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.
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.
