HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University football team defeated Michigan Tech 38-21 on the road to end the 2023 regular season on a two-game winning streak. Junior linebacker, Micah Cretsinger recorded his fourth interception return for a touchdown to increase his Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record while also tying the mark in the NCAA Division II football record book (with four others). The last time it was done was in 2011.
Mike O'Horo set a career mark in passing with 300 yards through the air. He was 24-30 passing with two touchdown passes while adding another on the ground in the winning effort. Terrance Brown was two yards short of hitting the 100-rushing yard mark as he averaged 5.8 yards per carry. Derrick Hinton Jr., also fell two yards short of achieving three-straight games with 100+ receiving yards. Hinton Jr. did catch 10 passes and also scored a touchdown on the afternoon.
Defensively, Cretsinger led SVSU with 14 tackles, 4.5 for loss, and a pass breakup. Dante Barthwell recorded an interception as well as two breakups and five stops with 2.5 tackles for loss.
Eric Craft put the Cardinals on the board on the team's opening offensive drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Mike O'Horo that capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:25 off the clock. It was the first opening-drive touchdown by SVSU this season.
Cretsinger doubled the Cardinal lead with his recording-tying pick-six from 41 yards out on the ensuing Huskies' drive with 8:47 left in the opening quarter.
Michigan Tech capitalized off an SVSU fumble to cut the gap by seven after a 12-play drive was ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Alex Fries to Ethan Champney in the opening 61 seconds of the second quarter.
SVSU responded with a 12-play drive of its own that was punctuated by a 24-yard touchdown throw from O'Horo to Hinton Jr., and the Cardinals led 21-7 with 9:04 remaining in the first half.
The Huskies picked off O'Horo on the next SVSU drive and punched the ball into the end zone four plays later to close the margin to 21-14, where the scoreboard would sit as the teams entered the locker room at the halfway mark.
Ryan Heicher made his only field-goal attempt of the game from 34 yards out to push the Cardinal lead to two scores, 24-14. The drive took 13 snaps and clipped 6:58 off the clock in the third stanza.
Neither team scored again until the final 15-minute quarter when O'Horo rushed left for a seven-yard scamper that pushed the advantage to 31-14 with 12:41 left in regulation.
Michigan Tech scored a touchdown to come within two scores of tying the game with just under seven minutes to play (31-21).
Brown added the insurance score with a 20-yard run to complete the scoring and increased the lead to 17 points where it would stay through the final play of the game.
The Cardinals end the 2023 regular season with a 6-5 overall record and an even 3-3 mark in GLIAC play. SVSU was 4-2 at home this year.