A damp and ugly day did nothing to dampen Homecoming for Lakeland College, as the Muskies dominated on both sides of the ball in a 47-7 win over Wisconsin Lutheran College Saturday afternoon at Taylor Field.
Lakeland moved the ball almost at will on offense and was a stone wall on defense, outgaining the Warriors 428-65 in winning its eighth straight Homecoming game. The Muskies (1-3) earned their first win of the season, won their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener, and also topped WLC (1-3) on Homecoming for the second straight year.
The Lakeland defense allowed just 65 yards on 53 offensive plays for Wisconsin Lutheran, an average of 1.2 yards per play, and no play longer than 15 yards. WLC was 0 of 15 on third downs, and the Muskies harassed Warrior quarterbacks into 9-for-24 passing for 52 yards and two interceptions by Yaphay Harvey (Sr.-Milwaukee, Wis.), one returned 32 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to extend the lead to 39-0.
WLC fared no better running the ball, gaining just 29 yards. Trevor Tanck (Sr.-Baileys Harbor, Wis.) finished with 10 tackles, with four tackles for loss including a sack, and in all 28 of the Warriors' 53 plays ended in either a loss of yardage or an incomplete pass.
The offense also was productive again, mixing in big plays through the air with a newfound ground game.
A.J. Veloz (Fr.-Whiting, Ind.) had his best day of the season, completing 17 of 29 passes for 259 yards, four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) and no interceptions. Veloz also hit on several more long passes, including a 79-yard bomb to Kezlow Smith (Jr.-Pontiac, Mich.) to get the scoring started just 3:33 into the game.
The Muskies also got their rushing game in gear with easily best game of the season running the ball. Kendrick Burks(Sr.-Pontiac, Mich.) got on track with 14 carries for 94 yards and a 24-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to push the Lakeland lead to 20-0. As a team, the Muskies gained 169 yards on the ground, more than doubling the team's previous best running performance this season.
Lakeland did all of its scoring in the first three quarters, building leads of 12-0 after one quarter, 26-0 at halftime and 47-0 after three quarters. Receivers Michael Esiobu (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.), Hunter Van Straten (Jr.-Shiocton, Wis.) and Richard Micheaux (Jr.-Taylor, Mich.) all caught scoring passes, with Micheaux receiving a 9-yard pass from Michael Whitley (Fr.-Vidalia, La.) for Whitley's first collegiate TD pass.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Muskies all day was extra-point kicks on the wet field, and even that was turned into a positive on several occasions. Lakeland converted one two-point conversion on a pass from Veloz to Micheaux and another when Peyton Petersen (Fr.-Farmington Hills, Mich.) picked up a bobbled snap and took off around end to score two.
Smith caught four passes for 130 yards to lead the receivers, with Esiobu adding four catches for 48 yards. Whitley also added 57 yards rushing on five carries.
Romain Johnson (Jr.-Pontiac, Mich.) added six tackles on defense, including a sack, while Josh Schneider (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) and Fred Fielding (Jr.-Black Creek, Wis.) also added sacks. Schneider and Daniel Zea (Sr.-Gurnee, Ill.) also recovered fumbles as the Lakeland defense forced four Wisconsin Lutheran turnovers.
Lakeland has now won its last eight Homecoming games. The Muskies have a 55-20-3 record all-time on Homecoming.
The Muskies look for their second straight win next week when they travel to face Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Ill. Game time is 1 p.m.
Muskies jump on Warriors for dominant Homecoming win
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20141004_9lk7.xml
2014
Wisconsin Lutheran
7
Lakeland
47
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin Lutheran (1-3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Lakeland (1-3) | 12 | 14 | 21 | 0 | 47 |
Oct 04, 2014