Bulldogs Shutout On The Road In Marquette

Marquette, Mich. - An impressive performance on both sides of the ball fueled the Northern Michigan Wildcats to a 34-0 homecoming victory over the Ferris State Bulldogs in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) football action on Saturday (Sept. 26) inside the Superior Dome at Marquette, Mich.

Northern Michigan bolted out to a 13-0 halftime lead and tallied 21 points in the third period to close the door on the Bulldogs before a crowd of 4,271 fans.

The Wildcats opened the scoring at the 2:20 mark of the first quarter on a short one-yard touchdown run by Mark Bossuah to cap an eight-play drive covering 60 yards. 

NMU's Rocky Belmonte added a pair of short field goals in the second quarter over a four and half minute span to make it a 13-0 advantage for the Wildcats at halftime.  The first came from 22 yards away at the 12:42 mark of the second frame and the second came with 8:09 remaining in the half from 20-yards out.

The Bulldogs did not reach NMU territory in the first half and gave up 244 total yards in the initial half while mustering only 92 yards and five first downs of its own.

Northern Michigan took advantage of a long kickoff return to start the second half and built the lead to 20-0 on a seven-yard run from Carter Kopach after a short 29-yard drive.

The NMU lead grew to 27-0 following a 76-yard drive on five plays with Antonio Wallace capping the drive with a one-yard TD run at the 6:04 mark of the third period.  The Wildcats then rounded out the scoring with 1:16 left in the third on Bossuah's 20-yard touchdown run.

NMU rolled up 389 yards of total offense compared to 319 for the Bulldogs and had 21 first downs in the contest.  Bossuah ran for 159 yards on 18 carries and Wallace added 130 yards on 13 attempts.  Kopach threw for 36 yards.

The Bulldogs were limited to only 13 rushing yards on 22 attempts.  Senior quarterback Kyle Parrish threw for 306 yards on 29-of-55 passing with one interception.  Sophomore receiver Mike Ryan tallied six grabs for 91 yards and senior receiver Chris Wilson added five catches for 91 yards.

Both teams turned the ball over three times in the game and FSU was whistled for seven penalties for 56 total yards.

Defensively, senior linebacker Matt Ryan netted nine stops and senior middle linebacker Nick Butler totaled eight tackles for FSU.

Ferris State dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in GLIAC play with the setback while the Wildcats improved to 3-1 both overall and in league action.  The win was the third-straight for the Wildcats this campaign and snapped a five-game Bulldog winning streak in the series.

Ferris State next squares off against the Michigan Tech Huskies in the "Battle At The Ballpark" on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, Mich.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (EDT) on the home of Minor League Baseball's West Michigan Whitecaps.

Tickets for the "Battle At The Ballpark" fundraiser will be available at the ballpark on gameday or can be obtained online by logging onto www.ferrisstatebulldogs.com and visiting the official game website for more information.