September 6, 2025
Ferris State football team rolls to impressive victory with dominating performance at Lake Erie University
The nation's top-ranked Ferris State football team rolled to a 63-6 road victory over Lake Erie University on Saturday at Jack Britt Memorial Stadium in Painesville, Ohio.
The Bulldogs built a 42-6 halftime lead and cruised to the win. Ferris State rolled up 625 yards of offense and limited Lake Erie to only 126 yards.
On the opening drive of the game, Ferris State drove down inside the Storm five-yard line, but Lake Erie capitalized on a fumble for a long scoop and score to grab the early lead. Ferris State did block the extra point.
From there, though, Ferris State took control. The Bulldogs found paydirt midway thru the first quarter on Zak Ahern's 12-yard scoring run to finish a 73-yard march.
Ferris State increased the lead to 14-6 at the end of the opening period when quarterback Wyatt Bower connected with Tae Boyd on a 20-yard throw into the corner of the end zone. The catch finished off a three-play, 37-yard drive on the short field.
The Ferris State lead grew to 21-6 early in the second period when Ahern found the end zone for the second time on a one-yard burst.
The Bulldogs increased the margin to 28-6 as Bower found Carson Gulker on a 63-yard scoring play on the first play of the drive with 12:07 left in the period.
Ferris State took a 42-6 halftime lead with two more scores in the second quarter. The first came on a Bower throw to Boyd for 45 yards with 7:37 left followed by a 28-yard scoring throw from Chase Carter to Dakari Neely with only 3:09 left in the half.
In the second half, the Bulldogs capped a 10-play, 71-yard jaunt with a two-yard touchdown run from Carter to make it 49-6 with 18 seconds left in the third. Carter scored twice more with a one-yard scoring run with 11:04 remaining and a two-yard plunge with 1:57 to go to account for the final margin.
For the day, Bower completed 11-of-20 throws for 220 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 107 yards on 12 carries. Key'Vell Cooper added 101 yards rushing on 10 attempts while Ahern garnered 45 yards and two scoring runs.
"Our offensive line played great today, giving me nice protections and opening holes for us to be able to run the ball," Bower said. "'m still young and still learning. I want to keep taking it game by game and working to get better every day."
In the receiving game, Boyd caught two balls for 65 yards and two scores while Gulker had a single catch for 63 yards and a touchdown. Neely caught two passes for 37 yards and a score. Meanwhile, Carter completed six-of-10 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown while adding three TD runs on eight carries with 41 yards.
"Our guys fought hard all throughout preseason camp and the first game and now obviously in this game too. We just have to continue to work to keep growing," Ferris State head coach Tony Annese said. "It was good to see Carson (Gulker) score a touchdown – probably his first touchdown in a while since he didn't have one last year when he got hurt in the game against Lake Erie. Carson is a weapon, and we can use him in a lot of different ways. We also had good performances from Wyatt (Bower) and Chase (Carter)."
The Bulldog defense forced three turnovers with interceptions from Ahlston Ware and Gyasi Mattison along with a strip-sack in addition to the blocked extra point. FSU also had five sacks.
In the opening half, the Bulldogs rolled up 409 yards of offense and allowed only 27 yards to the Storm, including only five yards on the ground.
"We had a great few weeks of practice, so we felt pretty confident coming into this game," senior defensive tackle Kailib Davis said. "We don't want to get too comfortable because we know we have to get back to work. We have some stuff to clean up looking ahead to Tiffin."
Ferris State improved to 8-0 all-time against the Storm by beating Lake Erie in Painesville in the first matchup at Britt Memorial Stadium since 2015.
Ferris State will be back at home next Saturday, hosting Tiffin University at Top Taggart Field. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and tickets are on sale now.