MARQUETTE, Mich. – The defense held another opponent in single digits and the offense made enough plays in a 21-7 win in the Superior Dome on Saturday in the GLIAC opener for the Panthers. Davenport won for the second straight year against Northern Michigan and got their first win in Marquette. The Panther defense did not allow points until 1:21 left in the game with the game already in hand.

For the second straight game, Davenport took their opening drive and marched into the end zone. DU started on their own 22-yard line and five plays later made it 7-0. Deondre Ford hooked up with Nate Couturier on third-and-9 for 61 yards down to the NMU 3. Michael Catching rolled into the end zone from three yards on the next play with 12:18 left in the quarter.

The rest of the first quarter lacked much offense as the Wildcats gained just 15 yards and were 0-for-4 on third down. In the second quarter, the Wildcats moved to the DU 25 and were faced with a fourth-and-1. DeAndre Caldwell was stuffed on the run for a three-yard loss by Robert Clanton to end the drive. NMU drove into DU territory under two minutes left until halftime but had to punt on fourth-and-16 at the DU 38.

After the break there were just two drives in the third quarter. The Wildcats took the third quarter kick and drove into field goal range but John Kwiecinski missed wide left from 44 yards with 9:00 on the clock. DU had a monster drive of 19 plays and covered 73 yards in 8:56. The drive featured four first downs and a fourth-and-1 conversion with a five-yard run by Couturier to setup first-and-goal at the NMU 5. Davenport called timeout on fourth-and-goal at the one and then Keion Powers took the wildcat snap and plunged into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.

The Panthers put things away early in the fourth quarter on another touchdown drive. This one covered 86 yards in seven plays and lasted 3:02. Gourney Sloan had a big 17-yard catch and then Catching ripped off a career-long 53 yard touchdown run with 10:19 left in the game.

Northern Michigan broke up the shutout with 1:21 to go as Tyshon King scored from one yard to cap a five-play, 56-yard drive which lasted 54 seconds. The ensuing kick went out of bounds and that essentially wrapped things up.

NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Catching had his first career multi-TD game on the ground and a career-high 99 yards on 16 carries. His 53-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was the second longest from scrimmage in DU history.
- Deondre Ford went 17-of-30 for 184 yards through the air.
- Northern Michigan was limited to 206 total yards including just 52 on 35 carries (1.5 per carry).
- DU went 5-of-17 on third down and 3-of-4 on fourth down.
- NMU went 2-of-15 on third down and 0-of-1 on fourth down.
- Deion Powers led the defense with nine tackles and had a pair of pass breakups.
- Robert Clanton had 3.5 tackles for a loss of 18 yards including two sacks.

COACHES COMMENTS – SPARKY McEWEN
"What a win today versus a good football team with a very physical style. Our team stepped up in every phase of the game. I did not know how our boys would respond to playing in a hostile homecoming environment. Our defense did an outstanding job of stopping the run. We truly had major concerns with their offense controlling the game, but our defense stepped up and matched their physicality. Our offense continues to get better and if we want to have success in this league, we need to get better at capitalizing on open opportunities in the red zone."


story by Ryan Thompson