While you were at home enjoying the holidays and not worrying about schoolwork, Ferris athletics were still traveling and playing their respective games. Here is what you missed over break.
Ferris football defeated Harding for the program’s fourth championship in five seasons.
The Bulldogs once again handily won the NCAA D2 football national championship against the Harding Bison by a score of 42-21 in McKinney, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 20. The Bulldogs came out of the gates quickly in the first quarter, with two four-yard rushing touchdowns from redshirt freshman quarterback Wyatt Bower to make the score 14-0. Bower threw a 23-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Cam Underwood to make the score going into halftime 21-14.
Ferris came out of halftime quickly, with sophomore quarterback Chase Carter on a designed quarterback run for a 64-yard rushing touchdown, but the Bison struck right back on the ensuing kickoff, to make the score 28-21. That was the final points the Bison would score, as the Bulldogs would score twice more to cap off the first 16-0 season in D2 history and the fourth national championship in program history.
Head coach Tony Annese gave his thoughts on the game.
“The Bison are a super program, give credit to coach Simmons and his staff, a very unique style and a very difficult style to play against,” Annese said. “They are a very prideful group of young men; they play the game the right way. I have mad respect for Cole Keylon; you could tell he was playing hurt, that was pretty incredible.”
Volleyball made a run to the D2 NCAA Quarterfinals
After losing to Wayne State in the GLIAC Tournament Championship by a score of 3-1, the Bulldogs were hoping to get a berth to play in the Midwest Region Quarterfinals. The Bulldogs got selected as the three seed, and they took on Quincy in the quarterfinals. Quincy quickly got out to a 2-0 lead on Ferris before Ferris won the next three sets to move on to the semifinals to face off against Rockhurst University.
The Bulldogs handily defeated Rockhurst in the semifinals by a score of 3-0. Sophomore outside hitter Emily May led the team in kills with 13 on 26 total attempts for 13.5 points, while sophomore outside hitter Gabby Piazza had 12 kills on 27 total attempts for 13.5 points.
Ferris moved on to the Midwest Region Championship to play the University of Indianapolis, in which they took down the Greyhounds by a score of 3-1. Piazza led the team in kills with 18 on 47 total attempts for 20 points, while senior outside hitter Emma Bleecher had 12 kills on 27 total attempts for 16 points.
Then Ferris had to take on the 32-0 one-seeded University of Tampa, which saw the Bulldogs come from behind after losing the first two sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-17, before winning the next two sets to take it into a deciding fifth set. Tampa ended up defeating Ferris in the fifth set by a score of 15-11.
Both women’s and men’s basketball went a combined 9-4
Women’s and men’s basketball started off the month with the same opponents, and ended with the same result for both games, with the first game for both teams being against Purdue Northwest, with both teams winning their game, women’s winning 97-43, and men’s winning 73-68.
Both teams then took on Wayne State, with women’s losing by a score of 84-71, and men’s losing 98-77. Women’s then traveled to Hawaii for the HPU Shark Tank, which saw the Bulldogs lose to on Dec. 18 to West Texas A&M by a score of 68-54, but then took down Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 20 65-59. Women’s then went on to win their next two games, the first of which against Roosevelt on Jan. 3 by a score of 78-70 and then Wisconsin Parkside on Jan. 5 by a score of 96-90.
Men’s took on Lewis on Dec. 16, taking them down narrowly by a score of 66-64, before losing three days later to McKendree 75-70. Then on Dec. 30, the Bulldogs dominantly defeated Grace Christian 110-74, before winning against Roosevelt on Jan. 3, 82-68, and Wisconsin Parkside two days later, 74-72.
Over the break, the player who showed out the most for men’s was senior Mykel Bingham, who averaged 15 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and one steal a game in those seven games.
For women’s, the player was senior guard Mia Riley, who over the six games during break averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.1 assists.