COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University football team traveled to Columbus, Ohio for a matchup against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) South Division opponent Ohio Dominican University on Saturday afternoon (11/8). After carrying a 16-7 lead heading into halftime, the Panthers posted a 22-7 second half advantage and claimed a 38-14 victory over the Cardinals.
ODU took its opening drive down the field and capped it off with a 23 yard Brent Wahle field goal to take a 3-0 lead at the 9:23 mark.
The Panthers struck again at the 11:40 marker of the second quarter as Wahle made good on a 51 yard field goal to extend the home team's lead to 6-0.
The Cardinals answered right back, however, to take the lead. SVSU finished-off an eight play, 67-yard drive with a five yard scoring strike from Tyler Palka to Bryan Fobbs on a fade pattern to the corner of the endzone. The score and a Scott Stanford extra point made the score 7-6 in SVSU's favor.
On the first play of the next Panther drive, ODU ran a reverse pass that beat the SV secondary for a touchdown and a 13-7 ODU lead.
Saginaw Valley would get the ball back on downs with 1:27 left in the first half and drove it inside Panther territory to the 31 yardline.
A fumble, however, would give Ohio Dominican the ball back with 41 ticks left on the clock in the half.
ODU was able to turn it into another field goal attempt, this time a 53 yard try. Wahle once again connected on a long field goal, making the score 16-7, which is where it would stand heading into the half.
The Panthers would score at the 10:49 mark of the third quarter to extend the lead out to 23-7.
Later in the quarter, SV would put together a great drive consisting of 12 plays and traveling 74 yards. The drive finished with another Palka to Fobbs fade score, converting on a fourth and two to cut the deficit to 23-14.
The Panthers added a TD with a two point conversion with 23 seconds left in the third quarter and another score at the 4:43 marker of the fourth quarter. Those points would push the lead to 38-14, which is what the final score would prove to be.
Fobbs had a solid performance in the receiving game, grabbing a season-high 10 catches for 101 yards and two scores. It was his second game of 2014 with a pair of touchdown catches, giving him six total on the season. He was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for his performance.
Palka was 19-of-33 through the air for 214 yards and two TD's while David Nay added 95 yards on four kick returns.
Bryan Jones anchored the SV defense, posting a career-high 14 tackles. Matt McKoy added nine stops while Dwight Trammer chipped-in with eight.
The Cardinals fall to 2-8 overall on the season with a 2-7 record in the GLIAC. Ohio Dominican improves to 8-1 overall and 8-1 in league play.
Saginaw Valley returns home on Saturday (11/15) for the 2014 season finale in the annual Battle of the Valleys against Grand Valley State University. Kickoff for the matchup is set for 1:00 pm at SVSU's Wickes Stadium.