Wayne State Weekly Game Notes

• SVSU GAME STORYLINES

Wayne State will start 7-2 for the second time in three seasons with a win this Saturday at Saginaw Valley.

WSU (5-2 in GLIAC) is tied with the Chargers for first place in the GLIAC South Division.

WSU is tied with Indianapolis for the second-best defense in the GLIAC (18.4 points per game allowed overall), while the Warrior offense is seventh (27.6 ppg overall).

• HILLSDALE RECAP

WSU recorded a victory over the highest-ranked opponent in school history with a 14-9 triumph over No. 6 Hillsdale.

Wayne State's only previous victory over a top- 10 squad was a 25-14 triumph over ninth-ranked Michigan Tech on Oct. 8, 2005.

The Warriors took the opening kickoff and held the ball for nearly six minutes in churning out an 11-play, 64-yard drive capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mickey Mohner to Austin Hughes. Stefan Terleckyj's PAT kick was good and WSU led 7-0 with 9:20 left in the first quarter.

The Warriors converted their only third down play on the drive as Troy Burrell had an eight-yard reception on a third-and-four. Mohner completed all five pass attempts on the drive for 45 yards.

Hillsdale drove 45 yards in 12 plays using 6:09 of the clock with Colin McGreevy connecting on a 32-yard field goal attempt with 3:17 left in the first stanza.

Following a Warrior turnover in the red zone, the Chargers were stopped on a fourth-and-one at the WSU 31 as Serxho Guraleci and Raleigh Ross teamed up to stop the GLIAC's leading rusher, Joe Glendening, for no gain.

After a streak of three consecutive drives ending in punts, HC's Troy Weatherhead tried a fourth down pass that was incomplete from the WSU 26.

Each team threw an interception on their next drives, with WSU safety Antwon Robinson recording his fourth of the campaign with nine seconds left before intermission.

Going into the wind in the third period, Hillsdale tried another fourth down pass on fourth-and-17 from the WSU 26 but it was also incomplete.

Following a Warrior punt, the Chargers drove inside the WSU five-yard line but Weatherhead's pass on third-and-goal was intercepted by Jeremy Jones, who returned it 100-plus yards to tie the NCAA record.

HC pulled within five points (14-9) on the ensuing drive as Weatherhead completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Matt Terhune completing an eight play, 73-yard drive. The two-point pass attempt was incomplete.

Josh Renel returned the kickoff 41 yards to the WSU 45. The Warriors drove to the Charger two but a fourth-down pass was caught at the one-yard line.

Hillsdale managed just seven yards and was forced to punt. WSU had the ball for the final 5:25 and ran out the clock with a 10-play drive.

• ON THE HEADSET

Wayne State's Paul Winters has a 33-39 record in his seventh year with the Warriors. WSU is 20-10 in its last 30 games. The Warriors are 2-1 away from home this season and 6-4 in the last 10 road contests.

SVSU's Jim Collins has compiled a 19-11 record in three years with the Cardinals along with a 89-88 overall mark in 16 years as a collegiate head coach.

• ALL-TIME SERIES

Wayne State trails 6-26-1 in the all-time series. The Warriors have lost eight straight at SVSU.

• SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY

The Cardinals had a two-game winning streak snapped with last Saturday's 30-24 loss at Ashland.

Ronnie Lark has rushed for 628 yards and five touchdowns. Charles Dowdell had completed 62.5 percent of his passes (95-152) for 1,241 yards and 12 touchdowns before being injured. Jonathon Jennings has passed for 561 yards on 55-of-87 with four touchdowns. Andrew Beaver has a team-best 57 receptions for 635 yards and five touchdowns.

Grant Caserta has a team-high 68 tackles, including two quarterback hurries.

• STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS

Mohner is 9-6 as a starting quarterback and also earned a win in relief last year vs. Findlay.

WSU is tied with Grand Valley for the GLIAC lead with 14 interceptions.

With his 100-yard interception return, Jones moved into sixth place on the WSU all-time interception return yards list at 209. It was the first 100-yard interception return by a WSU player since 1981 (John Kersey vs. SUNY-Buffalo on Oct. 3, 1981) and only the second time in the last 50 years. The first two occurrences came in 1959 (Angelo Nicholas vs. Allegheny; and Don Fears at Thiel).

Sixth-year senior Austin Hughes had his first collegiate touchdown in the win over Hillsdale.

Renel, who led the nation in all-purpose yards per game (193.83), had 216 yards (143 rushing, 33 receiving, 41 kickoff return and -1 punt return).

Raleigh Ross made a game-high 10 tackles in his first career start at middle linebacker.

Troy Burrell moved into eighth place on the WSU all-time receptions list with 85 following his five catches vs. HC. He also reached the 1,200 receiving yard plateau and extended his reception streak to 19 games.

Mickey Mohner has broken into the top 10 WSU single-season marks for completions (118), passing yards (1,411), and touchdown passes (12).

• THIS AND THAT

All Wayne State football games can be heard on WDTK Radio (1400 AM). Fans can also listen to all WSU football games online at wdtkam.com.

• SERIES NOTES

Wayne State has a 6-26-1 all-time mark vs. Saginaw Valley.

WSU is 4-12-1 in games at Wickes Memorial Stadium, including losses in the last
eight games at SVSU.

 The last two meetings has been decided by a combined 14 points.

Wayne State has lost the last 16 meetings on the field.