Photo Credit: Michigan Tech

MARQUETTE, Mich. — Phil Milbrath exploded for 189 yards and four second half touchdowns to lead Michigan Tech to a 47-21 win at Northern Michigan tonight at the Superior Dome. The win, witnessed by 8,672 people at the dome and a national television audience on FSN Detroit and CBS College Sports, was accompanied by the Miner’s Cup, the traveling trophy for the rivalry.

“We’ve been waiting all year to have a chance at getting the trophy back,” said Milbrath. “We executed our offense in the second half, and the offensive line won the war of attrition and opened some big holes. It feels great to get the Cup back in our trophy case.”

Trailing 14-13 at the intermission, Michigan Tech — in the form of Milbrath — scored on each of its first four possessions of the second half. The 5-9, 190-pound Norway, Mich., native found the endzone on runs of 10, eight, 70 and eight yards, respectively. During the 70-yarder, Milbrath put a spin move on the defense at the 50-yard line.

“This was a good, all-around team win,” said head coach Tom Kearly. “You always want to win the rivalry game, and we stepped up our play on both sides of the ball in the second half.”

Quarterback Steve Short and the offense racked up 200 yards and scored on three of four first half drives.

NMU opened scoring at the 4:49 mark of the first quarter. The next play from scrimmage, Short hooked up with Keith White for a 67 yard pass for a TD. Tyler Cattelino knocked through the extra point to tie the game at seven.

Tech forced punts on the Wildcats’ next two possessions, and the visitors from Houghton put points on the board both times in the form of Cattelino field goals — one from 19 yards and another from 24 yards.

Northern Michigan regained the lead with 48 seconds remaining in the half on an 81-yard pass from Ben Hempel to Dan Elmore.

Milbrath tallied the first three touchdowns of the second half to give Tech a 34-14 advantage. NMU scored its only points of the second half with a 26-yard touchdown pass at 13:38 of the fourth quarter. Milbrath scored again to push the margin to 40-21.

Robert Haynes capped the game’s scoring with an 80-yard interception return with 1:29 to play. The pick was Haynes’ fourth of the season in four games.

David Carmody paced the defense with eight tackles. Sean Spellman added seven stops, while Drew Vanderlin tallied four tackles, a sack and a pass deflection.

Michigan Tech will play next at No. 2 Grand Valley State on Sept. 27. It will be the Huskies’ second straight night game.

Notes: The game was the seventh Miner’s Cup game since the inception of the traveling trophy in 2002. The Huskies are 5-2 in the seven Miner’s Cup games ... The game was broadcast live on FSN Detroit and CBS College Sports Network with announcers Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Roland Williams (analyst) ... Senior wide receiver David Peterson caught three passes in the game, two of which were for first downs ... Tech had two, one-play drives — the 67-yard reception by White and the 70-yard run by Milbrath.