BLOG 50: Disappointing trip to the Upper Peninsula for Ferris

By Sandy Gholston

With help from his offensive line, Ferris State quarterback Tom Schneider attempts to deliver a pass during Saturday’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game in Houghton at Sherman Field (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

HOUGHTON – No. 25 Ferris had a golden opportunity to crash homecoming festivities at Michigan Technological University, but in the end it simply wasn’t in the cards.

The Bulldogs struggled in all three phases as the Huskies earned their sixth straight series win over Ferris with a 21-7 upset in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest. Tech was coming off a 52-6 road loss to No. 2 Grand Valley State (which will probably jump to No. 1 in both major Division II polls with a Thursday loss suffered by No. 1 Valdosta State, 27-24, to Delta State). The Bulldogs were coming off a thrilling 31-24 come-from-behind home win over Northern Michigan. Ferris, however, quickly realized just how ready the Huskies were to respond during homecoming weekend.

“Michigan Tech played very well and did a good job bouncing back from a tough loss they had last weekend,” said Ferris head coach Jeff Pierce as he exited MTU’s Sherman Field following a brief on-field meeting with his players and coaching staff. “I’m very disappointed we came out and we did not play our ‘A’ game against Michigan Tech.”

Offensively, the Bulldogs mustered just 240 yards of total offense, and a lot of that came late in the game when the Huskies were in firm control. Ferris’ only score was sparked by backup quarterback Kyle Parrish who subbed in late for starter Tom Schneider. Parrish completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Rahseem Jones-Salaam with 34 seconds to go in the game. In all, Ferris passed for just 100 yards – 30 of which came on one play. The running game wasn’t much stronger as Ferris rushed for 140 yards – 79 of which were credited to Schneider who ran hard against the Huskies’ physical defense.

Offensively, Ferris was not able to muster enough consistent drives to keep Tech’s defense on the field. The Huskies dominated time of possession on the strength of three long scoring drives of 9:49, 6:35 and 7:10. In all, MTU possessed the football 37:06 to 22:54 for the Bulldogs. Tech had an 86-yard drive, a 99-yard drive and a 91-yard drive – all for touchdowns.

The loss dips Ferris to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the standings of the GLIAC as the race begins to tighten after the weekend’s results.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com