By Journal Sports Staff

UNIVERSITY CENTER — Ryan Conklin completed three touchdown passes to Chad Gailliard as Saginaw Valley State built an early lead and defeated Northern Michigan University 30-10 in a GLIAC football game played at the Cardinals’ Wickes Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Gailliard caught 10 of Conklin’s 15 completions to account for 212 yards receiving, including two TD passes in the first quarter and another in the fourth.

The Wildcats slipped to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in conference, while SVSU improved to 6-1 and 3-1.

NMU had a good day rushing the ball, accounting for 231 yards in 53 attempts, led by Jake Mayon gaining 118 yards in 26 tries. That compared favorably to SVSU’s 158 yards in 44 attempts.

But the Cardinals more than made up for it with Conklin’s passing game. He was 15 of 23 for 280 yards and no interceptions.

Northern QB Kole Stealy was 9 of 23 for 115 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. Another Wildcats’ QB, Latrell Giles, didn’t attempt a pass but did run nine times for 66 yards.

Conklin hooked up with Gailliard for a 78-yard TD on the second play of an SVSU possession in the middle of the opening quarter.

Stealy was intercepted on the second play of NMU’s ensuing possession near midfield, setting up another Conklin-to-Gailliard TD, this one 19 yards, that made it 14-0 with 2:47 left in the opening period.

The teams traded short field goals in the second quarter, SVSU’s Connor Luksic making a 20-yarder, then NMU’s Daniel Riser getting one from 22 yards to make it 17-3 at halftime.

The Cardinals opened a three-TD lead by taking the second-half kickoff for a 12-play, 92-yard drive that ended in a De’Juan James 1-yard TD run.

The Wildcats got their only touchdown of the afternoon on Gilles’ 2-yard scoring run with 4:27 left.

NMU hosts Lawrence Tech in a nonconference game next week.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.