COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three turnovers proved costly as Ohio Dominican's football team suffered a 34-19 setback to No. 11 Ferris State in GLIAC play Saturday afternoon at Panther Stadium.

ODU (6-1, 6-1 GLIAC), ranked No. 7 in the poll, saw its 21-game regular season win streak come to a close. It was the first loss in the regular season for the Panthers since October, 2012. Ferris State improved to 7-0 (6-0 GLIAC) with the win.

The Bulldogs scored 20 unanswered points to take control of the game. Ohio Dominican had the ball late in the second quarter, trailing 14-13, but an interception at the FSU 30 with 56 seconds left gave the ball back to Ferris.

The Bulldogs then went 70 yards in eight plays to score a touchdown with five seconds left and take a 21-13 lead into the half.

ODU moved into Ferris territory on its first drive of the second half, but another interception at the Bulldog 15 stopped that drive and led to an FSU field goal.

The Panthers then were forced to punt, and eight plays later Ferris tacked on another touchdown to go in front 31-13 with 2:41 to play in the third quarter.

Ferris hit a field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 34-13, and the Panthers got on the board in the game's final seconds on an eight yard touchdown pass from freshman Grant Russell (Newark, Ohio) to senior Nick McKnight (Middletown, Ohio).

The Bulldogs outgained ODU 459-376 and ran for 251 yards, compared to 123 on the ground for ODU.

Freshman Aaron Everson (Bartlett, Ill.) ran for 84 yards and junior Dez Stewart (Cincinnati, Ohio) had eight catches for 90 yards and a touchdown. McKnight caught five passes for 56 yards and a score.

After Ferris fumbled the opening kickoff, junior Brent Wahle (Pataskala, Ohio) hit on a 37 yard field goal give the Panthers a quick lead.

Ferris scored a touchdown on its first drive of the game, but the Panthers responded, moving 59 yards in 10 plays to go in front 10-7. Stewart caught a shovel pass and eluded the Bulldog defense for an 11 yard score to cap that drive.

The Bulldogs needed just five plays to answer themselves, scoring on a 13 yard run to go in front 14-10 with 4:09 left in the first quarter.

ODU threw an interception in the Ferris end zone to stop a potential scoring drive, but the defense came up with a stop on downs at its own 40. The offense moved back into Bulldog territory and came away with another Wahle field goal – this one from 31 yards – to cut the deficit to 14-13 with 5:25 left in the quarter.

Junior Austin Osborne (Jackson, Ohio) led the defense with 13 tackles (2.0 for loss), while junior Cody Culbertson (Galloway, Ohio) made 11 stops. Juniors Brad McCurdy (Columbus, Ohio) and Warren Shields (Richwood, Ohio) each had 10 tackles as well.

The Panthers are idle next week and return to the field at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Northwood.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu