CALEDONIA, Mich. - The Davenport football team had been in this position before. Down late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers found themselves on the wrong end of a 24-9 score against visiting Northern Michigan on homecoming. Special teams turned the tide in this one as Nate Couturier set a school record with an 85-yard punt return to cut the deficit to 24-16 with 7:45 left in the game. The DU defense followed that with a three-and-out and the offense took over at the NMU 40 after a 39-yard punt return by Couturier. He finished the day with 142 punt return yards. William Gist rushed for 20 yards on three carries and then Michael Catching hauled in an 18-yard touchdown from Haiden Majewski on a great touch pass in the right corner of the end zone in stride. The Panthers were called for pass interference on the two-point conversion to push the ball back to the 18-yard line. That didn't matter as Majewski lobbed a pass caught by Amonte Gwinn in the left corner of the end zone to tie it at 24 with 3:12 left in regulation.

Deion Powers picked off a pass by Latrell Giles at the NMU 49 and returned it 24 yards to give DU a great chance to win with 2:00 left. Davenport drove to the one-yard line with 26 seconds to go, but a false start moved the ball back to the NMU 6. Seth Acda carried for three yards and DU called timeout with four ticks left. Chris Ahmed however had his 21-yard field goal attempt blocked by Trevor Roberts off the edge to end regulation. The Panthers outscored the Wildcats 15-0 in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Just like last year on homecoming, DU would not be denied. Majewski connected with Couturier on the first play of overtime for a 25-yard score and Ahmed converted the PAT for a 31-24 lead.

Northern Michigan got their chance as a pass interference moved the ball to the DU 13 and then Giles found Benjamin Loutsis from 13 yards out on a crossing route to make it 31-30. The Wildcats called timeout and sent out the offense for the two-point conversion and the win. DU countered with a timeout to set up the defense. Giles was looking for Jake Mayon in the right flat but overthrew him as the Panthers took the 31-30 win to improve to 5-0 this season and 2-0 in the GLIAC.

Majewski went 15-of-25 passing for 188 yards and two TD's. He also rushed for 20 yards and a five-yard score early in the third quarter. Couturier caught three passes for 81 yards and the winning score and finished with 253 all-purpose yards. The Panthers held the Wildcat rushing attack to 138 yards as Mayon had just 47 yards on 15 carries. Giles went 10-of-13 passing for 132 yards for NMU. Deion Powers led the DU defense with 12 tackles and the big interception in the fourth quarter to set up the tying score. Jamal Veazey registered 11 tackles at linebacker. DU finished with 384 total yards compared to 270 for the Wildcats. DU was also 7-of-12 on third down while NMU went 4-of-10.