MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University football team lost its home and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference opener 23-13 to Northwood Saturday in front of a crowd of 3,325 at the Superior Dome.  

Northwood was able to keep the Wildcats offense off the field dominating the time of possession 41:14 while NMU controlled the ball for 18:46.

"Obviously the outcome wasn't what we wanted or expected," said Head Coach Chris Ostrowsky after the loss.  "I think early on they did a heck of job dominating the time of possession, which factored in.  I believe we only had three possessions in the first half, which was pretty unbelievable.  Then in the second half we just didn't play well, didn't make good decisions and didn't execute."

NMU took an early lead converting their first drive of the game to a score when freshman kicker Ryan LaBerge drilled a 34-yard field goal with 11:40 left in the first half giving the Wildcats a 3-0 advantage.

The Timeberwolves tied the game with 3:32 left in the first when Keegan Haggarty converted a 37-yard field goal to tie the contest at 3-3.

Sophomore quarterback Shaye Brown hooked up with senior wide receiver Kelvin Smarwt for a 31-yard score through the air on NMU's first drive of the second quarter giving the Wildcats a 10-3 lead with 14:53 left in the half. Brown's pass to Smarwt capped the Wildcats longest scoring drive of the game, a seven play 59-yard drive which ticked 3:32 off the clock.

Northwood scored the next 13 points of the contest when Jared Briguglio converted a two-yard run with 3:55 left in the half and Haggarty hit field goals of 25 and 23 yards in the third quarter, putting Northwood up 16-10.

LaBerge connected on a 32-yard field goal with 10:39 left in the contest after NMU drove the ball 50-yards in five plays, cutting the Timberwolves lead to 16-13.

Briguglio broke for a 46-yard touchdown run with 47-seconds left in the game to set the final tally at 23-13.

"We're as disappointed as disappointed can be as a program, but we're going to approach it tomorrow the same way as if we won," said Ostrowsky. "We're going to go back to work and continue to do what we think is right as a program."

Brown connected on 17-29 for 214 yards through the air with two interceptions and a touchdown. Smarwt had six receptions for 99 yards to lead the 'Cats in receiving while senior wide receiver Marcus Tucker had 77 receiving yards 127 return yards for a total of 204 all-purpose yards. Senior running back Wyatt Jurasin led the NMU running attack with 54 yards.

Briguglio led the Timberwolves with 165 all-purpose yards all of which came on the ground. Mitch Robinson went 6-11 under center for Northwood with 58 passing yards.

Freshman linebacker Julian Hornback led the Wildcats defense with 11 total tackles including 10 solo hits. He also picked up NMU's only sack of the game when he dropped Robinson for a loss of six yards with just over six minutes left in the game.

Junior linebacker Loran Jaddou, senior defensive lineman Trever Kruzel and junior linebacker Levi Perry were second on the squad with eight tackles each. Freshman defensive back Javaris Hendricks picked up an interception for the Wildcats when he picked off Robinson's pass with just over a minute left in the second quarter.

The Wildcats will play their next two games on the road stepping out of GLIAC action with a matchup at Quincy at 5 p.m. September 13.