Michigan Tech wide receiver Darius Willis moves prior to the snap during a game against South Dakota Mines on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Coming off a 20-7 win over GLIAC-affiliate Roosevelt, the Michigan Tech Huskies football team has won its last two games. They are now 6-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play as they head into their final home game of the season against No. 5 Grand Valley State this weekend.

The Huskies faced the Roosevelt Lakers on the road after defeating their U.P. rivals the previous weekend with a 39-9 win over Northern Michigan.

“I thought our guys handled the travel well coming off of rivalry week, flushing that, moving on to the next, a team that we’ve never seen before, a bunch of names that the guys didn’t know,” said Huskies coach Dan Mettlach. “Roosevelt plays a bunch of kids on both sides of the football, so we weren’t sure what we were going to get, especially from the defensive side. I thought they handled all that really well. Any time you can go on the road in the GLIAC and get a win, it’s obviously a positive deal.”

Michigan Tech did not have senior wide receiver Ethan Champney available for the game, but that did not stop them from finding ways to get others involved in the passing game.

“Everybody played a pretty big role,” Mettlach said. “Obviously, not having Champney in, kind of filling that spot by committee with two freshman receivers, I thought they both did a nice job. ‘Kurnzie’ (Bryce Kurnz) got his first touchdown, and Ethan Hull made some big catches with physical blocking.”

On the ground, the Huskies got some nice touches out of sophomore running back Jake Rueff and freshman running back Asher Gregory. Both quarterbacks, senior Alex Fries and freshman Alex Bueno, had seven runs each as well.

“Run-game wise, I thought Jake Rueff ran hard,” said Mettlach. “Asher made some plays, at times, as well with the football in his hand. ‘Q’ (quarterback) got involved in the run game. I thought just as a whole, when we were clicking, things looked really, really good.”

Mettlach was impressed with the pressure that Roosevelt brought, and it forced the Huskies out of their comfort zone.

“(With) heavy pressure, (the) team picked on some of the vulnerabilities we have up front right now,” Mettlach said. “They were messing with their coverages a little bit, which gave our ‘Qs’ some trouble at times, as well.

“We sputtered quite a bit. I thought we had too many chances in the first half to put the game away. Came away with three points or nothing in that first half, and we have to be better at that part. But, overall, I was happy with the way everybody played.”

Kurncz only had one catch on the day, but it was a 17-yard touchdown strike.

“At that point it was third and 17,” said Mettlach. “So, not only to convert, but to convert it for a touchdown in traffic, (he) makes a play and then kind of bullies his way into the end zone. He’s done some really good things throughout the entire year, being the fourth receiver in our 10-(personnel) package, and to be put in that spot finally where he was a focal point, the single-side receiver against man coverage, and then to answer the call when it was thrown to him, was good to see. He works his butt off. Great to see him finally rewarded with his first touch(down).”

Another player that Mettlach had a lot of praise for after the Roosevelt game was freshman kicker Avery Kucharski. Kucharski has missed some time during the season with an injury, but has worked hard to get back into the lineup, and was a key piece last weekend.

“Coming off of injury, he’s had some misses in the last couple weeks with extra points and whatnot,” Mettlach said. “That’s just things that kickers go through, obviously, and especially a true freshman kicker. So, (he) did a really nice job on Saturday putting points on the board for us when we were sputtering offensively. He missed the one kick, but even off the tee, I thought he was really good and did a really nice job on Saturday.”

SCOUTING THE OTHER LAKERS

This weekend, the Huskies face the other GLIAC opponent with the nickname Lakers. Grand Valley State was recently announced as No. 2 in the first NCAA Super Region 3 rankings. They are 8-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play after defeating Wayne State last weekend 51-28.

They are led offensively by senior quarterback Avery Moore, who is 63-of-107 for 863 yards and five touchdowns. He is also dangerous on the ground as he is second on the team with 84 rushes for 500 yards, with four touchdowns.

The ground game is driven by sophomore running back Khalil Eichelberger, who has rushed the ball 109 times for 651 yards and six touchdowns. He has had three games of over 100 yards on the ground.

Through the air, senior wide receiver Kyle Nott leads the way with 15 catches for 390 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Kellen Reed has also been good, with 12 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown.

GAME TIME

The Huskies and Lakers will meet Saturday at 12 p.m. at Kearly Stadium. The Huskies will also honor their seniors during the game.