FOOTBALL: Northwood Scores 26 Straight; Tops Ferris 33-7

MIDLAND - It was the proverbial tale of two halves for Ferris State University during Saturday's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game at Northwood University's Hantz Stadium.

The lesson for Ferris was a painful one: You have to play four quarters to win against teams in the GLIAC. Unfortunately, Saturday, Ferris had two good ones, but not four. On the other side, the Timberwolves played two solid quarters, in the first half, and two dominant frames in the second half en route to a 33-7 win over the Bulldogs. A much-improved Northwood scored 26 unanswered points in the second half to turn a 7-7 tie into a convincing victory.

With the win, Northwood improves to 5-3 overall and in the GLIAC while the Bulldogs remain winless in the conference at 1-8 overall and 0-8 in the league.

Courtesy of a dominating effort in the second half, on Saturday, the Timberwolves outgained Ferris by 281 yards to 193.

As far as rushing, Northwood had 173 yards on the ground and held the Bulldogs to just 52 (FSU had 141 through the air). Where Ferris was competive in the first half, Northwood looked like a different football team in the final two quarters as it asserted itself on the line of scrimmage and took control of the contest.

For Ferris, Skyler Stoker had 57 rushing yards on 22 carries with the lone FSU touchdown. Quarterback Kyle Parrish completed 16-of-30 passes for 141 yards while Mike Ryan was the leading Ferris receiver with five catches for 41 yards.

Defensively, linebacker Matt Ryan led Ferris with 11 tackles, Jordan Morgan had nine, Jacob Moreno finished with six and five tackles were credited to Santino Favot. Ryan's big second half showed the ability of Northwood to run the ball better and force the linebackers to have to make more tackles (whereas the defensive line was making tackles in the first half).

For Northwood, Anthony Brandon had 54 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown, quarterback Spencer Klukowski had 50 yards on 10 carries, Jimmy Parsons carried the ball eight times for 24 yards and Dmitri Banks had three rushes for 17 yards.

The Bulldogs return to Big Rapids for their home finale as they host Hillsdale in the Hall of Fame/Halloween Parade Game with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.