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2021 National Runner-Up Team
FERRIS STATE 58, VALDOSTA STATE 17 MCKINNEY ISD STADIUM, MCKINNEY, TEXAS DECEMBER 18, 2021
MCKINNEY, Texas - The top-ranked Ferris State Bulldogs (14-0) overpowered the Valdosta State Blazers (12-2) 58-17 Saturday night — claiming their first NCAA Division II national championship.
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The Bulldogs won with smashmouth football, throwing just seven passes all night. Using their size across the offensive line, the Bulldogs ran the ball on 51 of their 58 plays for 459 yards and five rushing touchdowns in the game. By game’s end, the Bulldogs hit the Blazers for 581 yards, averaging 13.21 yards per play.
In their quest for a fifth national title, the Blazers never looked like the quick-striking, explosive team they’d been most of the season. In fact, the Blazers were held to season-lows in several areas of strength.
VSU posted season-worsts in total yards (268) and rushing yards (110) on Satur-
day.
Defensively, the Blazers missed multiple tackles that led to long touchdown runs and explosive plays by the Bulldogs.
Ferris State senior quarterback Jared Bernhardt owned the night with 148 yards on 14 carries with three rushing touchdowns Saturday.
But it wasn’t just Bernhardt running wild against the Blazers. Running backs Tyler Minor and Jeremy Burrell combined for 228 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Bernhardt, Minor and Burrell gouged the Blazers for runs of 56, 73 and 78 yards respectively. Adding to the onslaught, running back CJ Jefferson had four carries for 32 yards with one run going for 24 yards.
Mylik Mitchell completed 3 of 6 passes for 122 yards punctuated by a 72yard hookup with Xavier Wade in the third quarter and a 47-yard strike to Tyrese Hunt-Thompson with 11 seconds to go before halftime.
At one point late in the first half, the Blazers had a string of nine missed tackles as the Bulldogs turned a 17-13 first-quarter deficit into a 41-17 lead by halftime.
The Blazers, whose previous season-high for rushing yards allowed was 347 against West Florida Nov. 13, had already given 318 by halftime.
Though the Bulldogs led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter, they had run only seven plays to get 194 yards and three touchdowns. More impressively, the output only took 2 minutes and 35 seconds of possession time.
Durham left the game briefly in the first quarter with what appeared to be an ankle injury. However, the injury he suffered was worse than it appeared as Goff revealed that the junior quarterback suffered an AC sprain in his throwing shoulder.
The injury noticeably affected Durham’s ability to throw the ball and the rhythm the Blazers came out with early never returned.
After completing 6 of 13 passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter, Durham hit on just 1 of 8 passes in the second quarter as the Bulldogs began to separate.
With many senior holdovers from their 2018 national championship win over Ferris State playing their final collegiate football games on Saturday, Valdosta State now turns the page to the future.
(Written by Shane Thomas - Valdosta Daily Times)
Individual Statistical Leaders
Rushing: VSU - I. Durham 13-45; J. Thompkins 10-36. FSU - T. Minor 8-125/1TD; J. Bernhardt 14-125/3TD; J. Burrell 4-103/1TD. Passing: VSU - I. Durham 14-32-2, 158yds/2TD. FSU - M. Mitchell 3-6-0, 122yds/1TD Receiving: VSU - T. Roberts 4-22/1TD; B. Saunds 3-64; S. McGill 3-44/1TD. FSU - X. Wade 1-72; T. Hunt-Thompson 1-47/1TD. Defense: VSU - C. Roberts 6Tckls/1TFL/1Sk/1FF/2FR; J. Jackson 7Tckls/ TFL/1FF. FSU - C. Murphy 7Tckls/1Sk/2TFL/6QBH; L. Daly 13Tckls/1FR/1INT.
Team
Valdosta State Ferris State
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
17 0 0 0 17 20 21 17 0 58
VSU
Team Stats First Downs Rushing Attempts Net Rushing Yards Comp. - Att. Passing Yards Total Plays - Yards Sacks By - Yards Interceptions - Yards Fumbles - Lost Penalties - Yards Punts - Average Yards Third Down Conversions Time of Possession
FSU
The Road to McKinney
Second Round - #5 Valdosta State 66, #13 West Georgia 35
A school-record 719 yards of offense and a career day from numerous players helped lead VSU to a 66-35 victory over rival West Georgia in the second round of the playoffs ... Junior quarterback Ivory Durham had a career day, rushing for three scores and throwing for three in the game as VSU posted its fifth game of over 60 points and third time in the playoffs since 2015 ... The Blazers improved to 27-13 all-time in the NCAA postseason and 18-7 all-time in the postseason in Valdosta.
The Blazers started quickly and posted a 41-17 victory over Bowie State to advance to the program’s sixth NCAA National Semifinal ... The Blazers held a 533-221 advantage in total offense, crushing the the nation’s BSU entered the game as the No. 5-ranked total defense in the country, allowing just 234.4 yards per game, while it was fifth nationally in passing yards allowed at 139.2 per game and fifth in scoring defense at 12.7 points allowed per game ... Blazer graduate Brian Saunds had 10 catches for 149 yards and three scores, while junior quarterback Ivory Durham finished with a career-high four touchdown passes in the game, the three to Saunds and a great diving catch for a score from graduate student Lio'undre Gallimore ... Durham finished 22 of 32 passing for 34 yards, four scores and two interceptions.
Semifinals - #5 Valdosta State 34, #9 Colorado School of Mines 31
For the fifth-straight game the Blazers recorded over 500 yards of total offense and held on for a thrilling 34-31 victory to qualify for the program’s sixth NCAA National Championship game since 2002 ... VSU quarterback Ivory Durham ran for a career-high 153 yards, one touchdown rush and tossed three scores in the victory ... Blazer then-head coach Gary Goff became the fourth VSU head coach to lead the team to the national championship game ... VSU became the first Division II school to have four different coaches reach the national championship game in Chris Hatcher, David Dean, Kerwin Bell and Goff.
2021 National Championship Bracket
