No. 4 GVSU football stuns No. 1 Ferris State with offensive explosion
ALLENDALE - The biggest rivalry game in Division II football lived up to its billing.
Grand Valley State jumped out to a 35-point lead and held on to beat Ferris State 49-28 on Saturday night in the annual Anchor-Bone Classic in front of 16,577 fans at GVSU.
“Growing up, I’ve always known about the Anchor-Bone Classic,” said GVSU receiver Cody Tierney, who had two touchdown catches. “Having big plays in those moments in this game is just unbelievable. It’s one of those dream-come-true kinda things and it felt amazing.”
No. 4 Grand Valley State improves to 2-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 5-1 overall. No. 1 Ferris State — which has won the past two Division II National Championships — fell to 2-1 in conference and 4-2 overall.
“I got a thousand questions this week about Ferris State’s offense,” first-year GVSU coach Scott Wooster said. “I’m not going to talk badly about that because they are a good offense. But we came into this game No. 3 in the country (in offense) and they came into this game No. 12.”
On the first play of the game, GVSU quarterback Cade Peterson lofted a 36-yard pass to Tierney in the right corner of the end zone.
Everything was going right for GVSU in the first half after that. The Lakers kicked, and recovered, onside kicks when they were leading 21-0. They would score three touchdowns in a span of just one minute and 69 seconds.
Tierney caught his second touchdown of the game at the 13:07 mark of the second quarter. Ferris then got the ball back and promptly thew a pick-six to Anthony Cardamone, who ran it in from 20 yards out.
Mylik Mitchell, who started at quarterback for Ferris State, struggled mightily in the first half and was pulled to start the second quarter. Carson Gulker, a redshirt sophomore from Zeeland West High School, took over and engineered a drive that ended in Ferris State’s first touchdown. Gulker connected with Xavier Wade for a 24-yard score to make it 35-7 GVSU.
“That’s what I love about our team,” Gulker said. “We don’t have any quit in us. Most teams would fold after being down 35-0, but we kept fighting and had a chance to tie it up. So I’m really proud of the effort that we had.”
Things changed quickly for Ferris after Gulker entered the game. He led two touchdown drives, then the Bulldogs recovered a fumble and scored on the very next snap when Deion Small ran the ball in from 37 yards to cut the GVSU lead to 35-21 going into halftime.
But the Grand Valley defense was just too much on Saturday.
Cardamone, a sophomore linebacker from Utica Eisenhower High School, had 11 tackles, three sacks and the pick-six.
“It’s huge,” Cardamone said of the first sack. “It settles us all in. It’s a big momentum swing and we kept rolling off that. Guys were flying around making plays.”
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What was it like getting a pick-six?
“I think it got tipped and I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. “Last week, I kind of like fell down (on a similar play). And I was like ‘screw this, I’m getting into the end zone this time.’”
Avery Moore, GVSU’s backup quarterback, had the game of his life. The junior from New Lothrop, Michigan, had two rushing touchdowns, threw another and finished with a stunning 126 yards on the ground on nine carries.
“It feels great,” Moore said. “The whole week of practice, everyone was locked in.”
Moore threw a 30-yard pass to Kyle Nott with 6:10 to go in the first quarter that Nott caught with one hand in the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
“That’s a play we were working on all week,” said Nott, a junior from Jenison, Michigan. “The safety came down. I knew the ball was going to me. I ran my route. Avery (Moore) threw a good back-shoulder ball and I just went up and got it. I haven’t seen it yet so I don’t know what it looks like, but it felt pretty cool.”
Peterson, the four-year starting quarterback from Maple City Glen Lake, Michigan, was 15 of 25 for 151 yards passing and three touchdowns. Tierney had six catches for a team-high 74 yards. For Ferris State, Mitchell was 17 of 29 for 195 yards, but he threw two interceptions and was sacked six times. Gulker was 10 of 16 for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Tyrsee Hunt-Thompson caught eight passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Gulker again plays a big roll
Gulker said the game was fun, despite the score.
“It’s just like in high school with the Zeeland East vs. Zeeland West game,” he said. “It’s the best game of the year. You look forward to it all season.”
Gulker has been a big part of the Ferris State offense for two seasons, but he played a bigger role Saturday.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound quarterback entered the game when Mitchell struggled. Gulker has been more of a run-first quarterback most of his career, stemming back to playing in the wing-T offense at Zeeland West. But he was more of a pocket-passer on Saturday.
“It was just a gameplan thing,” Gulker said. “They were playing me a little different than they were (Mitchell). They must have seen something. But it is what it is. I think we both played our hearts out.”
Wooster, GVSU’s coach, said the backup quarterbacks at both schools — Gulker and Avery Moore — both played huge roles.
“A lot of credit to Carson Gulker; he went to work this offseason just like Avery Moore did,” Wooster said. “I think there was like a little chip on each guy’s shoulder like ‘we’re just the running quarterback.’”
Wade is a big target for Ferris State
Xavier Wade had a strong game.
The senior from West Ottawa High School caught a 24-yard pass from Gulker for a touchdown with 8:22 left in the first half.
The 6-3 receiver finished with four catches for 95 yards. Wade leads the Bulldogs this season with 564 yards receiving on just 21 catches. That’s an average of 26 yards per catch.
The backup QB contributes
Moore, a 6-2 junior, was hurt after Week 1 and missed two games. He doesn’t usually play much behind Cade Peterson, but when he does come in, it's usually in a spot to run the ball.
“It feels great,” Moore said. “The whole week of practice, everyone was locked in.”
But after he threw a pass to Nott, GVSU kept putting him back in there.
Moore then ran 37 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0. In the fourth quarter, on a third-and-1 situation, everyone in the stadium thought Moore entered the game to dive for the yard. But he took the handoff and danced along the sideline for a stunning 44-yard run to make a one score game a 42-28 lead.
Wooster said he and offensive coordinator Matt Vitzum liked the matchup with Moore against Ferris.
“Matchups,” Wooster said. “He’s got a unique skill set and we utilize it.”
Moore said there’s no rivalry with Peterson.
“We’re both really good friends,” Moore said. “It doesn’t matter to me If I take snaps and it doesn’t matter to him if I take snaps. We all believe in each other.”
In his three-year career, Moore had 508 yards rushing on 86 carries. Passing, he is only 9 of 15 for 124 yards, but he has four touchdowns.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: No. 4 GVSU football stuns No. 1 Ferris State with offensive explosion
