UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University football team kicked off the 2023 season with a Thursday night kickoff against Winona State inside Wickes Stadium. The game was the Annual Red Feather Classic and the Cardinals pulled out a 34-24 win in the matchup.
Terrance Brown had himself a game with 168 rushing yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns to lead SVSU to the win. Jairus Grissom registered 98 rushing yards with eight carries while Mike O'Horo finished with 83 yards on the ground. Derrick Hinton Jr. led the receivers with a 36-yard reception. Ryan Heicher was a perfect 2-2 in field goals with a long of 39 yards.
Alfred Daily Jr. led the defensive with 10 tackles while also forcing a fumble. Micah Cretsinger totaled nine tackles while Harold Irby III had eight stops. Mike Woolridge was all over the field with three tackles and two pass breakups, one of which led to an interception early in the contest.
SVSU took a 3-0 lead with a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter that capped a nine-play, 77-yard drive. A 25-yard rush from Brown and another from Grissom of 21 yards helped get the Cardinals in position to take the lead.
After forcing a three-and-out on the Warriors' next drive, Brown sprinted to a 67-yard touchdown score to extend the lead to 10-0 late in the opening quarter.
A tipped pass at the line of scrimmage by Woolridge led to an interception by Myles Gresham and SVSU turned that into an eight-yard touchdown run from Brown for a 17-0 lead.
A 38-yard field goal from Heicher pushed the lead to 20-0. The next drive from the Cardinals resulted in a 24-yard touchdown as SVSU built a 27-point lead.
A roughing the passer penalty extended Winona State's next drive and allowed them to score with one tick on the clock before halftime as the score sat at 27-7 at the break.
An interception ended the Cardinal's opening drive of the second half and gave the Warriors a short field to capitalize on and cut the lead to 27-14.
O'Horo responded with a 47-yard run up the middle for a touchdown and pushed the lead back to 20 with just over 10 minutes left in the third.
A field goal halved the SVSU lead at the end of the third quarter before the final touchdown in the fourth put Winona State down 10 points with 13 minutes left in regulation.
The Cardinals registered three long drives to cut time off the clock while also halting the Warriors' efforts to cut the lead further.
Winona State got one final chance to cut the lead to a single score, but an interception by Jasper Beeler sealed the victory for SVSU in the final minute.
The Cardinals remain at home for a showdown with rival Northwood in The Axe Bowl next Saturday, September 9. The game will kick off at 6:00 p.m.