UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw
Valley State University football team used dominating team play on
both sides of the ball to come away with a 42-14 win over Ashland
University today (Oct. 17) in front of a home crowd of 5,283.
The first quarter would play out to be a back-and-forth battle
between the Cardinals and the Eagles. SVSU quarterback Chuck Dowdell (Ft.
Wayne, Ind. / Indiana State University) would set up a one-yard Xavier Walker
(Bridgewater, N.J. / Moorpark College) touchdown with a 29-yard
scramble on SVSU’s first possession. The Eagles would respond
on a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to knot the score at
7-7.
Ashland would have an opportunity later in the first quarter to
take the lead over the Cardinals as they attempted a 31-yard field
goal, however the attempt sailed wide right of the uprights,
turning the ball over to Saginaw Valley on their own 24-yard line.
Walker would once again find the end zone for SVSU, this time on a
five-yard plunge to temporarily give the Cardinals a 14-7
advantage. Ashland would respond just 30 seconds later to tie the
score 14-14 heading into the second quarter.
Sophomore Brad Crandall
(Kingwood, Texas) found the end zone for first time of the season
from two yards out to give Saginaw Valley the lead for good. The
Cardinal offense would not let up on the pedal, as Brandon Williams
(Flint, Mich. / Kearsley HS) would also pick up his first touchdown
of the season on a one-yard rush to give Saginaw Valley a 28-14
lead heading into the half.
Just minutes into the third quarter, Dowdell would find the hands
of Galen Stone
(Grand Blanc, Mich. / Swartz Creek HS) from 15 yards out to begin
the Cardinal scoring in the second half. Dowdell would finish off
the scoring in the fourth quarter on a four-yard plunge to seal the
Saginaw Valley victory, 42-14. He would finish the day 13-of-19
passing for 206 yards and touchdown and 74 yards rushing on 11
carries and touchdown.
The Cardinal defense was lead by John Jacobs
(Prudenville, Mich. / Midland Dow HS) who picked up 15 tackles. Mike LeVand
(Grandville, Mich.) would add 11 tackles and 1.5 sacks on the
afternoon. Toby
Goetz (Lowell, Mich.) and Matt Peterson
(Midland, Mich. / Bullock Creek HS) both added six tackles on the
day. As a team, Saginaw Valley racked up six sacks and forced two
turnovers.
With the win, Saginaw Valley moves to 6-2 overall on the season
and 5-2 in the GLIAC, while Ashland falls to 4-4 overall on the
season and 4-3 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals return to action when
they travel to Houghton, Mich. to take on Michigan Tech next
Saturday (Oct. 24) for a 1:00 PM kickoff.