Huskies football returns home ready to battle Grand Valley
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HOUGHTON -- After a week off between their non-conference play and the start of the GLIAC season, and a decisive 57-28 victory over Roosevelt, the No. 19 MIchigan Tech Huskies football team returns home Saturday to face their toughest opponent yet, the No. 6-ranked Grand Valley State Lakers.
Huskies coach Dan Mettlach felt there was a lot to like about the Huskies' efforts against Roosevelt, who came into the game 4-0.
"That was good," he said. "I felt like that was probably the closest we played to a complete game for four quarters, since probably week two. It was good to see from that standpoint. (I) thought we played really well defensively, did a lot of good things offensively, but there’s still some stuff that needs to get cleaned up that we’re working on and guys are aware of.
"So, going into this week, we’ve got some stuff that we’re conscious of and on both sides of the football, special teams and so on. But, overall, I thought to go on the road, the guys handled the travel well last week, started fast, obviously got the pick on the first play, and then to take a 14-0 lead and go from there."
Mettlach had a sense after senior defensive back Dakota Blackwell came up with an interception on the first play from scrimmage that his team was ready to play.
"Obviously, Dakota makes a great play on the football in the first play, and they tried to take a vertical shot," Mettlach said. "We get the ball at midfield, and then, on first down, go for plus-30 or whatever it was to get the drive started and obviously finish it in the end zone. (That) was a good thing to see getting off the bus, especially after being off for two weeks.
"You never know how that’s going to go when the guys get that long off."
Coming off of the bye week, Mettlach was proud of how quickly his team got to work.
"Mentally, I thought the guys were in a good spot with the way we traveled and how we handled the trip, the walkthrough the night before, the mentality at team breakfast the next day and so on" he said. "The guys were ready to play, which was good. Going in, seeing a 4-0 team that had enough talent, our guys weren’t overlooking anybody by any means."
At that point, it became a game of execution, which the Huskies did well, at least on offense. They could have been a bit stronger defensively.
"I thought our execution was good," said Mettlach. "Getting back to what we did defensively, should have been probably a shutout at halftime, given two short fields, one with the bad turnover, and then myself making a terrible decision on our own end on the fourth down and not making it, put our guys in a bad spot twice.
"But those were the only points they had in the first half. Going in at halftime, the staff, the guys all felt like we were in a good spot. We needed to start fast in the second half, which I think on that first drive of the second half we had three penalties offensively to hold ourselves back at that point, but we’re able to get the field flip. So, overall, I thought it was good. Again, you come out of a bye week, you’re not ever sure how that’s going to go, but we got off the bus and played well right from the start."
The Huskies, who have used both sophomore Elliott Larner and junior Alex Bueno in different packages this season, and Saturday was no exception. Larner did get hurt early, however, forcing Bueno into more work. Mettlach felt he rose to the challenge.
"Obviously we wanted Elliot to get more reps," Mettlach said. "The very first play he was in on, he got dinged up a little bit. So, we didn’t use him as much as we would have liked. But I thought 'AB,' for his first game getting as many reps he did, he handled it well. (He) was efficient throwing it. (There were) a couple things that he wishes he had back in terms of some of the layup throws, and then obviously the pick, but all correctable things. (He) did a nice job with his feet as well.
"So, we’ll continue to do that throughout the year and mix them both in. I thought the whole offense, obviously, handled it well no matter who was in the game at that point."
Scouting Grand Valley
The Grand Valley State Lakers are 5-0 on the season after rolling over Wayne State last Saturday, 69-3 during their Homecoming game. Grand Valley has outscored opponents 165-3 over the past two weeks.
Sophomore quarterback Andrew Schuster manages the offense well. He is 82-of-111 through the air for 1237 yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception. Schuster's favorite target is senior wide receiver Kellen Reed, who has 35 catches for 735 yards and 14 touchdowns.
On the ground, sophomore running back Kellen Russell-Dixon has gotten off to a great start. He has rushed the ball 60 times for 351 yards and four touchdowns.
Game time
The Huskies and Lakers will meet Saturday at 12 p.m. at Kearly Stadium in Houghton.