MARQUETTE, Mich. -The Saginaw Valley State University football team traveled to Northern Michigan to close out the road portion of their 2010 schedule with a 24-17 overtime win today (Nov. 6)
The Cardinal defense lit the scoreboard first after Ja'Vae Ingraham (Lakeland, Fla./Lake Gibson HS) picked up a fumble and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown to give SVSU an early 7-0 advantage, and that is how the first quarter would end as both defenses dug in.
The Cardinals would find the endzone midway through the second quarter only to see the points come back off after a holding penalty negated the play. SVSU would pad their first half lead on a 32 yard field goal by Thomas Goodroe (Byron, Mich.) to go up 10-0 with just over five minutes left in the first half.
The Cardinals would extend their lead to 17-0 on a 16 yard TD pass from Jonathon Jennings to Meijer "Player of the Game" Andrew Beaver (Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn HS). Beaver would added six catches on the afternoon to etch his name into the single season record books for catches in a season. He now stands at 69 catches on the season with one game left this season.
Northern Michigan would cut into the SVSU lead on a one yard touchdown plunge by Blake Crider with just over four minutes left in the third quarter to make the score 17-7 SVSU. The Wildcats would put another drive together late in the third quarter but a fumble recovery by Wayne Sanders (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) would give the ball back to the Cardinals. Sander would finish the day with 14 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Northern Michigan would cut the score to 17-14 with just over nine minutes to play in the game and tie the game with a field goal with just eight second to go in the contest to force the game into overtime.
The Cardinals would stike first in overtime when Jennings connected with Zachary Cecich (Crown Point, Ind.) on a two yard touchdown pass to go up 24-17 in the first overtime. The Cardinal defense would then step up and stop the Wildcat offense from finding the endzone.
The offense was led by Ronnie Lark (Flint, Mich./Powers HS) who had 82 yards on 27 carries and Jennings who finished the day 16-of-26 passing for 207 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense was led by Jeff Heath (Lake Orion, Mich.) who ended the day with nine tackles and an interception, while Grant Caserta (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa HS) and DeAngelo Parris (Clinton Twp., Mich./Warren De La Salle HS) each added seven.
With the win the Cardinals improve to 4-6 overall on the season and 4-5 in the GLIAC, while Northern Michigan falls to 5-4 overall on the season and 5-3 in the GLIAC. SVSU will close out the 2010 season next weekend (Nov. 13) when they host Grand Valley State University at Noon.