MARQUETTE, Mich.  --  Northern Michigan University's football team honored 11 seniors prior to Saturday's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against Northwood University.   

The 2017 seniors for the Wildcats consisted of Jaranta Lewis (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay), Quintin Del Re (Tempe, Ariz./Basha/Mesa CC), Julian Crum (Country Club Hills, Ill./St. Rita of Cascia), Pat Ryan (Linden, Mich.), Kainon Clark (Overland Park, Kan./Spring Hall/Coffeyville), D'Jon Meek (Crete Monee, Ill./Hillcrest), Marlon Harris (Oak Park, Mich./Clawson/Tiffin), Darryl Williams (Cooper City, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), Will Pretty (Palmdale, Calif./Paraclete/College of the Canyons), Tyler O'Connor (Appleton, Wis./Appleton East/Concordia), and Jalen Brooks (Appleton, Wis./Appleton East/Concordia).

Northwood scored first to take a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.  At 5:22 on the clock, freshman quarterback Ryan Johnson (De Pere, Wis./Ashwaubeon) hit freshman Dallas Dixon (Phoenix, Ariz./Tolleson) on a slant he took 80-yards for the tying touchdown and the teams entered halftime 7-7.

Out of the intermission, Northwood scored early into the third frame, and followed it with an early fourth quarter field goal to go ahead. 

Trailing 17-7, Johnson found redshirt freshman Dan Van Effen (Escanaba, Mich.) for a 31-yard touchdown, pulling the score to 17-14 with 5:48 remaining.  After forcing Northwood into a three-and-out, junior Jake Mayon (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield East) took the Wildcats first play for 75-yards to give NMU a 21-17 advantage with 3:30 left in the contest. 

The following kickoff went out of bounds to put the Timberwolves on their 35-yard line.  After 11 plays, with the biggest play being a 23-yard reception, Northwood found themselves fourth and seven from the NMU 12-yard line.  On the play, NU was able to throw a touchdown pass and make the extra point to take a 24-21 lead with 52 seconds remaining.   Northern Michigan was unable to drive the field, dropping their final game of the season.

Mayon led the Wildcat with 217 yards rushing, posting his fourth game of over 200 yards.  He finishes his season with 1,379 yards and eight touchdowns. 

Johnson achieved 178 yards on 13-24 passing, notching two touchdowns.  Van Effen led the receivers with five catches and totaled 55 yards with a touchdown while Dixon went for 95 yards on three receptions, plus one touchdown. 

Defensively, Williams tallied a team-best 17 tackles with Ryan chipping in with 13.  Brooks and La'Ryan Johnson (Kenosha, Wis. / Bradford) added a sack each for the Wildcats. 

NMU finished the 2017 season dropping three of their last four games by one score, including the last two by a total of five points.