PLYMOUTH, Wis. – St. Norbert College built an early two-touchdown lead and pounded away on the ground to bleed the clock late as Lakeland University took a rare Homecoming loss with a 24-21 setback Saturday in front of a big crowd at Taylor Field.
The Muskies fell by a field goal at home for the second time this season and in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play, dropping to 1-2 in conference and 2-3 overall. Lakeland also lost on Homecoming for just the second time in its last 16 Homecoming games, dropping the Muskies to 61-22-3 all-time on Homecoming.
Lakeland once again soundly outgained an opponent, rolling up 411 yards while holding the Green Knights to 268 yards. The Muskies will lament a pair of crucial turnovers, though, as well as being unable to stop a slow-chugging SNC offense in the second half that ran time and again, with just enough success to keep drives alive.
St. Norbert (3-2 overall, 2-1 NACC) hogged the ball for more than 21 minutes in the second half, including all but 2 minutes, 54 seconds in the fourth quarter. The Green Knights finished with a 34:00 to 26:00 advantage in time of possession, running on 54 of their 67 offensive plays in the game, including a 36-to-5 run-to-pass ratio in the second half.
The visitors went 53 yards in 12 plays and 6:08 to go ahead 21-7 early in the third quarter on a four-yard run by Delton Zuleger, took 5:40 off the clock in another drive branching the third and fourth quarters, and then took nearly six minutes off on an 11-play, 45-yard drive featuring 11 straight running plays and finished by a Dalton Moyse 21-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. That score gave St. Norbert what proved to be the deciding points with a 24-14 lead with 3:33 left in the game.
The Muskies responded with a quick four-play, 75-yard drive capped by an outstanding individual effort by Kolby Cohen (Jr.-Missouri City, Texas). On first down from the St. Norbert 49, Robby Michael (So.-Sheboygan, Wis.) scrambled to his right and found Cohen releasing late, hitting him 10 yards downfield. Cohen then cut all the way across the field and broke three tackles, the last one shaking a tackler off his back at the SNC 16 and scoring to get Lakeland within 24-21.
The Muskies tried an onside kick that was recovered by the Green Knights, and St. Norbert went back to the ground and even with two Lakeland timeouts needed just three plays to salt the game away. Zuleger hammered ahead for 13 yards on the first play, and after a two-yard run he mushed forward again for eight yards and a first down, allowing the Green Knights to run out the final 1:31 and end the game.
Lakeland played from behind almost the entire game, after St. Norbert scored on a 19-yard pass from Peyton Lyon to Paul Bageanis with 8:25 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. The Green Knights then added on late in the first quarter as Michael was hit while throwing and his pass sailed right to linebacker Sam Barnett, who found a convoy going down the right sideline and took it back 46 yards to score easily and give SNC a 14-0 lead.
The Muskies got on the board early in the second quarter when Michael lofted a pass over the middle to the end zone, where freshman Kaeden Calcari (Menominee, Mich.) twisted his body and caught a pass between three St. Norbert defenders for a 38-yard score and his first collegiate touchdown. Lakeland had chances for much more in the second, but a drive down to the Green Knights 23 was spoiled after a pair of sacks, and another drive deep into SNC territory ended when Michael's pop fly to the end zone was picked up by Luke Nisic at the 2.
Michael finished completing 20 of 31 passes for 318 yards. He also added a rushing touchdown, a 2-yard scamper on 4th-and-goal in the third quarter to draw the Muskies within 21-14.
Caleb Besaw (So.-Conroe, Texas) caught nine passes for 113 yards and Cohen added three catches for 88 yards. Lakeland was limited to a net of just 93 yards on 40 rush attempts, though, including five St. Norbert sacks.
Andrew Redditt (Fr.-New Orleans, La.) and Karlis Ozols (Sr.-Fond du Lac, Wis.) paced the defense with eight tackles each, and Shamond Oliver (So.-Phenix City, Ala.) and Trayvonne Roberts (Fr.-Lynwood, Ill.) both added interceptions in the first half, including Roberts with his first career pick.
Zuleger and Owen Kudick both hit the 100-yard mark rushing for St. Norbert, with Kudick carrying 25 times for 112 yards and Zuleger adding 24 carries for an even 100 yards. Lyon completed 7 of 13 passes for 84 yards, but threw just five times in the second half after two interceptions in the first half.
The Muskies are back on the road next week when they travel to face Wisconsin Lutheran College at 1 p.m. in Wauwatosa.