Holland Reporter

Grand Valley State University’s football team, ranked No. 10 nationally, is set to host Davenport University in its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) opener this week. The Lakers return to action after a rare two-week break in September. Their opponent, Davenport, was scheduled to play Lincoln (California) last week, but that game was canceled.

Fans can watch the game live on FloCollege or locally on WXSP TV 15 if they do not have tickets.

Grand Valley State holds a 7-0 record against Davenport in their all-time series. In the last three meetings, GVSU has outscored Davenport by a combined total of 148-14 and limited them to an average of 218 yards per game. The Laker defense has held the Panthers to just over 100 rushing yards and about 111 passing yards per contest during those games.

GVSU enters the matchup following a narrow 17-14 loss at No. 12 Pittsburg State on September 13. The Lakers trailed at halftime but took a brief lead early in the fourth quarter before Pittsburg State responded with a decisive touchdown drive.

Head coach Scott Wooster leads Grand Valley State in his third year with the program. Under his leadership, the Lakers have compiled a record of 24 wins and five losses, making two NCAA Division II playoff appearances and winning one GLIAC title in his first two seasons.

Several players achieved notable performances recently. Riley Simpson set a school record with a 96-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Pittsburg State, surpassing the previous mark set by Scott Mackey in 2002. Linebacker Anthony Cardamone led the team with ten tackles, including one and a half tackles for loss and one quarterback sack at Pitt State. Torian Wyatt had eight tackles—his career high—along with a tackle for loss and sack; Quin Wills posted seven tackles; Jamari Buddin made six tackles with two for loss and one sack; Khamani Potts added four tackles with two and a half for loss plus two quarterback hurries.

The offense produced several explosive plays against Black Hills State: seven scoring drives under two minutes and thirty-nine seconds, six scoring drives of five plays or fewer, four drives covering at least sixty-five yards, eighteen plays of ten or more yards—including eight plays of twenty or more—and an average of nearly eight yards per play en route to accumulating over four hundred total offensive yards.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Schuster was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week after completing twenty-two of thirty-two passes for three hundred ninety-one yards and four touchdowns against Black Hills State—a new freshman single-game passing yardage record at GVSU. Schuster has completed seventy-three percent of his passes through his first two starts as quarterback.

Sophomore kicker Mathew Bacik is three-for-four on field goals this season with his longest successful attempt from forty-six yards out.

Senior linebacker Anthony Cardamone surpassed career milestones by recording more than two hundred tackles, thirty tackles for loss, and fifteen sacks during his time at GVSU.

Attendance figures remain strong for Grand Valley State home games; they have led NCAA Division II football programs in total attendance for thirteen consecutive years and have drawn nearly twenty-six thousand fans across their first two home contests this season.

Defensively, GVSU tallied eleven tackles for loss and four sacks versus Black Hills State while producing nine plays resulting in losses against Lincoln along with three interceptions.

Historically, Grand Valley State boasts the highest winning percentage among NCAA Division II programs that have played over five hundred games—with an all-time record standing at four hundred fifty-six wins, one hundred fifty-three losses, and three ties since its founding. The Lakers have appeared frequently near the top of national preseason polls since 2002—including eighteen top-five rankings—and have recorded ten or more wins twenty times since their inaugural season fifty-three years ago. The program has claimed four national championships (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) and made six NCAA championship appearances overall (most recently in 2009).

Coach Wooster commented on recent performances: "Riley Simpson set a GVSU record with his 96-yard fumble return for a touchdown at Pitt State, breaking the mark of 95 held by Scott Mackey vs. Findlay in 2002."