Two undefeated powerhouses faced off this past weekend at McKinney ISD Stadium for the Division II Football National Championship as the Valdosta State Blazers came away with their fourth national championship in school history, defeating the Ferris State Bulldogs 49-47 to bring home the title.
The Blazers came into this championship game with one of the nine finalists for the Harlon Hill award in redshirt sophomore quarterback Rogan Wells. Ferris State just so happened to have another finalist as junior quarterback Jayru Campbell took home the Harlon Hill award. This marks the first time in Division ll history that the top two players in the race for the Harlon Hill met in the National Championship game. This was also the first meeting between the two teams in each of their histories.
The game also included Jeremy King, the runner-up for the Gene Upshaw award that honors the most outstanding lineman in Division ll.
An exciting game that was neck-and-neck the entire time, came down to the final drive by Ferris State after holding Valdosta St. to a turnover on downs with a couple minutes to play. The Bulldogs were down eight at the time needing to make their way downfield and into the end zone, and convert on a two point conversion to tie the score. Campbell threw a 35-yard pass to Sy Barnett for his only catch of the night to get Ferris State in the red zone. A couple plays later Campbell got the ball back in the hands of Barnett as he ran it in from 5-yards out to bring the Bulldogs within two, 49-47 with a two point conversion left to decide if the game could be extended into overtime. Head Coach Ted Annese called in a trick play as they handed it off to Barnett as he tossed it off to Javon Shaw who threw a touchdown earlier in the game, but this time it was to no avail as he could not connect with Keondre Craig in the back of the end zone.
This National Championship was one of those that failed to disappoint the entire game. The game changer in the contest came late in the third quarter after each team continued trading scores with each other. With 4:25 left in the third quarter, Valdosta finally caused a stop as Alex Brown stepped in front of Jayru Campbell’s pass to cause the only interception in the game. The bad throw resulted in a touchdown and the first back-to-back touchdown drive with no points accumulated by the opposing team.
“First of all, we want to say Ferris State is an incredible football team,” Valdosta State head coach Kerwin Bell said. “We give them a lot of credit in this game in making this the game it was. They challenged us and were very special tonight. But we responded the way we have all year. When we have been challenged in games, these kids have found a way to respond and play at a different level every time. Tonight, we got behind early but we kept battling back. We have done that all year. Every time we have been down, we would respond. It has been like that all year. You have to give credit to the way we are as a football team. We are talented but I don’t think you win championships without leadership, without character or without unselfishness. This team has that. It has that grit. This is the way we have played all year when we are on the big stage. Rogan was special at quarterback tonight. And I told our defense when we started the playoffs that we got a lot of publicity from our offense but we were only going to win a championship if we played championship-style defense. And our defense made the stop to win us a championship. You have to give those guys a lot of credit. It was a great team win.”
Statistical leaders for Valdosta State, led by runner-up for the Harlon Hill award, Rogan Wells, who had a stellar game with five touchdowns, tying the Division ll National Championship game record for touchdowns. Wells had no interceptions, and went 19-for-31 passing for 349 yards. This total surpasses last year’s National Champion quarterback Luis Perez’s total passing yards (323). Leading in rushing for the Blazers was redshirt freshman Jamar Thompkins with 73-yards and his teammate Lio’undre Gallimore led the team in receiving with 111-yards and two touchdowns.
Quite a bit of history occurred in this year’s title game. Ferris State’s Jevon Shaw’s opening drive 80-yard touchdown pass to Craig is the longest passing play in NCAA Division ll Championship game history. The 52-yard field goal by Ferris State’s Jackson Dieterle is the longest in NCAA Championship game history and 47 points by the Bulldogs is the most by a losing team in a regulation championship game. Valdosta State’s Rogan Wells set the record for touchdowns responsible in the NCAA Division ll Championship game.
Statistical leaders for Ferris State, led by the Harlon Hill winner Campbell with one touchdown, one interception, and went 10-for-18 passing for 99-yards. Campbell also led the team in rushing as he barreled his way to 131-yards with one touchdown and Keondre Craig led the way in receiving with 89-yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulldogs came into the Championship game with a 60-7 record through five seasons under coach Annese. Under his tenure they have obtained three conference championships, three undefeated regular seasons, two regional titles, and reached the National Quarterfinals three times. This year’s conference championship for the Bulldogs was their 10th Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship in program history. Ferris State was also the nation’s only team to reach the Division ll National Quarterfinals each of the past three seasons. This was Ferris State’s first trip to the National Championship game.
The Valdosta State Blazers are the third team from the Gulf South Conference to make the title game in three consecutive years. The Blazers are now 4-1 in National Title games, winning in 2004, 2007, 2012, and now 2018. Their only loss came on their first trip in 2002, winning in four straight appearances since. This game was the first one Valdosta State defeated a GLC team, losing their previous two matchups by a total of 11 points.
The 2018 National Championship game not only had two Harlon Hill award finalists, it featured two of the most dynamic offenses in Division ll. Valdosta came into the game leading the nation in scoring at 52.2 points per game, while Ferris is 15th nationally scoring 38.8 points per game. Both teams ranked in the top 10 in total offense, VSU is 4th with 526 yards per game and FSU at 8th with 494.3 yards per game.