“We’ve got a lot of young people playing football for us this fall,” said head coach Tom Kearly, “That was a big concern for us coming in this spring, getting them ready. I was pleased with the effort.”

The game serves as more of a reward for the players, with the seniors choosing the teams and the coaches getting a chance to try some things that they cannot normally try.

The game started out slow and sloppy, as is typical in a game between teammates who know each other’s playbooks and tendencies, and with younger players dominating the playing time. It was deadlocked in a scoreless tie through the first 21 minutes of playing, before the White team finally notched the game’s first points, a beautiful 33-yard touchdown pass from Raymon Wojtala to Pat Carroll, with Tyler Cattelino easily converting the extra point.

The Black team got on the scoreboard with just 20 seconds remaining in the first half, as Cedric Barber ran it in from four yards out, with Cattelino converting the extra point for them as well. Cattelino performed all kicking and punting duties without practicing the snaps and holds.

The third quarter looked much like the first, but the White team got its second lead of the game with a 36-yard field goal from Tyler Cattelino, who was perfect on the day with three extra points and the field goal.

The Black team threatened to score several times, but three interceptions doomed them in – including one directly to the other team because Wojtala thought tight end Bryan LaChappelle was open, when it was in fact the opponent (LaChappelle played for both teams, a difficult read for the quarterbacks).

The White team capitalized on a turnover with a 57-yard run by freshman running back Andrew Janczy with 11:13 remaining, concluding the day’s scoring.

With the running clock, the game went by quickly, but it was nice for the players and fans to both get back into the football swing of things, as the team heads into the fall with excitement and uncertainty, featuring several fresh faces on a team that finished 2-8 last year.

Brent Heim went 8-for-26 passing for 120 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. Raymon Wojtala was 7-for-15 passing for 76 yards and a touchdown. Probable senior starting quarterback Steve Short opted to sit out.

Andrew Janczy ran the ball eight times for 83 yards and his 57-yard touchdown, to lead all rushers. Cedric Barber, on the Black team, contributed 74 yards rushing on 20 carries, including a touchdown of his own.

Pat Carroll led all receivers with three receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown. Derek Nyquist, Alex Elsenheimer and Matt Curtin all had two catches in the game.

Tyler Cattelino punted the ball 10 times overall, for an average of 34.2 yards. The Huskies will likely rely on incoming freshman Matt DeJong, who averaged 46.7 yards, for punting duties this fall.

Defensively, Matt Rittenour led all players with eight tackles, with Chet White finishing second with seven. Emmett Bjorn, quarterback-turned-linebacker, finished with five tackles.

The Huskies open the fall season on the road against new GLIAC team Lake Erie on Sept. 11. The home opener is the following Saturday against Wayne State.

Haynes was offered a contract after a tryout that, according to his agency’s website, included a 4.30 40-yard dash, 38-inch vertical jump and 26 bench press repetitions at 225 pounds.

Please see his agency’s website for more information on Haynes’ and his path to the pros: http://www.smwwagency.com/athlete/robert-haynes

He earned both All-American and Academic All-American honors during his time at Michigan Tech, and he is one of only three Tech football players to ever make it to the NFL.

Berger was drafted by the Carolina Panthers and spent time with the Cowboys as well before his current stint with the Dolphins. He is in the first year of a three-year contract.

He got his first start two weeks ago against the Bills, and started his second consecutive game against the New England Patriots in injury relief for the Dolphins’ regular starting center Jake Grove.

Northwood gained 398 rushing yards as part of a balanced run game that included five players rushing for more than 60 yards. Michigan Tech only had one runner do that, Phil Milbrath, who tallied 79 yards. Michigan Tech posted 329 yards through the air, compared to Northwood’s 154, but it was the clock management (time of possession: Northwood 33:36-26:24) and ball control (turnovers: Michigan Tech 2-1, both of Tech’s turnovers ending promising scoring drives) that clearly favored Northwood in the end.

Northwood quarterback Spencer Klukowski gave the Huskies defense all kinds of problems, racking up 88 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, in addition to his 154 yards through the air, leading the spread offense. He gave the Timberwolves a 14-0 lead after a 16-yard rushing touchdown five minutes into the game, and a 7-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter.

The Huskies answered just two minutes before the halftime break as Bobby Slowik caught the first of his three touchdown passes on the day from Brent Heim, capping off a 10-play, 54-yard drive. Unfortunately, Tyler Cattelino missed the extra point, and the Huskies entered the break with a manageable 14-6 deficit.

Northwood started the second half with the ball, but the Huskies defense forced an immediate three-and-out. The Huskies could not respond, though, as the Timberwolves forced them into a three-and-out of their own, only Northwood blocked Jon Mills’ punt, setting them up with prime field position at Michigan Tech’s 37-yard line. Klukowski completed a 33-yard pass that set up his third rushing touchdown of the game, a four-yard scamper that gave the visitors a 21-6 lead.

This time, Michigan Tech did respond, and it did not take long. The Huskies needed just two plays of their own to get back on the board, as Heim hooked up with freshman tight end Bryan LaChappelle for 37 yards before finding the senior Slowik over the middle for a 24-yard scoring strike. This time, Cattelino’s kick was good, and the 1,845 fans in attendance were braced for an interesting conclusion.

The frantic pace finally slowed down, as neither team scored again until the fourth quarter, when Northwood extended their lead once again, this time with a 17-yard touchdown run from Jarett Beavers not even four minutes into the quarter. The Huskies responded quickly again, as Phil Milbrath concluded a four-play, 65-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown run, but Cattelino’s second missed extra point kept it a two-score game, 28-19.

Northwood’s Pat Sijan converted a 23-yard field goal, but Michigan Tech fought back again, as Heim and Slowik connected once again with 1:43 remaining in the game, this time with a 13-yard touchdown play, again across the middle. Unfortunately for the Huskies, the ensuing onside kick was recovered by Northwood, and Simon Cholometes earned a garbage-time touchdown to extend the final score to 38-26 in favor of the Timberwolves.

Brent Heim completed 20 of his 34 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns, all of them to Slowik, who had his fifth 100-yard effort of the season with 125 yards on eight catches. In fitting fashion, Slowik became just the fifth Husky in Michigan Tech history to earn over 2,000 career receiving yards.

The Huskies failed to win at home this season for the first time since the 1997 Huskies, who also finished 2-8. The 13 seniors on the team tallied a 22-20 record over their four years at Michigan Tech, which also coincides with head coach Tom Kearly’s first four years leading the Huskies football program.

Check out the live blog of today’s game for minute-by-minute analysis as the game happened, and also see next week’s Lode for a brief season recap, including player and coach reactions, followed by a more in-depth look back at a tough 2009 football season in the Nov. 19 print edition.

“I think it is important to win every game no matter the record, or if we are playing for playoffs. I’m a competitor and I love to win,” said senior running back Marvin Atkins, who leads the team with 673 rushing yards. “I think the senior class is very special and it would be very nice for us to win our last game, at home, on our home field.”

While the teams are not very close in terms of records, statistically they are quite close. Northwood averages 349 yards of total offense, while Michigan Tech averages 347. Defensively, Northwood gives up 337 yards per game, while Michigan Tech gives up 339 yards. Time of possession will be important in Saturday’s contest. Northwood is second in the GLIAC, averaging 32:30 of possession, while Michigan Tech retains the ball 31:49 on average.

Perhaps the primary reason for Northwood’s impressive possession time is their dominant rushing offense, which is third in the GLIAC, earning more than 210 yards per game. They are also third in run defense, giving up just 123 yards per game. Michigan Tech has been far better in the passing department than Northwood, tallying 196 yards per contest, compared to just 138 for Northwood. The passing defense tells a similar story, as the Huskies only give up 174 yards through the air, while the Timberwolves give up 214 yards through the air.

Another interesting statistics is third down conversions. Michigan Tech is second in the GLIAC, converting on more than 52 percent of its attempts. Northwood is second in the GLIAC at preventing third down conversions, allowing teams to convert on less than 33 percent of opportunities. Also worth noting is that Michigan Tech leads the GLIAC in fewest yards penalized, only forfeiting 28 yards per game to penalties.

Individually, Huskies senior wideout Bobby Slowik needs just 36 receiving yards to surpass the 2,000-yard plateau, becoming just the fifth Husky to do so. Junior Brent Heim will again lead the Huskies offense. Senior quarterback Steve Short, who was injured earlier this year, has officially received a medical redshirt and he expects to return next year for his final year of eligibility.

Northwood leads the all-time series against Michigan Tech 20-15, but Michigan Tech has won four of the last six. Saturday’s season-ending game will start at 1 p.m. at Sherman Field. If you cannot make it to the game, be sure to catch the Lode’s live blog at mtulode.com

Michigan Tech (2-7, 2-7 GLIAC) has been outscored 98-17 in the first quarter this year, and the story was no different against Tiffin (0-10, 0-9 GLIAC), as the Huskies fell behind 7-0 after the first quarter. The second quarter was a dog fight with neither team scoring until Michigan Tech evened the score with a Tim Schmalz one-yard touchdown run and Cattelino extra point with 54 seconds remaining in the first half.

The Huskies scored once more in each of the final two quarters, as Brent Heim scored his second career rushing touchdown in the third quarter and Bobby Slowik caught a 68-yard strike from Heim in the fourth quarter. Tiffin’s Rahsan Wilson blocked a Jon Mills punt and returned it for a touchdown with three minutes to go in the game, the second straight week that the Huskies have given up a touchdown on a blocked punt, but the Huskies defense held the rest of the way to ice the victory.

The 312 fans in attendance at the Halloween game witnessed a dominant effort by the Huskies in every major statistical category. Michigan Tech had the ball for nearly 34 minutes, racking up 378 yards (217 passing, 161 rushing) compared to Tiffin’s 148 (83 passing, 65 rushing). The Huskies had 19 first downs, giving up only eight by the Dragons. The Huskies also converted 50 percent of third down opportunities and each of their two fourth down attempts.

Heim had a respectable day manning the Huskies offense, completing 14 of 19 passes for 217 yards, including a touchdown and three interceptions. Marvin Atkins led the Huskies rushing effort with 24 carries for 101 yards. Phil Milbrath, who has been battling injuries in recent weeks and illness this past week, carried the ball 10 times for 46 yards. Schmalz and Heim had the only rushing touchdowns of the day. Slowik led all receivers with 139 yards on four catches, the first time he has surpassed 100 yards since Sept. 26 against Grand Valley, which at that time marked the third time he had done so in four games. Tight end Bryan LaChappelle had six catches for 47 yards. Jesse Vandenberg led the injury and illness ravaged Huskies defense with 10 tackles and one sack.

The Huskies will conclude their season next Saturday against Northwood at Sherman Field at 1 p.m. Check out the upcoming print issue of the Lode for a full preview.

The Huskies will look for another stellar performance from signal caller Brent Heim, who completed 20 of 33 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-28 loss to Saginaw Valley State last Saturday at Sherman Field. Phil Milbrath and Marvin Atkins have both tallied four touchdowns this year for the Huskies, and with Milbrath hoping to fully return from his injury, the two hope to be a force in Michigan Tech’s running game. Bobbly Slowik has more than 600 yards receiving for the Huskies this year, and with Steve Worthy scoring two touchdowns last week, both receivers have notched two touchdowns on the year. Ten players have scored touchdowns for the Huskies this season, including four with their first career touchdowns – Bryan LaChappelle, Pat Carroll, Tim Schmalz and Brent Heim.

The Huskies 644-mile trip to Tiffin, Ohio will be the first time that Michigan Tech has visited Tiffin. It will mark the fourth road trip over 500 miles for the Huskies this year. Michigan Tech won last year’s game, the lone game in the young series, 32-28.

Michigan Tech and Tiffin are 9^th and 11^th in scoring offense, putting up 22 and 13 points respectively. Both teams have struggled defensively as well, as Michigan Tech allows 33 points per game, while Tiffin has allowed an even 40. The Huskies will likely lean on their running game, as Tiffin has allowed more than 275 yards per game on the ground, one of only two GLIAC teams allowing over 200. Against the pass, however, Tiffin is allowing just 175 yards per game, which is fourth in the GLIAC. The Huskies have been fabulous on third downs this year, converting on 53 percent, compared to the 27 percent for Tiffin.

WKMJ 93.5 FM will feature the broadcast for the 1:30 p.m. kickoff from Tiffin. This will be the Huskies final road trip of the season before they wrap the season up next weekend at home against Northwood. Check mtulode.com shortly following Saturday’s action for a full game recap.

Several Huskies special teams’ mistakes made it easy for the Cardinals to take advantage. A woeful 13-yard punt by Jon Mills set up SVSU on Tech’s 40-yard line, and it only took the visitors two plays to crack the scoreboard, as elusive Cardinal QB Charles Dowdell easily scampered 35 yards not even three minutes into Saturday’s game.

The Cardinals blocked Jon Mills punt on the very next position, returning it for a touchdown. Michigan Tech’s Matt Petr then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting Saginaw Valley up for another easy scoring drive. This one only took three plays and just like that the Cardinals had a 21-0 lead after Xavier Walker’s 13-yard run. The Cardinals completed their first quarter scoring with a 19-yard touchdown catch by Andrew Beaver, wrapping up a 10- play, 90-yard drive.

Michigan Tech finally got their feet under them in the second quarter, and Brent Heim ran outside left for a two-yard touchdown run midway through the quarter. With just over a minute to go in the first half, Steven Worthy caught a highlight reel 28-yard pass from Heim to cut the Cardinal lead to 14.

No doubt the Cardinals wanted to put away what they started at the beginning of the third quarter, and they stretched the lead to 21 just over three minutes in. Dowdell notched his second touchdown run of the day, this one from 19 yards out.

Steven Worthy hauled in another miraculous catch in early fourth-quarter action, this one from 37 yards out, and the Huskies had some life left. A missed field goal by Tyler Cattelino at the end of a promising drive deflated any momentum the Huskies had, and SVSU came back with a field goal of their own, pushing the lead to 38-21 with 6:36 remaining.

Phil Milbrath, who was largely neutralized in the rushing game, scored the final Husky touchdown, an eight-yard screen pass from Heim.

For yet another week, the Huskies statistics point to what should have been a victory, but mistakes proved costly again. The Huskies had more first downs (21-18), more total offensive yards (365-348), fewer penalties (4-5) and more time of possession (32:54-27:06).

Brent Heim had a solid day leading the Huskies, completing 20 of 33 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps more notably, he did not throw any interceptions, after throwing three last week against Indianapolis. He also tallied 27 rushing yards and the Huskies lone rushing touchdown.

Marvin Atkins led Tech’s rushing attack with only 30 yards on nine carries. Milbrath had 15 carries, but only gained 23 yards. Steve Worthy led all receivers with six catches for 97 yards, including two touchdown catches arguably deserving of Sportscenter top-10 recognition. Bobby Slowik had five catches for 57 yards. Defensively, John van der Laan notched nine tackles and half a sack to lead the Huskies.

The Huskies will play their final road game of the season next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Tiffin University, Michigan Tech’s second venture into Ohio. Check out next week’s Lode for a full preview of that match-up.