Lake Erie College is given a lesson Saturday in just how far it has to go as Michigan Tech rolls to a 42-13 Division II victory in Painesville.
Joe Magill / Special to The Plain Dealer
PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Welcome to the GLIAC.
Playing its first game in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, arguably the strongest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, Lake Erie College was given a lesson Saturday in just how far it has to go, as Michigan Tech rolled to a 42-13 Division II victory.
Historically one of the top teams in the GLIAC, league coaches (in a preseason poll) picked Michigan Tech (1-0) to finish ninth in the 14-team conference this season. The Huskies, 2-8 a year ago, had more than enough to handle the Storm, which fell to 0-2, 0-1.
"We're playing really good teams," said Storm wingback Dave Romeo (Eastlake North), who had six catches for 148 yards. "Every team we play, their intensity is better than ours. They're no joke, no matter what they did last year."
In front of a record crowd of 2,168, the Storm held first-quarter leads of 3-0 and 10-7, which came after a Sean Bedevelsky (Brunswick) 5-yard scoring pass to Demetrius Gray (Cleveland South).
But a huge shift in momentum came on the ensuing kickoff as Tech's Akeem Cason returned the kick 89 yards for a touchdown.
"I don't know where the breakdown was but that was a back breaker," LEC coach Mark McNellie said. "I thought we had some momentum on our side and that just burst the balloon."
The Huskies led, 21-10, when Lake Erie's Sam Marcotte (Chardon) kicked a 35-yard field goal at 5:51 of the second quarter to cut the Storm's deficit to eight.
Bedevelsky finished with 262 yards passing, one touchdown and two interceptions.