Box Score
Box score

INDIANAPOLIS-  Facing a five-point deficit with just 31 seconds to go, the UIndy Greyhound football team (2-1, 1-1 GLIAC) pulled the rug out from under visiting Grand Valley State (1-2, 0-2) Saturday night at Key Stadium.  Sophomore quarterback Chris Mills threw a 22-yard strike to senior Ryan Forney in the final seconds to lift the Greyhounds past the 15th-ranked Lakers, giving them their first win over GVSU since 1999.


The win snapped an 11-game, 12-year losing streak to GVSU, a streak of which UIndy Head Coach Bob Bartolomeo was well aware.

“This is a great program win,” said the second-year head man.  “It came from a lot of different sources, all three phases (offense, defense and special teams).   Grand Valley's had a bulls-eye on their chest with us since 1999. From that standpoint, it is a great program win.”

UIndy led the entire game until a 31-yard touchdown catch from Grand Valley's Andrew Lorman gave the visitors a 33-28 edge with just 31 seconds left.  The would-be game-winning drive started way back on the Laker 14 after Grand Valley snuffed out a fake field goal from the Hounds.

Facing a long field and a dwindling clock, UIndy would not concede the win, however.  The Greyhounds raced 63 yards in just 20 seconds, capped by a 22-yard touchdown pass to Forney that proved to be the deciding score.

The first half belonged to the home team, as the Hounds jumped out to a 14-0 lead thanks to a pair of long scoring plays.  On the Hounds' second drive of the game, Mills faked the handoff and bootlegged to the left, taking it all the way in for a 27-yard rushing touchdown – the first of his career.

Early in the second, junior Mar'Quone Edmonds notched the first of his two touchdowns on a 28-yard pass from senior Rob Doyle.  Doyle, who relieved a briefly-injured Mills for one series, earned his first touchdown pass of the season after Edmonds used his superior athletic ability to out-leap the Grand Valley defensive back.

After a Laker score made it 14-7, the Greyhounds did a great job of managing the clock on the half's final possession.  UIndy used nine plays to eat up all but the final six seconds of the first half, ending with Mills again finding Edmonds in the end zone.  Mills went 7-for-8 on the drive, including a 30-yard pass to senior Joe Leach.

The Hounds outgained their nationally-ranked opponent 314 yards to 203 in the first half and took a 21-7 advantage into the locker room.  

Despite the deficit, the Lakers remained focused on the ground game out of the break.  The Lakers, who racked up 169 rushing yards in the first half, marched 60 yards on the first possession of the third quarter.  Junior Norman Shuford earned 36 rushing yards during the drive, as GVSU capped the possession with a 14-yard touchdown pass to junior Charles Johnson.  The effort pulled the Lakers within a single score, but a missed extra point kept the lead at eight points.

After Grand Valley pulled within one, the Hounds again pushed the margin to eight early in the fourth.  The drive featured a big fourth-down conversion by sophomore Klay Fiechter and was punctuated by a 22-yard touchdown catch by Forney.   The scoring play, pictured above, saw the Crown Point, Ind., native catch a slant pass and break a pair of tackles before taking it to the house.

With under six minutes to go and the scoreboard now reading 28-26 Hounds, the Lakers came up big with a blocked field goal but gave the ball right back on senior Nate Jackson's third career interception.

Jackson's 18-yard return put the Hounds in prime position to tack on to the lead, but the aforementioned fake field goal attempt proved futile, setting up Grand Valley's final touchdown drive and later, Forney's game-winner.

The Greyhounds' triumph easily marks the biggest win in Bartolomeo's  time at UIndy, but the veteran football coach knows there is more work to be done.

“Anytime you beat a team like this, with the great athletes that they have, it's a great accomplishment,” said Bartolomeo.  “But it's only one win.  One game in this tough league.  We've got eight more games ahead of us.  We have to line up and get ready for Michigan Tech next week.”

The Greyhounds will face the Michigan Tech Huskies on their home turf – some 600 miles from Indianapolis – on Saturday, September 24.  Kickoff from the Upper Peninsula is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern.


Note:  Saturday's win will be replayed on Hometown Sports Indiana a number of times this coming week, including Sunday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday 8 p.m.  It is also available on-demand at hometownsportsindiana.com.