WAYNE STATE (1-5, 1-4 GLIAC)
at Michigan Tech (2-4, 2-4 GLIAC)
Saturday, Oct. 19 • Houghton, Michigan

MATCH-UP AT A GLANCE:
Stadium: Sherman Field (3,000)
Surface: Natural Grass
Kickoff: 12:00 p.m.
Site: Houghton, Michigan
Series Record: Wayne State leads 13-2-0

THE GAME
The Wayne State University football team will be facing Michigan Tech for the first time since the 1999 season when the Warriors travel to Houghton this Saturday to face the Huskies.

MTU won the last meeting, 22-10, for its second series win against the Warriors.

Wayne State did not play Michigan Tech the last two seasons, and will not be facing Indianapolis in 2002 and 2003.

THE COACHES
WSU head coach Steve Kazor is in his third season as the Warrior bench boss. He has an 8-18 record at Wayne State with an overall collegiate head coaching mark of 33-35 in his seventh season.

Michigan Tech’s Bernie Anderson, the dean of GLIAC football coaches, became the Huskies’ head coach on April 10, 1987 season and is Tech’s all-time winningest gridiron coach with 72 wins.

THE SERIES
Wayne State leads 13-2-0 in the all-time series having won the first 10 meetings between 1967 and 1994. The Warriors have won three of the last five contests since 1995, and have compiled a 7-2 mark in games in Houghton.

IN THE POLLS
The Warriors were selected 11th in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) preseason coaches poll. Michigan Tech received 69 points in the preseason GLIAC coaches poll, which placed them sixth.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN TECH
The Huskies (2-4, 2-4) have dropped three straight (42-23 at Findlay, 56-14 to Grand Valley, and 21-14 OT at Ferris State) after winning two of their first three contests (30-23 at Ashland and 32-24 OT vs. Indianapolis; loss was 35-21 at Saginaw Valley).

Joe Johnson is second in the league with 856 yards rushing and six touchdowns. Dan Mettlach has completed 58 of 134 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns with five interceptions. Brad Strebel (16-230, TD), Jeff Weber (16-180, 4 TD) and Brian Janeshek (12-140, TD) are Mettlach’s top targets.

Andrew Bonk has a team-high three interceptions and 64 total tackles (24-40). Tony Roberson leads the squad with three sacks.

HILLSDALE GAME NOTES
The Warriors trailed 20-6 at the half, and 33-13 after 45 minutes but rallied for 21 fourth quarter points and have now outscored their opponents 55-36 in the final period.

Craig Duppong rushed for 167 yards on a season-high 32 carries, his second straight game over 100 yards. Thabiti Williamson had touchdown runs of two and five yards. Randy Hutchison, who came in at quarterback for WSU in the second half, had nine rushes for 59 yards.

Starting quarterback Dan Gray completed six of 11 passes for 34 yards in the first half, while Hutchison connected on 12 of 15 tosses for 144 yards and two scores, both to Nate Collins, in the fourth quarter. Collins had a team-high 63 receiving yards, while Marqus Anthony led Wayne State with five catches.

The Wayne State offense has already eclipsed last season’s totals of five rushing touchdowns (seven after Thabiti Williamson’s two touchdown runs), and 754 net rushing yards (824 after rushing for 245 yards at Hillsdale).

For the second consecutive road game, Randy Hutchison came in at intermission to lead a second half rally. On Sept. 28 at Ferris State, Hutchison and the Warrior offense scored 33 second half points, while at Hillsdale, WSU scored 28 points after halftime including touchdowns on its final four drives.

Freshman defensive end Leo Wells had three tackles for loss against the Chargers and now has a team-leading 9.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

The Warriors have played four of their first six games away from Detroit, and play this Saturday at Michigan Tech before returning home for three of the final four games of the season.

AT HILLSDALE 40, WAYNE STATE 34
The Warriors suffered their third defeat of the season by eight points or less falling at Hillsdale 40-34 on Oct. 12.

Wayne State trailed 20-6 after 30 minutes but scored 28 second half points cutting the deficit to six at two different ocassions. The Chargers tallied 20 points after halftime to maintain the lead.

WSU’s first drive of the contest was a season-best 19 plays which concluded with Thabiti Williamson’s two-yard touchdown run. In the second stanza, HC added two field goals, sandwiched around a five-yard run by quarterback Bill Skelton.

Following a Charger third quarter touchdown, Wayne State went 74 yards in nine plays with Williamson carrying the final five yards for his second touchdown of the game. Randy Hutchison rushed three times for 36 yards on the drive and completed a 12-yard pass to Nate Collins.

Hillsdale scored on a five-play drive, but the Warriors answered with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with Craig Duppong scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter. Duppong rushed six times on the drive for 40 yards.

After a Charger punt, WSU went 82 yards in eight plays to pull within six at 33-27. Hutchison connected from 24 yards to Collins for the score. Hutchison was four-of-four on the drive for 58 yards.

HC answered with a 63-yard touchdown drive, but the Warriors responded with an eight-play, 73-yard touchdown drive with Collins hauling in an 11-yard pass from Hutchison for the score. Hillsdale ran four plays to run out the clock.

The Warriors outgained the Chargers on the ground, 245-141. Total offense was nearly even at 427 (Hillsdale) and 423 (Wayne State).

Hillsdale scored on seven of its 10 possessions in the game, while the Warriors reached the end zone on their last four possessions.

Wayne State converted a season-high nine of 13 (69.2%) third-down conversions against the Chargers.

Three Wayne State football players are listed in this week's NCAA statistics

A complete copy of this week's game notes, including GLIAC statistics rankings, is also available in PDF. Click here to download.