Eagles Close Football Season With 30-8 Loss at Ferris State
November 9, 2002

Hershey’s may have the best chocolate, but Ferris State has the best Fudge.

Ferris State tailback Derek Fudge rushed for 190 yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns and caught six passes for 60 yards Saturday (Nov. 9) at Top Taggart Field in Big Rapids, MI, as Ferris State ended Ashland University’s football season by handing the Eagles a 30-8 loss.

The setback leaves the Eagles at 2-9 overall and 2-8 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Bulldogs are 5-4 and 4-4.

Fudge led the way on a day that the ‘Dogs rolled up 412 yards in total offense. AU had trouble getting anything going, finishing with 217 yards, just 54 on the ground. Senior tailback J.R. McCoy went into the game needing 76 yards to pass Keith Weaver and become the school’s career rushing leader. He didn’t make it, finishing with 38 yards on 17 attempts. McCoy ends his career with 3,906 yards, second behind Weaver’s 3,943 yards.

Sophomore quarterback John Szabo needed 165 yards to break Mark Molk’s AU single-season record of 2,262 yards. The Dayton, OH, native narrowly missed that. He completed 20 of 35 passes Saturday for 163 yards.

A Szabo mistake set up the game’s first score. The AU quarterback was intercepted at the FSU43 by DeRen Ellis on the opening possession of the game. Ellis returned the theft 31 yards to the AU26 and that set up a 34-yard field goal by Tom Perez just three minutes into the contest.

The lead grew to 9-0 with 4:34 left in the first half when Fudge scored on a 1-yard plunge. That topped off an 8-play, 95-yard march that consumed 3:37. A week ago at Indianapolis, the Eagles fell prey to long, sustained drives like this FSU trip. The next two Bulldog scoring drives would take on a similar pattern.

Even though Perez missed the PAT on Fudge’s first TD run, the Bulldogs enjoyed a 9-0 spread at the break. The third quarter is when the home team separated itself from the Eagles. With 9:10 left in the frame, Jesse Porter hauled in an 8-yard scoring pass from quarterback Tom Marsan and Perez’s extra point made it, 16-0. Fudge scored on a 45-yard run with 4:24 left in the quarter and that pushed the FSU advantage to 23-0. Fudge’s second TD run ended an 8-play, 82-yard journey.

AU’s lone score came with 10:23 left in the game, freshman wideout Trent Seay snaring a 5-yard pass from Szabo. The Eagles went for two points on the conversion and scored when senior wide receiver Kevin McMahon caught a pass in the end zone from Szabo.

The game’s final score came with just 45 seconds left, Andrew Terry finding the end zone on a 3-yard run.

McMahon completed his final game in an AU uniform with seven catches for 69 yards. He was AU’s leading rusher in the game with two carries for 42 yards. Sophomore Michael Hull had four receptions for 38 yards and ends the season with a school-record 72 catches.

Senior safety Toby Stepsis led all players in the game with 15 tackles (six solo). He had one tackle for loss. Freshman linebacker Brady Miller was in on 10 stops (three solo).

For Ferris State, Marsan ended the day 18 of 34 for 169 yards. He didn’t have an interception.