MIDLAND, Mich. – Behind a four touchdown effort from Mike Noffsinger and a dominant defensive performance early in the game, Ohio Dominican's football team scored a 44-30 win at Northwood Saturday in the GLIAC opener for both teams.

The Panthers improved to 2-0 on the season (1-0 GLIAC), while the Timberwolves fell to 1-1 (0-1).

Noffsinger set a school record with 30 rushing attempts, finishing with 169 yards, and tied the school record with his four touchdown carries. The Panthers ran for 271 yards as a team, the second most in school history.

ODU's defense limited Northwood to just 100 yards and one offensive touchdown through three quarters of play. Dan Grimsley had six tackles (four for loss) and Garrett Wilcox had two tackles for loss and a sack that resulted in a safety.

Overall, ODU finished with 443 yards of offense to 312 for Northwood, amassed 25 first downs and limited NU's "Woodbone" rushing attack to 124 yards and 3.4 yards per carry after the Timberwolves ran for 300 yards against the Panthers in last year's 28-12 NU victory.

After falling behind 7-0 less than four minutes into the game, Ohio Dominican took control of the first half with a smothering defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack. The Panthers racked up 293 yards of offense and had 17 first downs compared to 42 yards and two first downs for Northwood.

ODU answered the Timberwolves' initial score with an 11 play, 77 yard touchdown drive. ODU converted three third downs on the drive, which was capped off by a 32 yard toss from quarterback Jeremy Fudge to Tyler Maddox streaking down the near sideline.

The Panthers' ensuing drives were stopped by an interception and a turnover on downs, but the ODU defense forced a pair of three and outs. ODU started its next drive on its own 30 and marched down the field in seven plays, scoring on a 25 yard run by Noffsinger, who dodged in and out of traffic to find the end zone.

That put ODU in front 14-7 with 7:38 left in the second, but the lead was short lived as Northwood's Cameron Jackson took the kickoff back 91 yards for a score to even the contest at 14.

But again the Panther offense responded. Fudge connected with Tyler Purcell on a 20 yard gain on third and 13, and the duo hooked up again on another third down conversion to set up a touchdown plunge by Ronnel Spates from the two to make it 21-14 with 3:14 left before the break.

After a swap of punts, NU took over on its own 11 with 1:03 left, and Wilcox dragged down quarterback Aaron Shavers in the endzone for his second safety in as many weeks to make it 23-14 at half.

The Timberwolves took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched down the field, moving to the ODU 13 yard line. Eisen Hardy batted away a third down pass in the end zone, and the NU field goal attempt sailed wide to preserve ODU's lead.

Later in the frame, Purcell broke free on a Northwood punt and got his hands on it for ODU's second blocked kick of the season, putting ODU's offense on the field inside the . On the next play, Noffsinger burst through the line and scampered untouched nine yards into the endzone to make it 30-14 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

A heavy dosage of Noffsinger on ODU's next drive resulted in his third touchdown of the day, a four yard run that gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the afternoon at 37-14 with 11:29 to go in the game.

Northwood responded with a 63 yard touchdown on their next drive, recovered the onside kick and kicked a field goal to cut ODU's lead to 37-23 with 2:37 left. But the Panthers snagged NU's next onside kick, and on the next play, Noffsinger ran around the left side to paydirt for a 42 yard touchdown that put ODU on top 44-23.

Northwood made one last surge, scoring a TD with 1:52 left, but Noffsinger salted the game away with three runs for a first down.

ODU finished with a 33:50-26:10 advantage in time of possession, and punter Chris Vortkamp averaged 54.5 yards on his punts.

Fudge finished 17-of-26 for 172 yards and a touchdown and ran for 49 yards, and Maddox had a team-high 70 yards. Purcell made five catches to go along with his blocked punt. Bylal Humphrey had 29 yards rushing in his first collegiate action and Spates finished with 27 yards on the ground.

Ohio Dominican makes another road trip to Michigan next week for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Ferris State.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu