Oct. 16, 2004

Box Score

Grand Valley State turned the ball over four times and failed on a fourth and three from the Saginaw Valley State five yard line in the fourth quarter to help the Cardinals claim a 31-20 victory over Grand Valley State Saturday. The loss snapped the Lakers' 14-game winning streak overall and their 23-game road winning streak.

Grand Valley State's Michael Tennessee fumbled on GVSU's second possession and Saginaw Valley State capitalized by driving 61 yards in 10 plays with Mark Radlinski hitting Devin Robinson with a 19 yard TD pass at the 6:23 mark of the first quarter. Saginaw Valley State intercepted a Cullen Finnerty pass and returned it 17 yards to the GVSU 32 on the Lakers' next possession. SVSU scored two plays later as Radlinski hit Stan Spencer with a 22 yard TD pass to put the Cardinals up 14-0. Finnerty threw his second interception in as many plays as Delando Brando recorded his second pick and returned it 16 yards to the GVSU 31. However, Marvis Bryant picked off a Radlinski pass and returned it 45 yards to the Laker 49 to thwart the Cardinal drive.

SVSU had a miscue of their own when a fourth down snap from center sailed over the head of punter Dustin Esslin. However, SVSU held and forced GVSU's Scott Greene to kick a 31 yard field goal.

"Obviously you can't turn the ball over as many times as we did (4) against a very good Saginaw Valley State team," said first-year head coach Chuck Martin. "We gave Mark Radlinski and the Saginaw Valley State offense the ball in the plus side of the field and gave them opportunites to build momentum," added Martin.

SVSU mounted an eight-play, 57-yard drive that culminated with a 8 yard TD pass from Radlinski to Robinson to give the Cardinals a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter. After SVSU was penalized for excessive celebration after the TD, Derrick Phillips returned the kickoff 35 yards to the SVSU 40. Finnerty hit Jeremy Cochrane with 21-yard pass and then found Langston with a 19 yard TD pass and Greene added the PAT to pull the Lakers within 11 (21-10). The Lakers forced an SVSU punt and drove 40 yards in five plays before Greene nailed a 31 yard field goal with no time remaining in the first half . The drive was highlighted by a 28 yard Finnerty to Mark Catlin pass one play before the field goal.

SVSU took a 28-13 lead midway through the third quarter as Radlinski scored on a five yard run. Radlinski's TD run culminated a 69-yard, 9-play drive. GVSU answererd with a two-play, 66-yard drive that ended with a 19 yard TD pass from Finnerty to Demonte Collins. Finnerty hit Catlin with a 55 yard pass play to open the drive.

GVSU was stopped at the SVSU five on a fourth and three play with 12:29 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Cardinals then drove 71 yards to the Laker 24 before DeJuane Boone forced a Logan Barnhart fumble that Anthony Adams recovered at 8:08 mark of the fourth quarter. GVSU turned the ball back over to the Cardinals as Finnerty fumbled on the fourth play. SVSU scored its final points of the game with a Bobby Belmonte 32 yard field goal.

"We competed for 60 minutes, but we just dug ourselves a hole that we were unable to get out of," said Martin. "We have to regroup and get ready for another tough team in Northwood next Saturday."

Finnerty completed just 13-of-26 passes for 230 yards and two TDs, while throwing two interceptions. Finnerty was the Lakers' leading rusher with 79 yards on 15 carries. Demonte Collins caught five passes for 58 yards and a TD, while Jeremy Cochrane hauled in three catches for 56 yards.

Saginaw Valley State outgained GVSU by a 395-373 margin and ran 87 plays compared to GVSU's 57 offensive plays. The Laker defense performed well, despite being on the field for nearly nine minutes longer than the SVSU defense. All American defensive tackle Keyonta Marshall tallied 12 tackles, including six tackles for loss (-17) and a forced fumble. Joe Ballard led the defense with 14 tackles, while DeJuane Boone added 13 stops and Rory Steinbech 11.