UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The Cardinal Football team posted a 30-10 Homecoming victory over the Northern Michigan University Wildcats at Wickes Stadium on Saturday (Oct. 13) afternoon. 

SVSU improves to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the GLIAC while the Wildcats fall to 1-6 and 0-5 in league play.

The first score of the contest came when Ryan Conklin found Chad Gailliard up the left sideline behind the defense for a 78-yard touchdown to make the count 7-0. 

That same duo would strike again shortly after when the offense got the ball back on a Michael Alexander interception on NMU's second play on the ensuing drive. On the eighth play of the next drive for SVSU, Conklin found Gailliard from 19 yards out, pushing the SVSU lead to 14-0 after a Connor Luksic PAT. 

Another Cardinal drive resulted in points with 11:41 showing on the clock in the second quarter, with Luksic drilling a 20-yard field goal attempt to cap-off a 10-play drive and make the lead 17-0.

The Wildcats got their first points with 5:37 left in the opening half, as Daniel Riser hit on a 22-yard field goal try to put the score at 17-3, which is where it stood at halftime.

Saginaw Valley capitalized on another long drive in the third quarter, as De'Juan James plunged in from a yard out to finish-off a 12 play, 92-yard drive for the Cards. That made the score 23-3 after a failed extra-point.

The next Cardinal TD came with 12:25 showing in the fourth quarter, as Conklin hit Gailliard with a back shoulder pass in the right side of the endzone, pushing the lead to 30-3. 

NMU got a late score with 4:27 remaining but the game was well out of reach at that point and Saginaw Valley sealed a victory over the Wildcats for the third straight season, 30-10. 

Inside the Boxscore

• Gailliard hauled-in a game-high 10 catches for a season-best 212 yards. His three scores are a career-high and his 212 yards are the most since his career-high of 229 in last year's win at NMU. He was named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
• James had a career-best 119 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown.
• Conklin connected on 15-23 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns.
• Jacob Matus averaged 40.1 yards on six punts, pinning the Wildcats inside the 20 twice.
• Michael Alexander had a game-high 14 tackles defensively with his second interception of the season. 
• Austin Egler matched a career-high with eight tackles, adding his first-career interception and a half sack.
• Dillon Dixon had nine stops while David Still had five with 1.5 sacks. 
• Heath Williams had a half sack and five stops.
• Jacob Dorn had a half sack and added a career-best nine tackles.
• The Cardinals posted four sacks and picked-off three passes in the contest. 

Postgame Interview

Up Next...

SVSU plays host to #3 Ferris State University on Saturday in another home contest that begins at 1:00 p.m. The Bulldogs face #2 Grand Valley State Saturday night. 

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