HAYS. Kan. – Fort Hays State’s first playoff appearance in 22 years ended up being a short one as they continue to search for their first playoffs win. No. 10 Ferris State ran 31 more plays and picked up 144 more yards in a 31-21 win over No. 4 Fort Hays State in front of 7,348 at Lewis Field in the second round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The Bulldogs, who advanced to last year’s national semifinals, move on to quarterfinals where they will host Harding (Ark.) in Big Rapids next week. The Tigers see their undefeated season come to an end at 11-1.
FHSU Postgame Press Conference
Ferris State Postgame Press Conference
Game Highlights
The Tigers were held to 83 yards and trailed 10-0 at halftime. Kenneth Iheme’s 66 yard touchdown run on the third play of the third quarter pulled Fort Hays State within 10-7 but the Bulldogs responded, scoring 21 unanswered points to build a 31-7 lead.
The Bulldogs took the wind out of FHSU’s sails with a seven-play 51-yard drive, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Davontae Harrington. Later in the third quarter, Reggie Bell found Malik Taylor for a 19-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-7. Early in the fourth quarter, Brown punched in a 3-yard touchdown.
FHSU put 14 points on the board in the final minute of the game. Iheme broke off an 81-yard touchdown run. The Tigers recovered an onside kick, benefitted from a personal foul, then Monterio Burchfield went to work. He caught passes of 29, 6, and 4 yards to put the Tigers in the endzone again with 10 seconds remaining.
Outside of Iheme’s two big runs that helped him total 162 rushing yards, the Bulldogs handled the Tiger running game. All of Fort Hays State’s other rushers finished with negative yards and FHSU finished with 146 rushing yards overall. Jacob Mezera was 23-of-37 passing for 170 yards and Burchfield made a team-high 10 catches for 92 yards. The final catch for Burchfield pushed him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season, finishing with 1,003 and sixth on the single-season list at FHSU. Iheme finished the season with 1,380 yards on the ground, the fourth-most rushing yards in a season in FHSU history. Mezera finished with 2,824 passing yards for the season, fourth most in a season in FHSU history.
Ferris State used a balanced attack, finishing with 460 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs rushed for 224 yards and passed for 236. 10 different players ran the ball for Ferris State, led by Bell with 70 yards. He threw for 168 yards on a 13-of-23 effort. Walker led the Bulldogs in receiving yards with 119 on three catches. The 460 total yards allowed by FHSU was a season high.
Field position was key in the game as Fort Hays State’s average drive start was its own 16 yard line, while Ferris State’s was its own 36.
The Tigers set a new program record for wins in a season and put together the best season in school history under the 11-week regular season model. The 1917 team is the only FHSU team to go undefeated, but did so with just a seven-game schedule.