Ferris State Wins First Calder City Classic To Secure 2024 GLIAC Championship

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nationally top-ranked Ferris State Bulldogs used a big second half performance and came up with a hard-fought 24-9 win over visiting Davenport in the regular-season finale on Saturday (Nov. 16) at FSU's Top Taggart Field, securing the 2024 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship in the Calder City Classic.

On Senior Day in Big Rapids, the Bulldogs fell behind 9-7 at halftime, but shut out the visiting Panthers in the second half to claim both the Calder City Classic Trophy and the outright league championship, which was FSU's first since 2021.

Ferris State moved to 10-1 overall with its 10th consecutive victory this year and the Bulldogs wrapped up league regular-season play with a perfect 7-0 conference mark.

With the win, Ferris State is expected to receive the program's 10th consecutive NCAA Division II Playoff berth and likely to be the top seed in Super Region Three and receive a first-round bye. The official NCAA D2 Selection Show takes place on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. (ET) at NCAA.com.

In Saturday's final game of the regular-season, Davenport struck first as the Panthers put three points up on the board on Brandon Gielow's 40-yard field goal with 3:17 to go in the first period. It finished a seven-play, 25-yard drive.

The Bulldogs, though, came back to grab their only lead of the opening half with 13:15 to play in the second period. Junior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss found junior receiver Brady Rose on a 20-yard scoring connection to give FSU a 7-3 lead. His score capped a short five-play, 18-yard jaunt for FSU.

Gielow would come back to add two late first-half field goals to trim the margin to 14-9 at the break. The first came from 29-yads away with the second from 33-yards out that finished a 14-play, 78-yard march in the final four minutes of the period.

In the second half, FSU asserted its control at the line of scrimmage and took over the game. The Bulldogs used the opening possession of the second half to engineer a 10-play, 71-yard drive, putting FSU back in front 14-9.

Later, the Bulldogs moved 60 yards in only three plays to take a 21-9 lead with 13:48 remaining in the contest on tailback Kannon Katzer's 42-yard burst up the middle.

Finally, Ferris State added a 22-yard field goal from junior kicker Mitch Middleton with only 4:01 remaining to account for the final margin.

Overall, the Bulldogs held a 362-307 edge in total offense and the Bulldogs finished with 228 rushing yards in the win.

Chambliss competed 13-of-20 throws for 116 yards and a score for the Bulldogs. Katzer ran 10 times for 88 yards while Rose caught four passes for 56 yards. FSU's Emari O'Brien also caught four balls for 30 yards in the win.

Davenport's Mac VandenHout earned the start and completed 19-of-33 throws for 170 yards. Kendall Williams led the Panthers on the ground with 56 yards rushing on nine carries. The Bulldogs did come up with an interception and tallied four sacks in the victory. FSU's Sefa Saipaia led the defense with 13 tackles overall while Jalen Jones had 10 for the Bulldogs.

FSU's win over Davenport was its ninth-straight in the all-times series as DU has never beat the Bulldogs.

Stay tuned to FerrisStateBulldogs.com for additional postseason information as it becomes available.