In front of the largest championship crowd in McKinney ISD Stadium last Saturday, Ferris State earned the program’s second championship victory after defeating Colorado School of Mines 41-14.

It was the first Division II team to successfully defend their championship rings since Northwest Missouri State completed the feat defeating North Alabama in 2016 and fellow semifinalist Shepherd in 2015.

The Bulldogs began the season as the pre-season number one ranked team and successfully defended their 2021 championship, in which they avenged their 2018 loss to Valdosta State in dominating fashion 58-17.

“Our biggest strength was our defense,” Senior defensive lineman Jordan Jones said. “There was never a game we went into that we weren’t prepared. I have to give credit to our coaches and offensive scout team. They did great all year.”

Ferris State used their stout run defense to hold the Orediggers’ to only four yards rushing, including 10 tackles for loss as well as six sacks and two interceptions on Harlon Hill winning quarterback John
Matocha.

The Bulldogs outgained the Orediggers in total yards 432 to 212, with 218 yards passing and 214 yards rushing. Similar to the 2021 game, Ferris State dominated the first half by a score of 27-0 and were able to carry the lead through the final 30 minutes to hoist the school’s second national championship trophy.

“We felt very confident going into the locker room (at halftime),” Jones said. “Our defense was ‘lights
out,’ and our offense was rolling.”

While the streak of 43 straight regular season wins was snapped against rival Grand Valley State in week six, Ferris State avenged the 22-21 home loss with a 24-21 road win against the Lakers in the Super Regional Championship. They also defeated West Florida in the National semifinal, who knocked them out of a potential National Championship appearance in 2019.

“Revenge is sweet,” Jones said. “I'm proud that we got all three of those games back and I';m glad that
we're back to back national champions.”

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