Before Saturday night’s contest with Northwood University, Wayne State football head coach Paul Winters presented redshirt freshman running back Myren Harris with a task for the game.
“I said, ‘Let’s make some of those one-yard (touchdown runs) 30-yard runs,’ and he looked at me and goes ‘Coach let’s make them 80(yard runs),'” Winters said as he recalled the conversation during the postgame press conference.
While Harris just missed his goal of posting an 80-yard score, he rushed for a school-record 327 yards and scored four touchdowns—all of them over 40 yards—in the Warriors’ 56-21 victory over the Timberwolves at Tom Adams Field on Oct.30.
Harris announced his presence with authority on his first carry of the game, scampering 52 yards to give WSU an early 7-0 lead. On WSU’s next possession, Harris found paydirt again, racing 63 yards to give the Warriors a 14-0 lead. Following a NU touchdown that cut Wayne State’s lead to 14-7, touchdown passes from redshirt junior quarterback Chase Churchill to redshirt senior wide receiver Kam Ford and redshirt sophomore Trevonte Davis extended the home team’s advantage to 28-7.
Following a blocked field goal by redshirt sophomore cornerback Dalen Peeks, Harris made another house call on the next play from scrimmage, rushing 77 yards to extend Wayne State’s lead to 35-7. Harris notched 235 yards in the first half on 11 carries, in addition to the three scores.
In the third quarter, Harris found the end zone yet again, scoring on a 45-yard rush to widen the Warriors’ cushion to 42-14. Harris punctuated his record-setting evening in the final quarter on a six-yard carry to eclipse the school’s single-game rushing record. The mark was previously held by Toney Davis, who rushed for 326 yards against St. Cloud State in the 2011 postseason.
Touchdowns by redshirt senior running backs Nick Isley and Avery Hall capped the scoring and clinched the rout for Wayne State.
After the game, Winters expressed that Harris’ ability to score from long-distance didn’t surprise him.
“I think the speed is underrated,” Winters said. “I don’t know if everybody thought that coming out that he was that fast. But I could see he has very good feet and the ability to change directions very smoothly, and it’s hard to describe but once you see it, you know it.”
Despite the dominant performance, Harris was as fast to compliment WSU’s offensive line in the postgame interview as he was racing past Northwood defenders during the game.
“They had this fight and it was a different look in their eye,” Harris said. “They were more determined this game than any game for some odd reason.”
Harris added that the o-line felt the rushing attack could have a big game this week and he wanted to make that vision happen.
Harris offered more praise upon the group when asked about what he’s seeing when paths to run through open up.
“They taught me their lingo, how to see stuff, how to predict certain stuff, they even told me their calls and stuff,” he said. “So when they say stuff, I know exactly what they’re talking about and where I need to be.”
Winters said he was pleased with the way the team ran the ball and didn’t turn the ball over, an issue in recent WSU losses.
“The fact that we were able to run the football the way we did without turning it over once, that makes you happy because if (you can have success running the ball) you’re going to win football games,” he said.
WSU notched 562 yards of offense and (excluding the end of the half and kneel-downs on the final drive) punted just two times for the game. Redshirt junior quarterback Chase Churchill went 13-14 for 175 yards, passing for two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The win improved WSU’s record to 2-7 (2-3 GLIAC) on the season and mirrored the last time the two teams played in Detroit three years ago, where WSU posted a 30-point win over NU.
Wayne State will conclude its home schedule and honor the 2011 National Champion runner-up squad when they host Grand Valley State University at 1pm.
Across The Lodge 