 "Photo: Shawn Wright -- The South End")
MIDLAND -- Wayne State continued to keep itself in the chase for the playoffs and set another school record along the way, defeating Northwood 42-21 on Saturday.
For just the third time in 91 seasons, the Warriors won eight games in a single season (the previous two being in 1975 and 1976).
"It's amazing," saftey Dante Dunn said. "It's a great feeling — what we're doing here this year."
Joique Bell led WSU with 196 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Aaron Higginbottom caught two touchdown passes and Don Brown added another score in Wayne State's biggest offensive showing of 2008.
"We felt pretty good," Higginbottom said. "Kevin had it going, the offensive line had it rolling, the running backs did good. Overall we had a pretty good game offensively."
The Timberwolves (2-7, 2-7 GLIAC) kept it close in the first half, but Higginbottom's second touchdown catch gave the Warriors a 21-14 advantage at the midway point.
Bell found his way into the endzone twice in the third quarter, the final time coming on a 29-yard run. Bell, who set the WSU career rushing record a week ago, set the record for career GLIAC scoring, passing David Kircus (Grand Valley) who had 348 in his career.
"We came out prepared," Bell said of the offense. "We knew they were a physical team and we knew we could be physical back."
The return game played a pivotal role for the Warriors, as two runs (Josh Renel's 62-yard punt return in the first quarter and Stan Thornton's 74-yard dash to open the second half) set up scoring drives of just 13 and five yards, respectively.
"Our special teams was basically the key to the game," Thornton said. "We (the special teams) stepped it up today."
A scary moment occured in the third quarter as Zachary Easterly suffered a season-ending leg injury on a punt return. He was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital.
"When he went down, tears came to my eyes," Smith said. "I was hurting for him; I felt for him. That type of injury — you don't like to see.
It's football, it happens, but you never like to see that type of injury."
Wayne State (8-2, 7-2 GLIAC) faces its biggest challenge to date when it hosts undefeated and top-ranked Grand Valley State on Nov. 8.
Kickoff is set for noon.
