HILLSDALE - The Saginaw Valley State University football team traveled to Hillsdale College Saturday afternoon (11/1) for a GLIAC matchup against the Chargers. Despite a pair of late scoring drives to pull withing a score, the Cardinals ran out of time and fell by a final of 24-17.
Hillsdale got on the board at the 4:24 mark in the first to take a lead on a Bennett Lewis 14 yard TD run. A successful PAT made the score 7-0.
The Chargers tacked-on a 23 yard field goal with 13:18 left in the first half to make the score 10-0.
The home team added another touchdown on a six yard pass play at the 5:14 marker of the second, extending the lead out to 17-0, which is where it would stand heading into halftime.
The first 10 points of the half were scored after Cardinal turnovers, as the Chargers took advantage of an interception and a lost fumble.
Penalties plagued Saginaw Valley in the first half as well, as the Cards committed six infractions totaling 52 yards. The Chargers held a 20:01 to 9:59 advantage in time of possession as well in the opening 30 minutes of action.
David Nay had 54 kickoff return yards on two tries in the first half, including a long of 33. Matt McKoy led the SVSU defense with eight stops while Sloan Klaski added six.
The Cards got a boost at the 5:58 mark in the third quarter, as Noah Sumpter picked-off a Hillsdale pass and returned it 75 yards for a score, cutting the deficit to 17-7 after a Scott Stanford extra point.
After forcing the Chargers to punt, SVSU put together a 13-play, 43 yard drive that resulted in a 26 yard Stanford field goal that made the score 17-10.
Hillsdale answered quickly though, eating up 5:04 of clock and adding another touchdown to push the lead out to 24-10.
After getting some offensive momentum going, Saginaw Valley kept it up and put together another scoring drive that ended with a 13 yard touchdown pass from Tyler Palka to Bryan Fobbs, making the score 24-17 with 3:39 remaining.
Hillsdale took over with 3:35 on the clock after the kickoff and the Cardinals had a pair of timeouts in the hopper with hopes of making a key defensive stand to get the ball back.
The Chargers, however, were able to pick up three first downs and would run out the clock and seal the 24-17 victory.
The Cards finished with 22:50 in the time of possession category compared to 37:10 for Hillsdale.
McKoy finished with a game-high 11 tackles defensively while Bryan Jones added 10 for SVSU. Klaski had nine stops for the defense. The SV defense had a pair of sacks as well, with Joe Craven and Chris Travis each recording one.
Fobbs finished with a touchdown catch, one of his three grabs on the day. Max Corcoran added his first three catches in an SVSU uniform as well, finishing with 35 yards receiving.
Sumpter had three tackles, with two of those for a loss to go along with his huge interception return for the touchdown. He was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for his efforts.
Nay had 87 yards on three kick returns in the contest, averaging 29 yards per return.
Saginaw Valley (2-7, 2-6 GLIAC) continues on the road and travels to face Ohio Dominican University (7-1, 7-1 GLIAC) Saturday (11/8) in the team's final road contest of the season. Kickoff is set for noon at ODU's Panther Field in Columbus, Ohio.
