INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Saginaw Valley State University football team suffered its second loss of the season in a 29-20 loss to the University of Indianapolis today (Oct. 15) in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match-up.
Indianapolis would take an early 3-0 lead over Saginaw Valley just 3:18 into the first quarter on a Scott Miller field goal. The Cardinals would respond on their opening possesion with a 12 play 58 yard drive to tie the game on a Scott Stanford (Novi, Mich.) 25-yard field goal.
The Greyhounds would go back on top of the Cardinals on a 40-yard Miller field goal, his second of the first quarter. Indianapolis would push their lead to six on a Miller's third field goal of the first half.
The Cardinals would find themselves in a 15-3 hole after Collin Coffer returned a Jonathon Jenning's (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South HS) interception 36 yards for touchdown. Jennings would respond on his next play hitting "Meijer Player of the Game" Nick Gallina (Troy, Mich.) in stride for a 79-yard touchdown to pull the Cardinals within six at 16-10. Gallina would finish with eight catches for 155 yards and a touchdown.
After forcing Indianapolis to punt for the first time in the game midway through the second quarter, Jennings would orchestrate a 14 play 91 yard drive to set up a 20-yard Stanford field goal with :11 left in the first half. Jennings would finish the game 20-of-34 passing for 307 yards and two touchdowns.
With the Greyhounds driving in the third quarter, Safety Jeff Heath (Lake Orion, Mich.) stepped in-front of a Chris Mills pass and returned it to the UIndy 49 yard line. It was the Greyhounds first turnover of the season, as they were the last team in college football that had not turned the ball over this season. For the second time in the game Jennings needed just one play to get the Cardinals into the endzone, this time connecting with Jeff Janis (Tawas City, Mich./Tawas Area HS) on a 49-yard strike to put the Cardinals on-top 20-16. Janis would end the evening with five catches for 80 yards and a score.
Mills would connect with Brenden Williams on an 8-yard touchdown pass to give the Greyhounds a 22-20 lead at 1:18 into the fourth quarter. The Greyhound defense would help extend the lead to 29-20 after Koby Orris returned an interception 45-yards for touchdown with 13:22 left in the game.
With the loss the Cardinals fall to 4-2 overall on the season and 4-2 in the GLIAC, while the Greyhounds improve to 5-2 overall on the season and 4-2 in the GLIAC. SVSU will return to action on Thursday (Oct. 20) when they host Ashland University in the CBS College Sports "Game of the Week" at 8:00 PM.