The Ashland University football team won their fourth straight game of the season Saturday against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals, 30-24, on Family Day at Jack Miller Stadium. The Eagles moved to 5-3 overall and 4-3 in the GLIAC while Saginaw Valley fell to 3-5 and 3-4 in the conference.

The Eagles jumped out to an early lead with Taylor Housewright leading the way with his feet. Housewright maneuvered downfield on third-and-13 for 43 yards on the first drive of the game and later capped the drive with a five-yard run to pay dirt. The Eagles found success running the football on the drive, as the seven-play, 60-yard drive consisted of 59 yards rushing.

The Eagles’ defense held the Cardinal offense to a field goal on their first possession of the game, as Tom Goodroe connected from 24 yards with 9:10 remaining in the first quarter.

The Eagles’ special teams unit would live up to their name on this day, as Anthony Capasso and Gregg Berkshire had special games.

“We put our best players on special teams and they take a lot of pride in it,” head coach Lee Owens said. “It seems like once or twice a season we win a tough ball game because of our special teams, and I think this one has to be credited to special teams.”

After the Cardinal field goal, Capasso made three Saginaw defenders miss on the ensuing kickoff, taking it back 82 yards for six, as the Eagles led 14-3. It was the first kickoff return for a score on the season for Ashland, and the first since Carlin Isles returned the opening kickoff against Indianapolis last season with 91 yards in a 19-3 Eagles victory.

“He’s [Capasso] done a better job and we have experimented with him on special teams,” Owens said. “We saw some things in their coverage we thought we could exploit with our return game and Capasso hit it 100 miles an hour, which is something you have to do.”

Berkshire would extend the Eagles’ lead as time expired in the first half on a 34-yard field goal. The Eagles finished the first half with only 166 yards of total offense, but Housewright and D.J. McCoy combined to rush for 119 yards and one touchdown.

The second half scoring began late in the third quarter by the Cardinal defense when Adrian Baker recovered a fumble by Housewright in the end zone. The defensive touchdown brought the Cardinals within seven at 17-10. It was only the second lost fumble for the Eagles on the season.

Berkshire continued his productive day, as he converted on his second 34-yard field goal of the day, doubling the Eagle advantage at 20-10 with 10:31 left in the game. Ronnie Lark answered for the Cardinals with a one-yard touchdown run five minutes later and the Cardinals found themselves down just three.

The Eagles’ offense struggled for much of the day, but Housewright and Co. found success late in the final stanza as Ashland drove 53 yards on five plays and finished the drive with a 14-yard pass and catch from Housewright to Mike Knueven. For Knueven, it was his fourth touchdown reception of the season. Berkshire would tack on an important 40-yard field goal one minute later to give the Eagles a 30-17 lead.

Saginaw made one last-ditch effort, scoring in just 30 seconds on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jonathon Jennings to Jeff Janis, but the Cardinals failed to recover the onside kick and the Eagles prevailed for the third straight time at home.

The Eagles managed just 331 yards of offense and were outgained by 69 yards on the day. Housewright finished the afternoon going 13-for-24 with two total touchdowns, one interception and a lost fumble. McCoy continued to be “Mr. Consistent” for the Eagles as he carried the ball 35 times for 140 yards.

Coach Owens, despite the win, wants to see better production from the offense.

“I was scratching my head all day on offense,” Owens said. “I really felt pretty good going into today thinking we would have our way on offense and Saginaw had great schemes against our run game and took a bunch of stuff away and made it hard for us today.”

As hard as it seemed, the Eagles are one of the hottest teams in the GLIAC and are now just a game behind Hillsdale and Wayne State for the South Division lead. The Eagles take on their in-state rivals, the Findlay Oilers, this Saturday at 12 p.m. in Findlay.