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.