HOUGHTON, Mich. - Michigan Tech and Saginaw Valley State combined for more than 1,000 yards of total offense, and it took overtime before the visiting Cardinals came away with a 44-41 victory at Sherman Field today.

The game, which featured 15 plays of 25 yards or longer, kept the 3,092 Homecoming fans on the edge of their seats.

Points were put on the board three times in the final two minutes in a frenetic finish. Tech's Garrett Mead drilled a 28-yard field goal with 1:59 showing to tie the score at 38-all.

SVSU started the ensuing drive on its own 20 before hitting a 59-yard pass from Jonathon Jennings to Tim Hogue. Kenny Stiger made a touchdown-saving tackle at the 10-yard line. The Cardinals ran the clock down to 28 seconds before settling for a 20-yard field goal.

Tech, with no timeouts, returned the kickoff to the Huskies' 38. On the next play, Tyler Scarlett found Steve Worthy down the right sideline for a 42-yard gain to the SVSU 20. Scarlett spiked the ball to stop the clock with 11 seconds left, then threw incomplete into the endzone. Mead trotted out for a 37-yard field goal with six ticks left, and SVSU called two consecutive timeouts to ice him. Mead made the field goal just inside the right upright to send the game into overtime.

Saginaw won the coin flip to start overtime and chose to go on defense first. Tech, starting at the Cardinals 25, moved the ball to 18 before Scarlett's pass was intercepted by Grand Caserta, ending the Huskies' possession.

SVSU got the call on a personal foul on a late hit out of bounds during its possession to move the ball inside the 10 before Scott Stanford kicked the game-winning field goal from 23 yards away.

"Give Saginaw credit," said Tech head coach Tom Kearly. "When we rallied in the second half, they battled back. We made one mistake too many. We say that no one play loses a football game, but it was such a close game that you take away one of our mistakes and it might have gone our way."

Tyler Scarlett had a career day completing 27-of-38 passes for 381 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, it would be one of his 11 incompletions that would prove to be the biggest play of the day. Scarlett never seemed to see SVSU linebacker Grant Caserta on his pass headed into the endzone in overtime. Caserta came up with the interception, and the Cardinals kicked the field goal.

Tech compiled 552 yards of total offense and held onto the football for more than 34 of the game's 60 minutes. The Huskies' highly ranked defense gave up 467 yards of offense to the Cardinals including passing plays of 70 and 49 yards in critical situations in the second half.

Cardinals' QB Jennings finished 19-of-27 for 327 yards and four scores. He was sacked just once on the day.

The visitors scored on their opening drive for a 7-0 lead 3:31 into the contest. Tech tailback Akeem Cason was then injured on the Huskies' first offensive play. Paired with Cedrick Barber's absence because of injury, the Black and Gold called on freshman Charlie Leffingwell.

Leffingwell tallied a team-high 63 yards on 13 carries in the game, but fumbled in the second quarter, leading to a SVSU score to go up 21-0.

Tech scored twice on long passes in the second quarter. Scarlett hooked up with tight end Bryan LaChapelle from 30 yards out with 4:03 showing. He then tossed a 33-yard strike to Pat Carroll in the endzone with 14 seconds remaining in the half to pull the hosts within 24-14 at halftime.

Cason returned to the game and scored on a 52-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Scarlett scored on a two-yard run with 8:32 to play. Both touchdowns pulled the Huskies within three points.

Mead was finally able to tie the game with 1:59 to play, then again at the horn to send it to overtime.

"I was proud of our football team for not giving up," said Kearly. "We didn't hang our heads when we were down three scores early."

Michigan Tech fell to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in GLIAC play with the loss. SVSU improved to 4-1 and 4-1 respectively.

The Huskies will remain at home next Saturday (Oct. 15) as another tough opponent rolls into Houghton. Tech hosts Hillsdale with kickoff set for 1 p.m.