Grand Valley St. 17, UC Davis 3

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ALLENDALE, Mich. (AP) -- A near-perfect first quarter produced 27 points for Grand Valley State, but it was nearly offset by a turnover-marred second half as the Lakers advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals.

Cullen Finnerty passed for three first-quarter touchdowns, including two to Eric Fowler, as the defending champions beat North Dakota 30-20 in a quarterfinal game Saturday.

Grand Valley State (13-0) will take its 26-game winning streak, the longest in any division, to the national semifinals Dec. 10.

"It wasn't the prettiest game," Grand Valley State coach Chuck Martin said. "But we fumbled four times, gave up an onside kick and win by 10 over North Dakota. That's pretty amazing. But this tells us we can't fumble the ball four times next week."

Brandon Brady's 1-yard run late in the third quarter cut the Lakers' lead to 27-14. Todd Carter kicked a 28-yard field goal early in the fourth to put Grand Valley State up by 16, but the Sioux (11-2) came back with Reed Manke throwing a 17-yard touchdown pass to Weston Dressler, who had set up the drive with a 63-yard punt return.

The 2-point conversion failed, keeping the Lakers ahead by 10. North Dakota recovered an onside kick, but the Sioux turned the ball over on downs with 3:53 to play. Finnerty fumbled two plays later, but Dan Skuta intercepted a pass from Manke with 1:49 left to put the game away.

"North Dakota made the plays to get back into it," Fowler said. "Give them credit. They got the momentum back from us."

Grand Valley State built a 27-0 first-quarter lead to take control early. Finnerty threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Terry Mitchell on the Lakers' third offensive play of the game. On the Lakers' next drive, Finnerty connected with Fowler on a 10-yard play for another touchdown.

Anthony Adams returned a fumble by Manke 28 yards for Grand Valley State's third touchdown. Late in the quarter, Finnerty threw a 4-yard TD pass to Fowler, who finished with 174 yards receiving and became the school's single-season leader in receiving yardage with 1,380, breaking the mark of All-American David Kircus.

"It wasn't the type of game we were looking for in the first quarter," North Dakota coach Dale Lennon said. "Grand Valley did what they like to do in the first quarter. We were fighting back the whole game."

Manke threw a 46-yard pass to Brady Trenbeath early in the second quarter for North Dakota's first touchdown. Manke finished 29-of-51 for 328 passing yards with two interceptions.

Finnerty completed 15 of 29 passes for 248 yards, and Astin Martin had 76 yards rushing for the Lakers.

Dressler led the Sioux with 122 yards receiving, and Ryan Chappell had 70 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Grand Valley has won national titles in 2002, 2003 and 2005. The Lakers' last loss was Nov. 27, 2004, when the Sioux beat them 19-15 in a regional final at North Dakota.

Saturday's game was the fifth all-time meeting between the two Division II powers, including two national title games. North Dakota won in 2001, and Grand Valley prevailed in 2003.