellen Reed to finish off an eight-play, 69-yard drive in just 4:24.
Rueff answered for Michigan Tech 4:54 later when he caught a pass from Bueno and ran down the right sideline for a touchdown to even things at 35-35. The drive lasted nine plays and 60 yards.
Up next
The Huskies stay home this week as they host rival Northern Michigan Saturday at 12 p.m.