HILLSDALE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University football team (1-2, 0-2 GLIAC) racked up 386 yards of total offense and carried a 3-0 lead into the fourth quarter but ultimately dropped a 13-10 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match up at Hillsdale (2-1, 2-1 GLIAC) Saturday at Muddy Waters Stadium.

The Wildcats return home next week for a homecoming match up against Michigan Tech at 7 p.m. Saturday, September 27 at the Superior Dome.

Sophomore quarterback Shaye Brown threw for a career-high 295 yards going 21-41 with a touchdown.  Junior running back Wyatt Jurasin led the NMU ground attack with 114 yards on 28 attempts in the contest.

The NMU defense held Hillsdale, who entered the game averaging 43 points to a season-low 13 and without a score for the first three quarters.  Sophomore defensive back Pat Ryan led three Wildcats with six tackles and also had two interceptions for NMU.

Senior linebacker Nick Krause and sophomore defensive back Javaris Hendricks also had six tackles for NMU. Senior defensive lineman Trevor Kruzel picked up the only sack of the game for the Wildcats dropping Hillsdale's Mark LaPrairie for a nine-yard loss.

Freshman kicker Ryan LaBerge put up the first score of the game with 24-seconds remaining in the third quarter when he connected on a 28-yard field goal to put NMU up 3-0. 

Hillsdale found the end zone first on the next drive of the game when LaPrairie hooked up with Ryan Portrykus for a 52-yard touchdown pass with 14:46 left in the game. Chargers running back Wade Wood ran in a 17-yard touchdown with 10:34 left in the game. On the ensuing point-after-try freshman defensive lineman JaMarco Willingham blocked the kick from Hillsdale's Steven Mette. 

Sophomore wide receiver Gabe Eppert hooked up with Brown for a 32-yard touchdown strike with 6:46 left in the game and the LaBerge kick was good to move NMU to within 13-10.

The Wildcats had a chance to tie the game with a 33-yard field goal with 31-seconds left in the game but the attempt from LaBerge went wide left.

Eppert and senior wide receiver Kelvin Smarwt led NMU with 64 receiving yards each while junior wideout Austin Young had 54.