Posted: Sep 13, 2025
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. — The Saginaw Valley State University football team fell 38-14 to Northwood in the 50th Axe Bowl game between the two rivals. The Cardinals (1-2) outscored the Timberwolves (2-0) 14-10 in the second half, but couldn't rally back from a 35-point deficit.
Quarterback Mason McKenzie (Caledonia, Mich. / Caldonia HS) was forced to use his legs due to the Northwood pass rush to lead SVSU with 14 carries for 61 yards. The sophomore from Caledonia, Michigan, finished with 13-of-26 passing for 131 yards and a touchdown. He slides into the Cardinals' top-10 all-time passers with 2,748 career passing yards, ranking ninth. He also ranks 10th with 209 completions and eighth in pass completion percentage with 57.6 percent.
The Timberwolves hopped out to a 7-0 lead with a six-yard touchdown pass that completed a five-play, 70-yard drive that began with an interception.
Northwood forced a three-and-out and started its second drive in plus territory at the SVSU 40-yard line and extended the lead to 14-0 with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 6:07 left in the opening quarter.
The Cardinals' next drive crossed midfield, but a holding penalty stalled the drive and forced SVSU to punt in the closing two minutes of the first quarter.
The Timberwolves drove the ball 94 yards downfield in 11 plays and scored a third time to widen the gap to 21 points with a two-yard rush with 11:39 left in the first half.
A second takeaway by Northwood gave the visitors the ball just shy of midfield, and eight plays later, the score sat at 28-0 in favor of the Timberwolves.
The lead was pushed to 35 when NU scored on the opening drive of the second half.
The Cardinals responded with a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive to cut the lead to 35-7 with 7:43 remaining in the third. Michael Jamerson III (Flint, Mich. / Davison HS) had gains of seven and 12 on back-to-back rushes that put the ball into Northwood territory. Meijer Player of the Game Terrence Brown Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King HS) added a 23-yard run to put SVSU on the 25-yard line. McKenzie ran for 23 yards to set up Nicholas Patterson (Mooresville, Ind. / Mooresville HS) with his first touchdown of 2025, a two-yard run that put Saginaw Valley on the board.
Northwood scored its final points with 2:38 left in the third quarter on a 50-yard field goal that ended an 11-play drive.
McKenzie found Brown Jr. with a 15-yard touchdown pass for a score with 8:37 remaining in regulation to put things at 38-14.
Saginaw Valley State would get the ball a final time with 6:56 left in the game, but the drive stalled at the NU 43, and the Timberwolves were able to kill the clock.
Jamerson III averaged six yards per carry in the game after eight carries for 48 yards. Braden Hill (Charlotte, Mich. / Charlotte HS) had 34 yards with two catches to lead the Cardinal receiving corps in yards. Brown Jr. totaled 28 yards on three catches and one touchdown.
Junyoung Chung (Berrien Springs, Mich. / Berrien Springs HS) and Christian Boivin (Traverse City, Mich. / Traverse City West HS) led the defense with eight tackles. Boivin had three solo stops and a quarterback hurry, while Chung had two solo tackles. Jamil Thomas (Ypsilanti, Mich. / Huron HS) totaled seven tackles, five solo, on the evening. Allon Hill (Cincinnati, Ohio / Roger Bacon HS) led with two tackles for loss and had six tackles. Adom LeDuc (Utica, Mich. / Utica Stevenson HS) and Mason Nickel (Midland, Mich. / Dow HS) each tallied five stops.
Jaquan Howard (Chicago, Ill. / Bolingbrook HS) returned four kickoffs for 82 yards (20.5 avg.) to move into fourth all-time in return yards with 827.
The Cardinals will hit the road for the first time this season next week with a trip to Connecticut to play New Haven on Saturday, September 20, at 1:00 p.m. ET. It is the only trip outside of the state of Michigan for SVSU this season.
