Michigan Tech Football - WKTV Journal

Davenport Football Coach Sparky McEwen and offensive lineman Armony Baskin at GLIAC football Media Day. — Davenport Football Coach Sparky McEwen (center) and offensive lineman Armony Baskin (far right) discuss team goals at GLIAC football Media Day. (Photo: WKTV/Bill Rohn)

Bill Rohn — who served as a trial lawyer for 40 years at the Varnum law firm in Grand Rapids — calls himself a “newspaper junkie.” Bill edited his high school and college newspapers. He also has covered sports for Midwestern newspapers such as The Grand Rapids Press, The South Bend Tribune, and The Niles Daily Star. He is a co-host of WKTV Friday Night Highlights. Bill holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from GVSU and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame.

By Bill Rohn
Wyoming-Kentwood News Today Contributor
WKTV Friday Night Highlights Host
greer@wktv.org

Can Ferris State University win a third straight Division II football national championship? Or will Grand Valley win its fifth overall? And can Davenport finally beat the big boys?

One thing is for sure: Each of West Michigan’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) football teams hopes to win a league championship along its path to fall playoffs.

And there is plenty of optimism at Grand Valley, Ferris, and Davenport, as expressed at the recent GLIAC preseason “Football Media Day.”

The preseason gathering featured comments from coaches and players from all eight conference schools, plus the results of the GLIAC coaches’ preseason predictions as to 2026 final conference standings.

Defending DII national champion Ferris State topped the preseason poll, followed by Grand Valley, Michigan Tech, Davenport, and Saginaw Valley. Northern Michigan, Roosevelt U, and Wayne State were picked to finish sixth, seventh, and eighth.

Five in a row for Ferris?

In Big Rapids, Coach Tony Annese’s Bulldogs appear to be reloading again. Ferris has won four of the last five DII national championships, including crowns in 2024 and 2025. The Bulldogs were a perfect 16-0 last year, including an unbeaten 7-0 GLIAC record.

Ferris Football Coach Tony Annese with lineman Tim Allen and receiver Taariik Brett at GLIAC Media Day. — Ferris Football Coach Tony Annese (far left) shares a light moment with lineman Tim Allen (center) and receiver Taariik Brett at GLIAC Media Day. (Photo: WKTV/Bill Rohn)

“None of the past matters, beyond knowing how it happened,” said Annese, whose Bulldogs have been ranked No. 1 in the national Division II Coaches’ preseason poll, but who also open their season on the road against No. 4 Pittsburg State, in Kansas. While playing a high-seeded opponent on the road on Aug. 27 may be a daunting task, Annese noted that, “All of the other GLIAC schools know us so well that we would rather play against other tough teams in the nation.”

Ferris’ first home game will occur on Friday, Sept. 4 against another 2025 playoff contender, Bentley University, at FSU’s Top Taggart field.

GVSU seeks “unconscious competence”

At Grand Valley, where the Lakers won four Division II national championships between 2002 and 2006, Coach Scott Wooster has emphasized preparation leading to an “unconscious competence” during play. Wooster referenced a style of play through which the Lakers will automatically demonstrate excellent fundamentals and precision performance.

The Lakers finished second in the conference in 2025 with a 5-2 record as part of a 7-3 overall performance. Spirits are high in Allendale where the football program recently reached an all-time high in season ticket sales.

Wooster has been particularly impressed by work done by as many as 92 Laker players at summer workouts, adding, “It’s all about preparation. You’ve got to chop wood and carry water to get ready and you do your chopping in the summer (well before the season starts), not in the winter.”

Grand Valley is ranked eighth in the nation in the DII Coaches’ preseason poll. As Wooster put it on media day, “We’ve got some dogs that will hunt and I would rather say ‘whoa’ than ‘giddyup.’”

The Lakers open play in Charleston, West Virginia, against the University of Charleston before their home season opener on Sept. 3 versus West Texas A&M.

Davenport must beat the ‘Big Boys’

At Davenport University, Coach Sparky McEwen and company have adopted a “compete every day and win every day” attitude prior to the coming season, during which the Panthers will seek their first wins against Grand Valley and Ferris, to say nothing of beating other GLIAC teams whom DU has beaten in the past.

Davenport, which began football in 2015, has steadily improved on a year-by-year basis, but the team has yet to beat the Bulldogs or Lakers, a key to conference championships and playoff runs.

Davenport Football Helmet. (WKTV/Bill Rohn)

McEwen — who played his college football at Ferris — professed excitement over a large squad, solid running backs, and a schedule that allows Davenport to play its first three games at home at Meyering field in Caledonia. DU opens play against visiting Gannon University at noon on Aug. 29.

Outstate GLIAC teams also seek wins

GLIAC schools outside West Michigan also have big plans. Michigan Tech, picked to finish third in the preseason poll, will operate under the leadership of Coach Dan Mettlach, who previously quarterbacked at Tech. Northern Michigan features sophomore running back Noah Dobert, who rushed for 243 yards and four touchdowns last season against Davenport. Wayne State and Chicago-area Roosevelt University also feature new coaches and new approaches.

Football players say the strangest things

The GLIAC Media Day was not without humorous moments. Asked what there is to do in the cold at distant Houghton, Mich., where Michigan Tech’s Huskies play, a Tech lineman offered this, “Well, we do have a bowling alley in town, and sometimes you can go ice fishing. That’s if there isn’t three feet of snow on the lake during the winter.”

Davenport receiver Earnest Sanders caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Grant Thwaites. (Photo Courtesy, Brandon Petryszyn)

By Bill Rohn
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org

An anemic offense and a 49-yard field goal attempt that missed by three feet with little time to play doomed the Davenport Panthers to a 16-14 loss to Michigan Tech Saturday at Meyering Field in Caledonia.

The loss dropped the Panthers’ record to 1-2 in the GLIAC Conference and 2-3 overall. The visiting Huskies improved to 2-0 in the GLIAC, 5-1 overall.

Both teams showed strong defensive play throughout the contest. They also regularly failed to score in a game that Tech led 10-7 at half and 13-7 entering the fourth quarter. Davenport fell notably short, with game totals of 55 yards net rushing, 186 yards of total offense, and only nine first downs.

Difficulties moving the ball aside, Davenport had a shot at victory before its Homecoming crowd of nearly 2,000 late in the final quarter. The Panthers had a first down at the MTU 27 with just under two minutes to play. However, a delay of game penalty and two incomplete passes led to a fourth down 49-yard field goal attempt – his first ever as a Panther – by DU freshman Ian Jenkins with 1:09 on the clock.

Jenkins’ boot had enough distance, but sailed three feet wide to the right, ending Davenport’s victory hopes.

Davenport Coach Sparky McEwen was clearly unhappy with his team’s offensive performance, suggesting that it was “time to show some heart” at halftime.

“We knew this would be a tough game and there were far too many mistakes on our end,” said McEwen afterward, adding, “We’ve just got to get it figured out because it doesn’t get any easier from here.”

Among Davenport’s problems Saturday was the absence of prior starting quarterback D’Wan Mathis, who missed the game with an injury suffered in DU’s loss to Grand Valley one week ago. That meant the Panthers rode behind quarterback Mac VandenHout, who hit 12-of-25 passes for 131 yards, but also threw two interceptions. Making matters worse, Davenport’s rushing attack — which had averaged 185 yards per game entering the contest — averaged only 1.7 yards per attempt on 32 carries.

Addressing DU’s offensive performance, McEwen offered that Davenport “missed some reads, and they got some pressure on us. Those things happen and we’ll just have to get better from it.”

The Panthers managed only one lead in the contest. Following a first quarter field goal by Tech’s Avery Kucharski, they got a 74-yard kickoff return by George Sims, after which VandenHout found the end zone on a 4-yard quarterback keeper to make it 7-3. The Huskies responded with a 23-yard touchdown on a reverse by Nick Nora to lead 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, then led 13-7 at halftime following a 26-yard second quarter field goal from Kucharski.

Following a scoreless third quarter, Davenport continued to struggle with the ball, falling behind 16-7 on a 22-yard field goal by Kucharski with eight minutes remaining.

Davenport answered with a quarterback switch, as McEwen inserted redshirt senior QB Grant Thwaites behind center. Thwaites picked up the pace for the Panthers and closed the deficit to 16-14 with a 21-yard TD pass to Ernest Sanders.

From there, it was a question of whether the Panthers could score one more time, setting the stage for DU’s unsuccessful field goal try with 69 seconds remaining. The Huskies drained the clock in victory formation after the missed attempt.

D’Angelo Bellamy led the Panthers with eight tackles. (Photo Courtesy, Davenport University)

McEwen had praise for DU’s defense saying, “As bad as we were on offense, our defense was just as good.” Led by D’Angelo Bellamy and Antonio Mayes, with eight and seven tackles respectively, the Panthers held Michigan Tech to 20 points below its season average entering the game. “They gave us a shot to win in the end,” McEwen said.

Some good news for Davenport is they may have a good shot at improving their record in the short term. DU travels to Detroit on October 18 to face currently winless Wayne State, before returning home October 25 to host Roosevelt University. Roosevelt is currently 1-4 overall following a 42-7 weekend defeat at Saginaw Valley.