Ferris State opened the third quarter with 21 points in a 48-30 win on a snowy Saturday afternoon to end Texas A&M University-Commerce's football season at 8-4 after the Lions made the program's first trip to the NCAA Playoffs in 20 years.
Turning Point
- Ferris State came out of the locker room with 21 points to start the third quarter highlighted by a Jason Vander Laan rushing touchdown on the first possession of the half and a 51-yard interception return to give the Bulldogs a 34-16 lead.
Highlights
- Harrison Stewart threw for 267 yards and a touchdown after completing 16 of his 38 passes.
- Richard Cooper carried the ball 13 times for 74 yards and a score, while Wofford ran five times for 21 yards.
- Lance Evans caught five passes for 101 yards, while Hayden Marsh hauled in four passes for 89 yards and a score.
- Defensively, Charles Woods led the way with 16 total tackles including four solo stops. Cameron Rogers followed with 10 tackles.
- Toni Pulu had nine stops including two and half tackles for a loss and a half a sack.
- A&M-Commerce suffered four turnovers in the game compared to none for Ferris State. The Lions suffered a pair of fumbles and two interceptions.
Summary
1st Quarter
- Ferris State opened the scoring with an 11-play, 85-yard drive that took off 4:30 off the clock. The drive ended on a Vander Laan 12-yard run. The Bulldogs took possession after halting the Lions on 4th-and-4 from the Ferris State red zone.
2nd Quarter
- The Bulldogs took advantage of the Lions second fumble of the game and marched 92 yards in 17 plays for Vander Laan's second rushing touchdown of the game. A&M-Commerce blocked the PAT try and Dionte Taylor picked up the loose ball and ran down the field for the defense PAT score.
- A&M-Commerce took the ensuing kickoff 75 yards in six plays for a touchdown. Cooper punched it in the end zone from 12 yards out for the score to cut the Ferris State lead down to 13-9 with 8:19 left in the second quarter. Stewart connected with Evans for 42 yards on a 3rd-and-12 and Wofford rushed for 22-yard gain to set up the score.
- On the next Ferris State drive, the Bulldogs had a bad snap on the punt. The Bulldogs' punter kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone. The officials ruled the punter was at the one yard line when he kicked the ball giving the Lions possession at the half yard line. Gabe Rodriguez scored on the third play to give the Lions a 16-13 lead with 4:50 left before the half.
- Ferris State attempted a fake punt on fourth down, but Daniel Roland sniffed out the fake and made the tackle on play two yards shy of the first down. A&M-Commerce could not take advantage of the field position before the half after missing a field goal, but took a 16-13 lead into the half.
3rd Quarter
- Ferris State opened the second half with a 6-play, 33-yard scoring drive capped off by Vander Laan's third rushing touchdown of the game. The Bulldogs took advantage 37 yard kickoff return and a personal foul on the return to start the drive at the Lions 33 yard line.
- The Bulldogs extended the lead out to 27-16 with 6:02 left in the 3rd quarter following Vander Laan's fourth rushing score. Ferris State took advantage of great field position to move 23 yards in four plays for the score.
- Ferris State's Brady Sheldon intercepted a pass and ran 51 yards for the return to extend the Bulldog lead out to 34-16 with 1:58 left in the 3rd quarter.
- The Lions responded with a touchdown before the end of the quarter when Stewart connected with Marsh on a 44-yard pass. The score capped a 4-play, 52-yard scoring drive that took 1:19 to trim the Bulldog deficit down to 34-23.
4th Quarter
- After the Bulldogs stopped the Lions on 4th down, Ferris State scored in two plays after a 48 yard run by Jahaan Brown. Vander Laan punched it across the goal line for his fifth rushing score in the game to give the Bulldogs a 41-23 lead with 5:59 left in the game.
- Wofford answered for the Lion with a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to pull the Lions back within 11 points, 41-30.
- Ferris State sealed the game following after gaining possession when the Lions could not convert on a fouth down. The Bulldogs put the game out of reach when Brown broke free up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown run for the game's final score.
Inside the box score
- With his 21 rush yards, Wofford becomes the second Lion to run for 1,000 yards on the season. The Lions joined nine other teams in the NCAA with two players over 1,000 rushing yards.
- Cooper's 74 yards in the game gave the junior back 1,331 yards on the season for the fourth best single-season mark in program history. He moved ahead of Cary Noiel and his 1,307 yards in 1981 and finished just four yards shy of surpassing Arthur James and his 1,334 yards in 1969.
- Stewart ended the season with 3,173 yards, the second highest single-season mark in program history trailing only Tyrik Rollison's 3,764 yards in 2014. Stewart ends his Lions' career with 5,016 yards through the air and 48 touchdown passes just three shy of the Lions all-time score record. He became the fifth Lion in program history to throw for over 5,000 yards.
- A&M-Commerce comes one win shy of back-to-back nine win seasons. The NCAA Playoff game marked the first time in program history that the Lions ended their season in the postseason in three consecutive seasons.
- The Lions end the season at 8-4 overall. After a 9-3 mark in 2014, the 17 two-season win total is the most in back-to-back seasons since 1990-1991 when the Lions went 10-3 and 8-4-1 for 18 wins.