UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State
University football team recorded their first victory of the 2010
season, defeating Lake Erie College 49-17, in a Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) match-up today (Sept.
18).
The Cardinals jumped out to an early advantage in the first
quarter as Meijer "Player of the Game", quarterback
Chuck Dowdell
(Ft. Wayne, Ind. / Northrop HS) found junior wide receiver
Nick Gallina
(Troy, Mich. / Troy HS) from 22-yards out. Less than five
minutes later, Dowdell would find paydirt again, this time on a
three-yard rush into the endzone with 5:14 remaining in the first
quarter to put Saginaw Valley up, 14-0.
The Cardinal offense continued to be aggressive in the second
quarter, scoring their third touchdown on a 27-yard reception by
redshirt freshman Michael
Albrecht (Midland, Mich. / Midland HS) from Dowdell.
Senior defensive end Joshua Fulton
(Mishawaka, Ind. / Mishawaka HS) would recover a fumble on Lake
Erie's first play of their ensuing drive to put the Saginaw Valley
offense in scoring position once again. With 11:44 remaining
in the first half, running back Ronnie Lark (Flint,
Mich. / Powers Catholic HS) increased the Cardinal lead to 28-0 on
a 10-yard rush. Later in the quarter a successful field goal
attempt would put Lake Erie on the board as the first-half game
clock expired.
Saginaw Valley came out in the second half aggressive as running
back Jay
Hayes (Goodell, Mich. / Memphis HS) returned the opening
kickoff 46 yards to help set Dowdell's 33-yard pass completion to
sophomore wide receiver Jason Fleet (Dewitt,
Mich. / Dewitt HS) to give the Cardinals a 35-3
advantage.
Saginaw Valley would find the endzone yet again on a 31-yard
Dowdell pass into the hands of senior wide receiver Andrew Beaver
(Dearborn Heights, Mich. / Dearborn HS). Beaver ended the
game with four receptions for 72 yards. The Storm would
respond with their first touchdown of the contest, a 15-yard rush
into the endzone.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter,
Albrecht scored his second touchdown of the game on a 22-yard pass
from freshman quarterback Jonathan
Jennings (Columbus, Ohio / Wasterville South HS). Lake
Erie would add their second touchdown in the beginning of the
fourth quarter, however struggled against the Saginaw Valley
defense as the Cardinals continued onto victory, 49-17.
The Cardinal offense was led by Dowdell who finished the game
with five touchdowns, four through the air on 14-of-22 passing for
232 yards and one on the ground. He finished the day with 64
rushing yards on nine carries. Lark would add 34 yards on 10
carries and a touchdown, while Albrecht added two catches for 49
yards and two touchdowns.
Defensive lineman,
Ryan Busch (Holton,
Mich. / Holton HS) and linebacker
Josh Fallon
(Saginaw, Mich. / Nouvel Catholic Central HS) led the way for the
Saginaw Valley defense, both posting seven tackles, as Busch added
one sack. Senior
Rick Evans
(Jacksonville, Fla. / Sandalwood HS) added six tackles, two
interceptions and a pass break-up on the afternoon to lead the
Cardinals secondary.
At halftime of Saturday's game, Saginaw Valley honored it's
2010 inagural class of the Cardinal Athletic Hall of Fame.
With the win, the Cardinals move to 1-2 overall on the season
and 1-1 in the GLIAC while Lake Erie falls to 0-3 overall on the
season and 0-2 in the GLIAC. Saginaw Valley will return to
action next Saturday (Sept. 25) as they travel to Midland, Mich. to
take on GLIAC-foe Northwood University in the Axe Bowl.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
