Frankfort, Ky.- The Saginaw Valley State football team suffered a close loss, 21-17, at Kentucky State in Alumni Stadium on Saturday. The Cardinals (2-2) gained 372 yards in the loss and blocked two Thorobred (3-1) field goal attempts.
"Tough fourth quarter loss. We have to find a way to win football games at the end when it matters," said SVSU head football coach Michael Engle. "We didn't do a great job bouncing back from last week to this week, and now we have to do a better job moving forward as we head into a bye week and continue to get better."
SVSU was the first team on the board. The Cardinals forced a three-and-out after a fumble gave Kentucky State the ball at their own five yard line. The ensuing punt put the ball in the hands of Braden Hill (Charlotte, Mich./Charlotte HS), who took it to the house for a 58-yard touchdown. Kentucky State answered on their next drive to tie the game at 7.
The game remained deadlocked at 7-7 through halftime. A big part of that was the SVSU defense blocking KSU field goals on back-to-back drives. Neven Neuman (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS) then forced a fumble that was recovered by Jalen Edwards (Davison, Mich./Davison HS) at the Cardinals' 14 with 1:58 to go in the half. Saginaw Valley missed a field goal as the first half expired.
The Thorobreds scored a touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter to take their first lead of the day, 14-7. Jayden Whitaker (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg HS) connected with Justice Dungey (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Waverly HS) for a 12-yard touchdown to knot the game at 14-14 with 2:45 to play in the third.
"He [Jayden Whitaker] battled. He was doing a good job in terms of execution. He came in and he battled and he gave us everything he had and I am proud of him for that," said Engle.
Tyrese Rawls (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti HS) had a leaping interception in the endzone to force the second Thorobred turnover of the day. Following the INT, SVSU went down the field and capped their drive with a 32-yard field goal from Teagan Lenderink (Rockford, Mich./Brentwood Academy (TN)) to put the Cardinals in front, 17-14, with 9:44 remaining in regulation. Kentucky State scored the final touchdown of the game with 6:24 to go that put them in front for good, 21-17. SVSU got the ball back, but were not able to overcome a 4th-and-16, giving the ball back to the Thorobreds to kneel it out.
Whitaker came in during the second quarter and went 10-of-19 for 114 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Devin Miles (Danville, Ill./Danville HS) had 16 carries for 87 yards to lead a rushing attack that picked up 205 yards on the ground. Jevon Jones (Detroit, Mich./Harper Woods HS) and Edwards co-lead the SVSU defense with seven tackles, both also getting 1.5 TFL.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals are on a bye this week before they will face an undefeated Davenport Panthers squad on homecoming at 2:00 p.m. on October 3 at Harvey Randall Wickes Memorial Stadium.Â
