The Grand Valley State defense has been nothing short of stellar.
The No. 6 Lakers nearly kept No. 19 Ashland out of the end zone in a nationally ranked battle, allowing one touchdown in the final 75 seconds on their way to a 20-10 road victory on Saturday, Sept. 12.
GVSU has allowed 34 points total through three games, a stunning average of just 11.3 points per game.
For a little perspective that is less than half of the scoring allowed by last year’s Lakers, who gave up 72 points through three games.
Torian Wyatt paced the Lakers with seven tackles. GVSU had four sacks and an interception from Chris Little.
While the defense was handling business, the GVSU offense got the scoring going early. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Schuster threw a 18-yard touchdown pass to Evan Furtney on the first offensive possession.
Brady Drogosh threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Reed on the first play of the second quarter.
Mathew Bacik kicked a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter an a 39-yarder in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers were 9-for-17 on third down, extending several drives.
Schuster was 25-for-32 passing for 196 yards. He threw for one touchdown and one interception. Reed had 13 catches for 106 yards and Furtney had six grabs for 43 yards. Kellen Russell-Dixon had 24 rushes for 87 yards.
Ashland finally got into the end zone with 1:15 to go in the game when Drew Novak ran into the end zone from 6 yards out.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: GVSU’s stellar defense leads to dominating win over No. 19 Ashland
