GVSU football wins as Torian Wyatt keeps Michigan Tech quarterback under pressure
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ALLENDALE – Torian Wyatt was a walk-on at Grand Valley State and got zero attention coming out of high school. In fact, he didn’t play organized football until his senior year at Ferndale High School.
Now the redshirt sophomore linebacker is on scholarship and making a huge impact at GVSU.
Wyatt had two quarterback sacks and a team-high nine tackles to help GVSU edge Michigan Tech 18-15 on Saturday in front of 11,394 fans on homecoming.
“Just to see Torian’s growth,” GVSU coach Scott Wooster said. “(He hadn’t played until) senior year of high school. He’s a guy that walked on here and earned a scholarship. He continues to grow and grow and grow. A game like that, against a really good football team, in kind of a playoff environment …”
No. 23 Grand Valley improves to 6-3 with hopes of still making the playoffs with one regular-season game left. Michigan Tech falls to 7-3.
“Winning is hard,” Wooster said. “Sometimes they’re a little ugly.”
GVSU led the entire game, but it was tight.
Sophomore quarterback Andrew Schuster connected with Griffin Shinrock for a 7-yard touchdown with 4:29 left in the first quarter. But the extra point was missed.
They got some unexpected points thanks to Torian Wyatt. With Michigan Tech backed up inside their own end zone, Wyatt clobbered quarterback Elliott Larner, forcing him to toss up a pass to no one. He was called for intentional grounding resulting in a safety.
“Coach had a good play call,” Wyatt said. “I just did my job. He fumbled the snap, and I just chased him down and tackled him.”
Michigan Tech got an 8-yard touchdown run from Jake Reuff with 3:23 left in the second quarter to cut the lead to 8-7.
Schuster found Kellen Reed for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 47 seconds left to take a 15-7 lead into halftime.
No scoring in the third quarter. But the Lakers got a 33-yard field goal from Mathew Bacik for an 18-7 lead in the fourth.
Michigan Tech made things interesting late in the game. Quarterback Alex Bueno scored on a 25-yard run for the touchdown. They went for two points and Bueno connected with Ethan Champney to make it 18-15 with 2:29 left in the game.
“We’ve been in that scenario all season long,” Wooster said. “Every single game against these really good opponents comes down to one possession.”
Schuster, who graduated from Chippewa Valley High School, was 17-of-27 passing for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Tech’s Bueno was 18-of-34 for 210 yards.
From zero-star recruit to a defensive star
Wyatt is listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds and is a beast as a linebacker. But he needed the help of his high school coach, Eric Royal, to get his name out there.
“We have known Coach Royal at Ferndale High School for a long time,” Wooster said. “When that high school coach says, ‘I’ve got a guy.’ And when you have a relationship and a trust with the high school coach saying, ‘Hey, he came out late. His tape’s not going to be great. But I think this guy can be really, really good.’”
So why didn’t Wyatt play until 12th grade?
“Nothin’ crazy,” he said. “Just doin’ other things. I just came out to practice one day and said ‘I want to play.’”
Now he’s fourth at GVSU with 41 tackles and is tied for first with Anthony Cardamone with 4.5 sacks.
“I was a former walk-on,” Wooster said. “So there’s a place in my heart. We’ve made it a concerted effort to find guys like that in the recruiting process. There’s a hunger, a chip on the shoulder with those guys. A guy that shows up, that listens to his coaches, a guy like him that doesn’t have all the stars and the recruiting accolades and he comes in and has a game like that.”
Cardamone done for the season
GVSU’s defensive leader Anthony Cardamone is done for the season.
He had surgery on an undisclosed injury, Wooster said.
“He had an injury a couple weeks back,” Wooster said. “From a surgery standpoint, timing wise it was important. Phenomenal leader for us. He’s tough.”
Cardamone, a senior out of Utica Eisenhower, leads the team with 52 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
“He was emotional last week coming off the field,” Wooster said. “I don’t have enough words for the amount of respect that I have for Anthony Cardamone.”
Breakout game for GVSU wide receiver
Griffin Shinrock had only caught five passes in his four years at GVSU.
But the senior from St. Joseph had a breakout game on Saturday.
The 6-foot-3 receiver caught three passes for 21 yards including his first career touchdown.
“Griff’s a great player,” Schuster said. “He does his job every time he’s in the game. We saw it a few weeks ago, he had some big-time catches. I thought he had an excellent game today. He’s taking advantage of his opportunities.”
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: GVSU football beats Michigan Tech on homecoming behind defense
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