The #3-ranked Grand Valley State Football team hit the road for the first time this season to Pittsburg, Kansas for the first-ever trip in program history to Carnie Smith Stadium, also known as “The Jungle,” to battle the #16-ranked Pittsburgh State Gorillas in the second all-time meeting and first all-time regular season meeting between the two Division Two Football powers.
The Lakers had to work out of a 10-0 halftime deficit and were able to grab an early fourth quarter lead of 14-10 only to have the Gorillas get the final say with a touchdown drive shortly after relinquishing the lead and holding off GVSU in the end to win by a 17-14 decision and pick up their first victory of the season.
The biggest highlight from the game for the Lakers came from Riley Simpson, who scooped up a goal line fumble and returned it 96 yards for their first touchdown of the game:
RILEY SIMPSON !!!! #AnchorUp | #WAWG pic.twitter.com/b014UqWNZE
— GVSU Football (@gvsufootball) September 13, 2025
The Lakers, now 2-1 on the season, have concluded non-conference play for the 2025 season and will embark on a rare double bye in the schedule while looking ahead to the beginning of GLIAC play on Saturday, October 4th inside Lubbers Stadium for the annual Crosstown Showdown against the Davenport Panthers at 4 pm.
You can tune in to live coverage of the GLIAC opener from Allendale beginning at 2:30 pm on Classic Rock 97 LAV (96.9 FM and wlav.com), The Ticket West Michigan (106.1 FM, 1340 AM, and theticketmi.com), and Classic Hits 98.3 WLCS (98.3 FM and 983wlcs.com).
