HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The Miner's Cup will remain in Houghton for a third straight year after Michigan Tech amassed 366 yards rushing in a 42-14 victory over Northern Michigan today at Sherman Field. The win was the Huskies fourth consecutive on the season to even their record at 4-4. Lee Marana tallied 213 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and in the process became the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's all-time leading rusher with 4,381 yards.

"It's always big when you win a rivalry game, and it was especially sweet for our seniors in their last home game," said head coach Tom Kearly. "It was a good performance all the way around. Marana had a great game behind an outstanding day by our offensive line, and our defense played well too."

Northern Michigan grabbed a quick, 7-0 lead on the game's first drive as it scored on an 18-yard pass from Buddy Rivera to Fred Wells. It was all Huskies from there, however, as the hosts scored 35 unanswered points.

Marana's tallied his first touchdown on the day with a 24-yard run at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Tech took the lead on a 14-play drive that saw Marvin Atkins score on two-yard rush. On the ensuing NMU drive, the Huskies recovered a fumble and scored again less than six minutes later for a 21-7 advantage heading into the halftime.

Tech was forced to punt on its first possession of the second half, but the defense forced NMU to turn the ball over on downs. Marana then went to work, turning a screen pass into a 41-yard gain and finding the endzone for a third time with a 17-yard rush. A three-and-out by the Wildcats led to eight straight Marana rushes in a 59-yard scoring drive with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

The teams traded scores in the fourth quarter. Tech's came on Ben James' first career touchdown reception -- a 29-yard hookup from quarterback Steve Short.

Northern Michigan was limited to 52 yards rushing, marking the fourth straight opponent the Huskies have held under 100. Tech racked up 489 yards of total offense compared to 230 for the visitors.

Marana accounted for 254 of the team's 489 total yards. Atkins finished with 99 yards rushing. Short completed nine-of-12 passes for 123 yards and rushed for 52 more.

On defense, senior Zach Tatro had a team-high six tackles and a sack. Senior Bryan Klett totaled five tackles including a tackle for loss and a forced fumble.

NMU's defensive effort was led by Travis Holmes' 13 tackles. Joe Dost also had 13 stops.

Rivera, the GLIAC leader in total offense at 266 yards per game, completed 18-of-26 passes for 178 yards. He was held to 159 yards of total offense, though, because of a rushing total of minus 19.

Michigan Tech (4-4, 4-4 GLIAC) will travel to Erie, Pa., next Saturday (Oct. 28) to face Gannon. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

Notes: Tech has won five of the last six meetings with Northern Michigan to close the gap in the all-time series (NMU leads, 39-36-5) . . . Marana's 200-yard game was his first of the season and the eighth of his career. He possesses 4,417 career rushing yards overall (the total of 4,381 is conference games only) and needs 372 more to become the all-time rushing leader at Michigan Tech.