The NMU football team fell short again last weekend, losing to UW-La Crosse with a final score of 21-35. The Wildcats remain 0-3 overall this season.
The team is still in high spirits as they return to the Superior Dome this weekend to face Alma for the 2024 homecoming game. Alma is currently 1-1 heading into Saturday.
“We’ve got to learn how to just grow up into games where bad things happen, and you’ve got to overcome them. You’ve got to respond, and you’ve got to be able to fight through that adversity and persevere throughout the whole four quarters of the game,” Head Coach Shane Richardson said.
Despite the loss, NMU scored 21 points – the most the team has scored all season. The team also put points on the board in three out of four quarters, with three touchdowns.
Sophomore Quarterback Aidan Hoard had two touchdown passes, both to senior wide receiver Michael Love. The team showed quite a run game, out rushing La Crosse with a total of 269 rushing yards. UW-La Crosse had 103.
“We want to establish the run. I think that gives us a chance to control the ball, eat up the clock, and gain some good yardage. There’s a chance for big plays with the type of running game we have going right now, and it does offer us a chance to be successful offensively,” Richardson said.
Freshman Fullback Elizin Rouse had 137 of the team’s rushing yards, including a 77-yard touchdown run.
“ He happened to get an opportunity, and he took advantage of it. Credit to him, and yes, I would say he’s going to be a guy that should get reps and he’s going to get better. I think having that first game under his belt and the significance of what he did is going to help him a lot, give him confidence,” Richardson said.
Despite the Cats being tied 7-7 at the start of the game, by halftime, the team was down 7-28. Coming out for the third quarter, the Wildcats scored seven points in both the third and fourth quarters. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get that first win, as La Crosse scored 14 points in the third quarter alone, and NMU was unable to close the gap.
“We probably just went on a little bit too much of a roller coaster ride, up and down. I like the way we finished. I think our guys competed all the way through. I just think that when the going was tough and we were grinding through the second and third quarters, we needed to be better. That’s where you saw some of those points get away from us, and we stalled offensively. That’s where we need to be better and more consistent. At the end of the game, we were able to put ourselves in a position to get back into a competitive part of it,” Richardson said.
This weekend, the Wildcats are back in the dome for the first time since the start of the season as they look for their first win on this special homecoming weekend at Northern. The team will host Alma in the Superior Dome on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 1 p.m.
“We’ve got to continue to move forward, and we’ve got to push the reset button every week. If we compare ourselves to improvement and focus on what we can do better all the time and what we can fix and correct, that’s the message I want our team to grasp and embrace. We’ll come out we’ll still have great energy – we still have great motivation to play,” Coach Richardson said.
