Great Lakes Wire

Despite an impressive 96-yard effort on the ground from freshman Jahi Wood, the NMU football team fell 33-13 on Thursday night at Kentucky Wesleyan, dropping to 0-2 on the season.

Northern received a first-career touchdown from Nico Lukkarinen and a pair of field goals from Michael Karlen. However, 310 passing yards from the Panthers proved insurmountable. The Wildcats held a 123-72 advantage on the ground, largely due to Wood's breakthrough performance.

Wesleyan opened the scoring just over four minutes into the game with a 23-yard pass to Jatavian Churchill. The two-point attempt was intercepted by Max Mouranie and nearly returned for two points in the opposite direction, but the Panthers secured the tackle just before the endzone.

The Wildcats claimed the lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter on Lukkarinen's score. A 45-yard connection between Aidan Hoard and Michael Love set up Northern inside the five-yard line, and Lukkarinen capitalized two plays later.

The teams exchanged field goals early in the second quarter, with Karlen connecting on his first of two from 25 yards out. The Panthers controlled the rest of the opening half, scoring on a 34-yard pass play and adding a field goal in the final seconds to lead 19-10 at halftime.

The lone third-quarter score came off Karlen's foot once again, with a chip-shot field goal that closed the gap to one possession at 19-13 ahead of the final frame.

Unfortunately for NMU, KWC struck just over a minute into the fourth quarter with a 25-yard pitch-and-catch to double their lead to 26-13. The Wildcats were unable to recover, and Wesleyan sealed their victory with less than two minutes left by punching in a one-yard touchdown run for a final score of 33-13.

Outside of Wood's performance, Love also had three catches for 72 yards. Leading Northern’s defensive effort were All-GLIAC players Mitch Larkin and Jax Hertel with six tackles each. Freshman Kennarius Chandler recorded three solo tackles for loss, tying him atop GLIAC standings in that category.

Up next, NMU will be back on the road next weekend against UW-La Crosse on September 14 at 2 p.m. ET.

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