UP Gazette

The Northern Michigan Wildcats football team faced the top-ranked Ferris State Bulldogs on Saturday in Big Rapids, Michigan, losing 70-35. The Wildcats opened the game with a strong offensive showing, scoring first and matching Ferris State 14-14 after the first quarter. At halftime, Northern Michigan trailed 35-21.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats' offense produced 355 total yards, which is nearly 100 more than what Ferris State had been allowing per game this season. The 35 points scored by Northern Michigan marked a season-high allowed by the Bulldogs' defense.

Quarterback Trevor Theuerkauf led the Wildcats with his best performance of the season, throwing for 131 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another 42 yards with two additional scores. He contributed to four of Northern's five touchdowns. Tucker Welch added another touchdown on the ground, while Sebastian Boyea and Jake Heemstra caught touchdown passes from Theuerkauf.

Running back Noah Dobert finished with 117 rushing yards, bringing his season total to 1,007. This achievement makes him the first Northern Michigan player to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season since Jake Mayon reached 1,505 in 2018.

Both teams converted all seven fourth-down attempts during the game; Northern was successful on five of them. Ferris State did not punt and accumulated a total of 597 offensive yards. Eight different players scored touchdowns for Ferris State, with Chase Carter leading with three scores.

After this defeat, Northern Michigan's record stands at 1-8 overall and 1-5 in GLIAC play. Ferris State remains undefeated at 9-0 overall and 5-0 in conference games.

The game began with a methodical opening drive by Northern Michigan that lasted over eight minutes and ended with a short touchdown run by Theuerkauf. After trading scores early in the first quarter, Ferris State pulled ahead by scoring three consecutive touchdowns in the second quarter. Despite trailing at halftime, Northern ran more plays than Ferris during that period.

Ferris State extended its lead throughout the second half. In the fourth quarter, Theuerkauf connected with Boyea for an eight-yard touchdown pass and later found Heemstra for a 27-yard score following a fumble recovery by Jeremiah Gossett. Ferris added one final touchdown before time expired.

Looking ahead, Northern Michigan will travel to face Davenport University on Saturday, November 8 at noon.