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BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The 11th ranked Slippery Rock University football team led for more than three quarters before seeing its lead slip away in the fourth quarter of a 48-38 loss on the road at No. 2 Ferris State Saturday evening in the NCAA Division II Semifinals from Top Taggart Field.
 
Slippery Rock finishes the season with a 12-2 overall record to tie for the second-best season in program history. The Rock were making their sixth straight trip to the NCAA Playoffs and reached the semifinal round of the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2019. Ferris State improves to 13-1 and advances to the National Championship for the third time in the last four seasons.
 
The Rock led 38-27 at halftime and marched down the field inside the 12-yard line on each of their first two possessions of the second half, but threw interceptions in the end zone both times and came away with zero points.
 
Ferris State's impressive offense capitalized with touchdown drives of their own after each of the second half turnovers and the Bulldogs took their first lead of the game 41-38 with 12:26 to play in the fourth quarter.
 
The hosts then got the ball back after SRU turned it over on downs in Ferris territory and they put the game away with a third straight scoring drive, taking a 48-38 lead with 8:00 to play in the game.
 
Slippery Rock represented Super Region One extremely well in a game in which Ferris was heavily favored and many of the Division II experts expected to be a runaway win after Super Region One had not fared well in the semifinals in recent years.
 
The Rock were dominant for stretches in the first half with Brayden Long connecting with Logan Ramper for three touchdown passes in the first 30 minutes, including a 60-yard strike on the first series of the game as The Rock jumped out to an early 7-0 lead.
 
Ferris tied the game with a defensive touchdown after a pass from Long was tipped by an SRU receiver and fell directly to a Ferris defender for an easy pick-six to make it 7-7 early.
 
Slippery Rock scored the next 14 points to open up a 21-7 lead and would lead the rest of the half. The Rock defense got three takeaways in the opening half with two fumbles forced by Eddie Faulkner IV and one interception from Pooh Lawton, which came with less than 10 seconds to play in the half and set up a short field goal from Mason Yohn to send it to the break with SRU leading 38-27.
 
The 38 points marked the first time all season Ferris had allowed more than 24 points in a full game and tied Slippery Rock's season-high for scoring. The Rock defense also limited the high-powered Ferris offense to just 13 points in the half. The Bulldogs got seven points from the defense with a pick six and seven points on special teams with an 87-yard kickoff return touchdown.
 
The second half woes began for SRU on the opening series after The Rock marched down inside the red zone and kicked a field goal to go up 41-27. Ferris took a leaping penalty on the play, which gave SRU a first down. The offense came back out, but Long threw his second interception of the day in the end zone to end the drive with no points.
 
After Ferris scored on the next series to cut it to 38-34, Slippery Rock again marched the length of the field and got down to the Ferris seven-yard line, but Long was again intercepted in the end zone to stall a second straight red zone trip with no points.
 
Ferris scored on its next two series to complete the comeback after outscoring SRU 21-0 in the second half.  
 
The Bulldogs finished the game with a 513-453 advantage in total offense with 221 passing yards and 292 rushing yards. Slippery Rock threw for 398 yards and ran for 55 yards against the No. 7 defense in the nation, but failed to score in the second half.
 
Long completed 27-of-48 passes for 398 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions in his final collegiate game. He finishes his two years as the SRU starter ranked No. 1 in program history in completions (631), No. 2 in yards (7,527) and No. 2 in TD passes (64)
 
Idris Lawrence led the ground game with 19 carries for 71 yards and one touchdown. He closed his career with 4,051 rushing yards at the Division II level.
 
Ramper caught eight passes for a career-high 171 yards and three touchdowns to finish with 487 yards and six touchdowns in the four SRU playoff games this year. Mike Solomon added eight catches for a career-high 130 yards, making Ramper and Solomon the first pair of SRU receivers to top 100 yards in the same game this season. Chris D'Or added six grabs for 69 yards to go along with 10 rushing yards and one TD on the ground.
 
Faulkner forced two fumbles and finished with four tackles. Josh Stokes recovered his nation-leading fourth fumble and returned it 67 yards to set up a touchdown in the first half.  Andrew Vince, Todd Hill, Michael Henwood and Trever Valenti all had six tackles and Vince, Henwod and John Brown each had one tackle for loss.
 
Ferris was led by Harlon Hill finalist QB Trinidad Chambliss with 221 passing yards, one TD and one INT to go along with 124 rushing yards and three TD on the ground. Kannon Katzer also rushed for 165 yards and one score.
 
The Bulldogs will face Valdosta State in the National Championship next Saturday in McKinney, Texas after both hosts emerged with semifinal wins Saturday.
 
GAME NOTES: SRU drops to 0-4 in NCAA semifinal games and 15-12 all-time in NCAA playoff games … the 12-2 record ties for the second-best record in program history … SRU head coach Shawn Lutz closes his ninth year in charge of the program with an 82-21 record … Idris Lawrence entered the game needing 20 yards to reach 4,000 career yards and finished with 71 yards to close his collegiate career with 4,051 rushing yards … Brayden Long closed his career as the all-time SRU record holder in completions (631) and completion percentage (67%) while ranking second at SRU in career passing yards (7,527) and touchdowns (64) … he was just 107 yards shy of the all-time passing yardage record at SRU, despite starting only two seasons … Chris D'Or finished his career with 2,597 rushing yards to rank 12th at SRU and 26 rushing TD to rank ninth … Logan Ramper averaged 121.75 receiving yards per game in the playoffs with 27 catches for 487 yards and six TD over the last four games … Ramper's three TD catches tied the SRU postseason record in a game … Long's 398 passing yards were the third most in a playoff game in program history … Kylon Wilson broke his own single-season record for kickoff return yards and finished the year with 842 yards on kick returns …  Josh Stokes recovered his fourth fumble of the year to lead all players in Division II … Eddie Faulkner IV had two forced fumbles to move up to No. 3 all-time at SRU with seven forced fumbles in his career.
 



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