The Javelina offense was plagued by turnovers Saturday night in a 35-14 loss to Saginaw Valley State at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium.
“The one stat that shows more than the scoreboard was we gave the ball up and we took away zero. We didn’t create any turnovers,” Head Coach Daren Wilkinson said. “Show me when you win football games doing that.”
After a three and out stance from the Javelina defense to open the game, Koy Detmer and company moved the ball into Saginaw territory. The drive was halted at the Saginaw 29-yard line, where freshman kicker Romario Perez failed to split the uprights on fourth down.
The second quarter began with the game’s first turnover. Cardinal David Still intercepted Detmer’s fourth-down pass and returned it to the 24-yard line.
Neither side would see another scoring opportunity until Cardinal kicker Connor Luksic missed wide left on a 28-yard try. Two minutes later, Ryan
Conklin hooked up with Chad Galliad for a 44-yard touchdown strike to break the scoreless tie.
At the 1:24 mark, Still forced a Luis Lopez fumble that set the Cardinal offense up a the TAMUK 30-yard line. Seven seconds later Conklin connected to N. Minney-Gratz for a 30-yard touchdown strike.
In the third quarter, redshirt junior Cade Dyal found receiver Devin Milburn for a 22-yard touchdown to end the Javelina scoring drought.
“I think we were on point with the receivers,” said Dyal. “We had some dropped balls early on that hurt us, but we were connecting on that first drive and it helped a lot,” he continued.
Saginaw answered back swiftly with a 79 -yard strike from Conklin to Casey Williams, increasing their lead to fourteen.
The next Javelina drive would end in the Saginaw red zone. The Cardinals went three and out on their next drive, giving the Javelinas the ball back at midfield. A crucial 71-yard interception return for a touchdown increased the deficit to 28-7 in favor of Saginaw Valley.
Lopez punched into the endzone from one-yard out, cutting the Cardinal lead to two scores. But the Cardinals would go on to cap a 13 play, 66-yard drive with a 13-yard run from Conklin to increase their lead to 21.
Top Javelina performers were Cade Dyal and Devin Milburn.
Dyal finished with 18 completions, 191 yards, and one score through the air. Milburn had 9 receptions for 120 yards and 1 score.
Alec Lewis and Tre’Michael Tutt led the defensive side of the pigskin with 12 and 9 tackles, respectively.
Next week, the Javelinas will face off with former LSC rival Sul Ross State at Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium for Hispanic Heritage Weekend.