Siena Heights football looking for first win streak

Kristopher Lodes and Doug Donnelly, The Daily Telegram
·3 min read

It’s time for Siena Heights University to get rolling.

The Saints are coming off a victory on the road last week against Madonna and look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season Saturday when they host Lawrence Tech.

Kickoff is at noon at O’Laughlin Stadium on the SHU campus.

SHU evened its record last week and are 2-1 in the Mideast League of the Mid-States Football Association.

The Saints defense is among the best in the MSFA. Kole Murlin averages 11.7 tackles per game, ranking him top five in the nation. Zach Keyser has made big strides this season playing alongside Murlin. Joseph Wharton, who had three tackles for loss last week, leads the defensive front along with Vincent Walker, who has 14.5 tackles for loss and five sacks.

Hayden Lehmann seems to have settled in as the Saints quarterback. He became the starter in a win over St. Francis and has 615 yards and four touchdown passes on the season. Kaleb Jefferson, who topped 100 yards for the first time this season last week, leads a host of running backs that split carries.

Eric Williams is the team leader in all-purpose yards, with 243 yards receiving and tons of return yardage. He had an 86-yard kickoff return last week against Madonna.

Lawrence Tech (2-4, 2-1) is coming off a 35-14 loss to Indiana Wesleyan last week.

After having a football team in the 1930s and 1940s, the Blue Devils were without a football team until 2018 when the sport was revived at the school. After going 2-3 in that first season and 1-9 in the second, Avante Mitchell took over as head coach. Lawrence Tech went 0-2 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season but were 7-4 last year.

Redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Kulka holds virtually all of the Blue Devils game, season and career passing records. This season is has thrown for 1,715 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Chippewa Valley product will be playing in his 34th career game Saturday.

CJ Davidson is the leading rusher for the Blue Devils with 369 yards on 54 carries. Jaden Rembert and Kendyl Williams are the leading receivers with 32 and 30 catches, respectively. Rembert has 505 yards and one touchdown, while Williams has 442 yards and a team-leading seven scores.

SHU and Lawrence Tech have met two previous times – with the Saints picking up wins of 41-20 and 44-7.

The Lawrence Tech roster includes Tecumseh product Joshua Swallow, a freshman lineman.

After this week, the Saints will face back-to-back nationally ranked opponents in Indiana Wesleyan and Marian, Indiana. The Wesleyan game is the final regular season home game for SHU.

Bulldogs on a bye

Adrian College is on its bye week and sits 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Unbeaten Albion will travel to 6-1 and 2-1 Trine, which is tied with the Bulldogs for third in the league and holds the tiebreaker from the Thunder's win at Docking Stadium two weeks ago.

Unbeaten Alma will put its unblemished mark on the line at Kalamazoo, which sits 3-4 overall and 0-3 in the MIAA after getting dominated by Adrian last week.

Hope is still looking for its first MIAA win of the season at 0-3 and 3-4 overall. It'll host Olivet this week, which stands 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the MIAA.

Adrian has back-to-back big road contests coming up with a noon kick at Albion next week and a 1 p.m. kick at Alma the following week before wrapping up the regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12 against Olivet.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Siena Heights football in search of first win streak against Lawrence Tech