NMU football falls to No. 24 Ashland

ASHLAND, Ohio — The Northern Michigan University football team scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter but was unable to close the gap on No. 24 Ashland as the Eagles picked up a 44-14 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win Saturday.

The loss drops NMU to 2-6 overall with a 1-6 GLIAC record while Ashland improved to 7-1.

Ashland went up 44-0 before the Wildcats scored their first touchdown with 9:19 left in the fourth quarter. A three-yard touchdown run by junior running back Terrance Dye capped off an 11-play 98 yard drive for the Wildcats and put them on the scoreboard.

With 1:14 left in the game junior wide receiver Trey Hipke hauled in a pass from freshman quarterback Jaranta Lewis to pick up the Wildcats second touchdown of the day capping off a 12-play 71 yard drive.

Ashland jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a rushing touchdown by Anthony Taylor and a receiving touchdown by Vance Settlemeire from quarterback Travis Tarnowski.

Tarnowski threw for three touchdowns in the second quarter and one in the third before Aidan Simenc capped off the scoring for the Eagles with a 30-yard field goal with 3:48 left in the third quarter.

NMU had 261 yards of total offense led by sophomore quarterback Shaye Brown who went 15-32 with 180 passing yards. Senior wide receiver Marcus Tucker was his favorite target as Tucker hauled in three catches for 94 yards through the air.

Sophomore defensive back Pat Ryan led the Wildcats with seven solo tackles and 10 total hits in the contest. Sophomore linebacker Dalton Stenberg  had 10 tackles with five solo hits wile junior linebacker Loran Jaddou had eight tackles including one tackle for three yards lost.

Dye finished the game with 53 yards on the ground on 22 attempts and caught one pass for three yards.

Sophomore defensive back and kick returner CJ Washington had four returns for 100 yards including a long of 35-yards.

NMU returns home next weekend to host Walsh on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Superior Dome.

(Information Courtesy of NMU Athletics)