ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Saginaw Valley State football team held off a late Roosevelt comeback for a 44-30 win in a GLIAC road contest on Saturday. The Cardinals (5-5, 3-3 GLIAC) led 31-6 at halftime, but the Lakers (5-5, 1-5 GLIAC) outscored SVSU 24-13 in the second half and cut the lead to a single score twice late in the game.
Matt Vaughn (Stevensville, Mich., Lakeshore HS) had a career day, catching nine passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns. Vaughn is the first Cardinal receiver to record over 200 yards in a game since 2018.
"We put a lot on his plate this week, and he answered the bell. We moved him all around the place and asked a lot of him, and boy did he ever respond," said SVSU head coach
Michael Engle.
Saginaw Valley got things going early with a touchdown on its first drive.
Devin Miles (Danville, Ill. , Danville HS) put the Cardinals inside the Laker 10 with a 43-yard rush before
Connor Wolf (Ada, Mich., Grand Rapids Catholic Central HS) found freshman wideout
Jamison Pelt (Saginaw, Mich., Swan Valley HS) for a nine-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead with less than three minutes off the clock in the first quarter (12:21).
Roosevelt responded on the ensuing drive, going 75 yards on 15 plays and capped things with a five-yard touchdown pass from Tony Chahino to Julius May to bring the Lakers within a point of knotting things up. An offside call on SVSU moved the ball a yard and a half on the extra point try, and Roosevelt opted to go for two but was unsuccessful, keeping the game at 7-6 with 6:36 on the clock in the opening quarter.
Wolf recovered from a sack on 2
nd-and-5 on the next drive to hit Vaughn for his first touchdown of the afternoon, a 68-yard score that extended the lead to 14-6 with just over 60 seconds removed from the clock on the three-play drive.
The next SVSU drive finished the first quarter and ended in the first 90 seconds of the second, stalling at Roosevelt's 19.
Teagen Lenderink (Rockford, Mich., Brentwood Academy TN) made a 36-yard field goal to push the advantage to 17-6.
Wolf found Vaughn again for a 22-yard touchdown pass that finished an eight-play, 72-yard drive and widened the margin to 24-6 with 8:21 left in the first half.
A big defensive stop on a 4
th-and-2 from the SVSU 3-yard line ended the next Roosevelt drive. Laker quarterback Carl Bew was stuffed at the line of scrimmage by the Cardinal defensive front led by
Calvin Watson (Macomb, Mich., Dakota HS) for a turnover on downs.
Obie Sanni (Aurora, Colo., Smoky Hills HS) took control on the drive that followed, rushing for 22 yards on back-to-back carries before adding a third rush of 25 yards to move the ball to Roosevelt's 28-yard line. Wolf then threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Vaughn, the duo's third connection in the first half, and Saginaw Valley took a 31-6 lead.
Sean Hodges (Detroit, Mich., Cass Tech HS) picked off Chahino in the closing minute of the half, giving the Cardinals the ball back with a chance to run a few more plays before the break. Hodges extended his lead in the GLIAC with his fifth interception of the season.
The Lakers adjusted in the third quarter, outscoring SVSU 14-3 to enter the fourth down 34-20.
Lenderink made a 35-yard field goal in the period to put the Cardinals up 34.
Roosevelt cut the lead to seven with a 65-yard touchdown return off a blocked field goal, making it 34-27 with 13:29 left in regulation.
Back-to-back sacks stalled an SVSU drive and forced Lenderink to hit a 40-yard field goal, pushing the lead to 10, 37-27.
A strip sack from
Ty Robertson (Saginaw, Mich., Heritage HS) gave the Cardinals the ball back on the plus side of the field, but the Lakers picked off Wolf on a flea flicker on the next play to get the ball back with 9:26 left to play.
The ball moved into the red zone for Roosevelt, but the drive stalled at the 18, and the Lakers made a 35-yard field goal to make it 37-30 with just under 4:30 on the clock.
The Lakers tried their fourth onside kick of the half, but the Cardinals recovered, giving them a chance to kill the clock. Sanni rushed for 26 yards in three plays to move inside the Roosevelt 30. He rushed for 15 more a few plays later before punching it in from two yards out for the game's final score.
"I thought our guys did a tremendous job traveling and being professional with it. We have to build off the mistakes and learn from that. Then go play another good football game against another good conference opponent [next week]," said Coach Engle.
Wolf had a good game, going 16-of-21 through the air for 291 yards and four touchdown passes. Sanni finished with 18 carries for 131 yards and a score. Miles rushed 10 times for 65 yards.
Vaughn's 213 yards receiving is the most for a Cardinal since 2018. He is the second SVSU receiver to catch three touchdown passes in a game. Pelt finished with three catches for 39 yards and a score.
Junyoung Chung (Berrien Springs, Mich., Berrien Springs HS) led defensively with eight tackles.
Curtis Andrews III (Grand Rapids, Mich., Forest Hills Northern HS) had seven stops, and
Brandon Lewis (Lansing, Mich., Lansing Catholic HS) had six.
Jalen Edwards (Davison, Mich., Davison HS) and Watson totaled five tackles, and Edwards also forced a fumble.
Tommy Offer (Rochester, Mich., Adam HS),
Christian Ellison (Flint, Mich., Carmen Ainsworth HS), and Robertson had a tackle for loss. Hodges had four tackles and three pass breakups, along with an interception.
Lenderink finished with three made field goals (36, 35, and 40 yards), his most this season.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will complete the 2026 regular season next Saturday with a road game in Marquette against Northern Michigan. Kickoff in the finale is set for 1 p.m.
