Cardinals Put On Impressive Show Against Eagles
September 28, 2002

Call it the Avis Syndrome, the feeling that you must always try harder when you’re No.2

Grand Valley State is ranked first in the nation, NCAA Division II. The Lakers and their high-octane offense overpower and overshadow everyone. That would account for Saginaw Valley State, another Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team, sometimes being considered an afterthought.

Ashland doesn’t play Grand Valley this year, but on Saturday (Sept. 28) at Community Stadium, the Eagles saw more than enough of Saginaw Valley State. Running back Keath Bartynski rushed for 115 yards on 12 carries with a pair of touchdowns and wide receiver Glenn Martinez caught two passes for 110 yards and a touchdown and Saginaw Valley led from start to finish in polishing off the Eagles, 52-20. The win improved the Cardinals’ record to 4-0, 3-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ashland is 0-5 and 0-4 in the league. This is the first time AU has started the year 0-5 since 1979.

“They’re a very good football team,” said AU head coach Gary Keller. “They’re in the Top 10 and rightly so. They have a lot of weapons. We had our hands full with those people.”

These Cards always seem to be playing with a full deck in hand. Against the Eagles they showed almost perfect balance in compiling 510 yards of total offense – 263 yards on the ground, 247 in the air.

The Cardinals opened the scoring with 6:52 left in the first quarter when Damion Bridges burst into the end zone from three yards out. Only a fumble by Bartynski prevented the Cards from scoring on their first drive. On a second-and-10 play from the SVSU 25, Bartynski bulled through the middle of the line and rambled 73 yards to the AU 2 where he fumbled. AU junior defensive back Jeremy Westbrooks fell on the loose football.

Bartynski’s first TD run, a 1-yard dive, came with 3:33 to go in the first quarter and gave the visitors a 14-3 lead. An Eric Houle field goal two minutes later made it 17-3 and the Cardinals were never in danger after that.

Martinez caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from Mark Radlinski with 13:15 remaining in the third quarter. That pushed the Saginaw advantage to 38-6.

Saginaw Valley used three quarterbacks with equal success. Starter Matt LaFleur, third in the country in pass efficiency, completed seven of 12 passes for 93 yards. Radlinski was on target with two of four throws for 123 yards and a TD and Brad Sundholm was two for two for 31 yards. Keller was particularly impressed with LaFleur.

“We had that guy on the run today,” said Keller, but when we did, he delivered in a positive manner. The guy’s a playmaker.”

In addition to Bartynski, SVSU got 79 yards rushing and a touchdown from Jason Chounard and 72 yards and two scores from Bridges.

As has been the case all year, the Eagles encountered trouble early. AU trailed 17-3 after one quarter and 31-6 at halftime. On the year, AU has been outscored, 72-16 in the first quarter and 118-33 in the first half.

The Eagles did do a better job rushing the football this week. AU had two running backs reach 100 yards on the ground. Senior J.R. McCoy had 119 yards on 34 carries and junior Joe Provenzano came off the bench to gain 101 yards on six attempts. This was McCoy’s second 100-yard day of the season and this was the first time in his collegiate career Provenzano reached the century mark.

But AU struggled to throw the ball. Starting quarterback John Szabo was 12 of 33 for 91 yards with an interception. The interception was returned 85 yards for a touchdown by John DiGiorgio. Since passing for 308 yards on the second week of the season at Edinboro, Szabo has passed for over 100 yards once in three games.

“Their defense hurt us, they put pressure on us from a passing standpoint,” said Keller, who watched Szabo get sacked three times. “John got beat around in there.”

Freshman kicker Austin Wellock was one of the few bright spots for the Eagles. He was called upon twice to kick field goals and was perfect on the day, hitting two, 32-yard field goals.

NOTES FROM THE NEST:

• Junior defensive end Brent Bartlow got his team-leading fifth sack Saturday. Senior free safety Toby Stepsis had a team-high nine tackles (six solo). Ashland fumbled three times and lost two of those.
• Former AU head football coach Dr. Fred Martinelli was honored at halftime for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Martinelli was inducted the second weekend in August. Over 300 former AU football players were at the game on the Second Annual Football Alumni Day.
• The Eagles travel to Wayne State next Saturday for a noon date with the Warriors.