October 24th, 2026 8:00pm
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State football team defeated No. 16 Grand Valley State 27-20 in the Battle of the Valleys on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (4-4, 2-2 GLIAC) got out in front 21-0 in the first half, and fought off a late push by the Lakers (5-3, 1-3 GLIAC) to hold on for the win.
It is the first time SVSU has won consecutive games against GVSU since 1985, when the Cardinals won three straight from 1983-85 (members of the 1983 and 1984 Cardinal football teams were in attendance for Hall of Fame weekend).
"What an unbelievable game. To be able to get this win in front of two Hall of Fame football teams who were inducted last night was really cool for myself, for our guys, and our team," said head coach Michael Engle.
Saginaw Valley wasted no time getting on Grand Valley as Jaquan Howard (Chicago, Ill., Bolingbrook HS) took the opening kickoff 57 yards down the field to give the Cardinal offense the ball on the GVSU 43 to start the game.
Connor Wolf (Ada, Mich., Grand Rapids Catholic Central HS) paid it off six plays later when he found Braden Hill (Charlotte, Mich., Charlotte HS) for a 13-yard touchdown pass to put SVSU up 7-0.
The Cardinal defense responded by forcing a punt on the first Lakers drive and a fumble on the next, giving the SVSU offense the ball in the red zone.
Wolf found Hill again, hitting the team leader in touchdowns with a 19-yard strike on the first play of the drive to extend the lead to 14-0 with 4:25 left in the opening quarter.
After another Lakers punt, Wolf's pass was picked off at the SVSU 18-yard line to set GVSU up with an opportunity to trim the lead, but Sean Hodges (Detroit, Mich., Cass Tech HS) and Curtis Andrews III (Grand Rapids, Mich., Forest Hills Northern HS) dropped Bryce Hurley for a six-yard loss on the final play of the quarter to back the Lakers up to the 24, before Andrews intercepted Andrew Schuster's pass on the very first play of the second quarter.
Wolf hit JT Webber (Grand Blanc, Mich., Grand Blanc HS) four plays later for a 48-yard touchdown, widening the margin to 21-0 with 13:44 left in the first half.
The Cardinal defense was backed up to its own one-yard line, but three stops forced the Lakers to kick a 19-yard field goal that only trimmed three points from the deficit.
SVSU's offense responded by moving the ball down to the Lakers' eight-yard line, but the drive stalled and forced a 25-yard field goal attempt, which was missed to keep the score at 21-3 with 3:02 on the clock.