Cards get revenge against Ferris

September 17, 2007 —

by Doug Julian

Defenders Brad Bush, left, Josh Miller, top, and Jason Kelly combine to knock off Ferris quarterback C.J. Van Wieren's helmet in the third quarter of Saturday's game. The Cards' defense held the Bulldogs to just 13 points in the victory.

by Adam Baudoux

Redshirt freshman Marcus Lancaster makes a touchdown-saving tackle on the Bulldogs' Robert Miller in the second quarter Saturday.

Ferris State was not going to ruin SVSU's season again. The Cardinals' defense made sure of that.

One year after the Bulldogs won on a last-second SVSU fumble, the Cards scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 24-13 Saturday at Wickes Stadium.

"We were waiting a whole year to play this game," said senior quarterback Chris Dougherty.

Dougherty acknowledged that he and the offense owed the victory to the defense. After allowing just a field goal after a Toby Goetz fumble put the Bulldogs on the SVSU 33, the Cards' defense came up with two game-changing interceptions in the fourth quarter to secure a victory the team badly needed.

"We knew we couldn't lose again," senior defensive tackle Josh Miller said. "The GLIAC is very competitive."

A loss would have put the Cards at 1-2 on the season and made reaching the postseason difficult. Instead, Ferris fell to 1-2 and will be on the outside looking in for the playoffs.

"We approached this game like every other, but we knew how bad we wanted this one in the back of our heads," Miller said.

Down for part of the second quarter and all of the third, the Cards went ahead for good, 14-13, early in the fourth on a one-yard run by junior Brandon Emeott.

On their next possession, the Cards drove all the way to the Ferris 18, but instead of giving junior Jeremy Burr his first-ever field goal attempt, coach Randy Awrey elected to go for it on fourth-and-nine.

The Cards failed to convert, though, but the momentum the Bulldogs obtained was quickly nullified, as sophomore linebacker John Jacobs intercepted quarterback C.J. Van Wieren near the line of scrimmage four plays later at the Ferris 41 and returned the ball 27 yards to the 14.

"I was forced back a little bit by the rush," Jacobs said. "I was in the right place at the right time."

One play later, Emeott had his second touchdown of the day, scoring on a run that was also successful on a fourth-down conversion earlier in the quarter.

"They weren't stopping that, so we just kept going back to it," Dougherty said of the play, which lined up Emeott and Goetz in the backfield and had Emeott run off tackle.

The roles reversed from last season, Van Wieren was charged with a comeback this time, but was again intercepted on the fourth play of the drive, this time by junior linebacker Jason Kelly.

Kelly returned the ball 11 yards to the Ferris 48, but the Cards were forced to punt. Sophomore Kurtis Fournier booted the ball to the FSU 10, putting the Bulldogs in an almost insurmountable hole.

Miller then made sure a miracle would not happen for the desperate Bulldogs, sacking Van Wieren on second-and-10 to push Ferris back to their own 3. The Bulldogs punted from the back of their own end zone, and five plays later, Burr was finally given his chance and connected on a 27-yard field goal.

The Bulldogs, using an option-based attack, rushed for 109 yards in the first half, but the Cards, led by Miller, gave up just 57 in the second half.

"They couldn't run up the middle, so we just had to worry about the run outside," Miller said. "We were just faster to get to the pitch."

Miller and Jacobs both said stopping the Bulldogs' attack came down to simple assignment football.

"You have to do your job, or you'll lose," Jacobs said. "They have a lot of tricks."

The Bulldogs gained 299 yards total, but the points on the board were all that Awrey was concerned with. Three times the defense forced field goals, and Jim Yates only converted two of them.

Miller led the Cards with 10 tackles, while linebackers Derek Volmering, Kelly, and Jacobs had nine, nine, and eight tackles, respectively.

When asked about the improved defense, Miller pointed to some personnel adjustments the Cards made after their season-opening loss to Ashland, most notably senior Mark Miller switching from cornerback to free safety.

"We're coming together," said Miller, a captain since his sophomore year who is leading the team with five sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss and is second on the team with 27 tackles. "There's 11 leaders out there, and we are meshing well together."

Awrey pointed to how the team reacted after Emeott fumbled right before crossing the goal line in the second quarter.

"Nobody panicked," he said. "At that point, that's when you know you have a team."

Dougherty was his typical efficient self, going 29-of-46 for 320 yards and a second-quarter touchdown to sophomore Tony Awrey. His big day left him two attempts, 41 completions, and 1,553 yards short of tying the school records in those categories.

While the players were happy they won a game to improve to 2-1, revenge for last year's heartbreaking loss tasted sweet.

"This is what those extra sprints in conditioning is for," Jacobs said. "The guys were ready today, you could see it. We still had that little extra fire in us."