Being a Bulldog sports fan over the past few years has been nothing short of exciting with championships and accomplishments across the board.
With so many awesome moments over the past year, it’d take a few pages to name them all, so let’s take a look back at five of the best moments that transpired during the 2016-17 athletic season.
We start with the team who is coming off the longest season in the program’s history, Ferris State football. Every Ferris football fan knows that the Bulldogs and the Lakers of Grand Valley State are ensnared in a long-lasting rivalry.
After falling to the Lakers in regular season action in early October last year, the Dawgs were able to get one more shot at their GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) rivals, only this time with higher stakes on the line at the Super Region Four Championship Game at GVSU.
“It was kind of cold that day and it was gloomy, but what made
that day remarkable was taking the field in front of all those amazing Bulldog fans who came out and supported the team the way they did,” said former Bulldog quarterback Trevor Bermingham.
The Bulldogs ended up beating the Lakers 47-32, the first ever NCAA playoff victory on the road in the school’s history.
The second moment comes to us by way of the hockey rink, this time against a different rival in Minnesota State. Ranked second nationally at the time, Minnesota State knocked the Dawgs out of the playoff picture during the 2014-15 season and have consistently beat the Dawgs on their home ice.
Not being able to win through the first eight games of the 2016- 17 season, the Bulldogs were finally able to pick up a huge win over Minnesota State where former forward Gerald Mayhew slid in the game winner with a minute left for his second goal of the game. The victory was the first time that the Bulldogs beat Minnesota State on their turf in all of Mayhew’s Bulldog career.
For the third moment, we make our way over to the hardwood where the women of the Ferris State volleyball program guard their turf. There’s nothing fancy about this moment as we recall when the women blew out the Ashland Eagles in the GLIAC Tournament Championship game 3-0 to win their third consecutive GLIAC Tourney Title.
Freshman outside hitter Allyson Cappel led everyone on the court that day with 17 kills before the Dawgs won the regular season and GLIAC Title for the second straight year.
Staying on the hardwood for our fourth moment, the men’s basketball team won it’s third straight GLIAC Tournament Championship in dramatic fashion.
Down one point with under a minute to go at Wink Arena, junior point guard Drew Cushingberry lobbed it up from half court, connecting with sophomore post Zach Hankins who laid in the alley-oop to secure the win.
Our fifth and final stop on this tour drops us off at the corner of men’s tennis Regular Season Championship and GLIAC Tournament Championship.
For the second year in a row, the men of Ferris State tennis were able to pull off this feat, this time under Interim Head Coach Danny Hunt. As the number one seed in the GLIAC Tournament, the Dawgs took down the Northwood Timberwolves 5-1 to secure their trophy, their second victory of Northwood in 2017.