UNIVERSITY CENTER -- The SVSU Football team moved to 2-0 on the season after claiming a 35-20 victory over Tiffin University on Saturday (Sep. 14) afternoon at Wickes Stadium. The Cardinals got out to a 28-0 lead that carried into halftime and held-off a fourth quarter charge from the Dragons to seal the victory.
After giving the ball back to Tiffin on a fumbled punt return, the Cardinal defense held strong and got the ball back. The offense then promptly drove down the field and scored on a 34 yard Marcus Edmondson run off the option to make the score 7-0 at the 9:36 mark of the first quarter after a good Connor Luksic extra point.
After Tiffin's next possession stalled after a long drive and ended up with them attempting a 22 yard field goal, the try was blocked by Dillon Webb, scooped-up by Justin Whitted and returned 87 yards for the touchdown. Another Luksic PAT pushed the SVSU lead to 14-0 with 2:34 remaining in the opening quarter.
That lead grew to 28-0 in the second quarter and remained there heading into the halftime break. Saginaw Valley went for another two scores, both coming in the final four minutes of the half. Ryan Conklin found wide open receivers, hitting Casey Williams for a 22 yard touchdown strike at the 3:41 marker of the second quarter and Chad Gailliard from 37 yards out as 1:15 remained.
The third quarter went scoreless and SVSU remained ahead by the same 28-0 count as the teams headed to the fourth quarter.
Tiffin scored on its first play of the fourth quarter and made the score 28-6 after a missed point after. The Dragons added another touchdown with 7:31 to play, trimming the deficit evey further at 28-13.
The Cardinals responded with 2:53 to play in the game as Conklin ran it in from a yard out to cap-off a 10 play, 75 yard drive and the score moved to 35-13.
TU scored a third touchdown with just 22 seconds left to make the score 35-20 but the game was well in-hand at that point and SVSU secured the victory in the first home game of the season.
Inside the Boxscore
- SVSU recorded 410 yards of total offense, with 240 of those coming from a strong running attack.
- Nate McCrary toted the ball 14 times for 97 yards on the ground.
- Tommy Scott Jr. added 69 yards on nine carries while Marcus Edmondson had a rushing touchdown from 34 yards out.
- Gailliard had three catches for 68 yards and a score while Williams added four catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.
- David Still had a team-high nine tackles while Donnell Alexander and Whitted each had seven. Alexander had a tackle-for-loss as well.
- Webb was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after blocking a field goal that was returned for a touchdown and posting four tackles. He had 1.5 sacks in the game as well.
- Christian Mallinger picked-off a pass that was deflected by Heath Williams in the game while adding a half sack.
Postgame Interview - Ryan Brady
Postgame Interview - Donnell Alexander, Casey Williams & Ryan Conklin
Up Next...
The Cardinals play host to Michigan Tech on Saturday (Sep. 21) in the 2019 GLIAC opener. The teams will face-off at 1:30 p.m. at Wickes Memorial Stadium. The Huskies are coming off a 24-19 victory at McKendree on Saturday afternoon.
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