MCKINNEY, Texas - Ferris State won its second consecutive NCAA Division II football championship, getting out to a fast start and halting Colorado School of Mines' postseason run. 

The Bulldogs' defense shut down the Orediggers (13-3) while enabling Ferris State's offense to control long stretches of the game as they rushed for 214 yards.

A raucous crowd of 6,333 - the most since the game moved to McKinney in 2018 - was largely made up Oredigger fans who traveled in droves to see their team's first appearance in the national final.

"I want to thank our fans, our alumni, and our students for coming all the way down here and supporting us," said Head Coach Brandon Moore after the game. "We had a great showing and it was a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous environment that they provided."

John Matocha overcame a tough first half to throw for 208 yards and two touchdowns with Josh Johnston and Michael Zeman catching scores in their final career game. Johnston ended up with a game-high 85 receiving yards on six catches. Adrian Moreno (11 tackles) and Jaden Williams (10 tackles) led the defense.

Marcus Taylor ran for 103 yards and Carson Gulker had three rushing touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs (14-1)

"Obviously Ferris is a phenomenal team and a phenomenal defense," Matocha said. "Offensively, we needed to execute a little better. There were opportunities for us to take advantage of some mistakes."

Ferris State ran the ball effectively to begin the game and it resulted in the opening score on Caron Gulker's short-yardage keeper. The Mines offense struggled to get anything going in the first half, generating just two first downs and 21 total yards as they couldn't solve the Bulldogs' defense. 

The Mines defense buckled down after the opening score, generating two red zone stops to force FSU field goals, but a back-breaking sequence came with less than a minute in the half when the Bulldogs scored on a 19-yard CJ Jefferson rush, then immediately took an interception back for six as Sidney McCloud went 31 yards. That turned a manageable 13-0 game into a 27-0 hole for Mines at halftime.

Mines came out of the half looking to build something and relied on their senior leaders in a third quarter that saw the defense pitch a shutout while the offense got going. A 36-yard Matocha throw to Johnston - Mines' biggest gain of the day to that point - set up a 10-yard touchdown pass in the flat to Michael Zeman, who walked in for six and got Mines on the board. 

"Our seniors have poured so much into the program and been so influential to our underclassmen," Moore said. "They've done so much in regards to building the program and putting us where we are right now. My boys - my team - never quit, never gave up. They're warriors and I appreciate every single last one of them."

Ferris State, however, began to eat up chunks of the clock and finished a nine-play, 75-yard drive on Gulker's second touchdown keeper of the day to go up 34-7 at the start of the fourth. Johnston laid out for a touchdown catch at the other end five minutes later, a 14-yard strike from Matocha, but Ferris State recovered the onside kick and went down to score, again thanks to Gulker, to seal the game in the closing moments.

For Mines, while the result wasn't what they wanted, the process remained intact. After the Orediggers' first semifinal appearance a year ago, the national championship game was the next step in the rise of the program.

"I think last year was a bit of a surprise to make it that far," said senior wide receiver Tristan Smith. "From the beginning of this season, 'believe' has been the word the whole time to this point. The whole team was bought in and that's something we held onto this entire year."

Moore looked to the future and continuing the build.

"We've inched a few steps further every year," said Moore of his six-year tenure at Mines. "We're excited for the future, and we fully expect to come out and win next year."

NOTABLES
- Matocha ends his season with 4,778 yards and 52 touchdowns in the air plus 443 yards and five scores on the ground. He snapped Chad Friehauf's long-standing single-season passing yards mark of 4,646 during the game, and his TD total will finish as the #2 all-time just behind Justin Dvorak's 53-touchdown 2016 season.
- Zeman finished his career as Mines' all-time greatest running back with 4,463 rushing yards, 55 rushing touchdowns, and 66 total touchdowns all-in, which all mark Mines records.
- Johnston cemented his legacy as one of Mines' all-time greats in the receiving game with 2,939 yards and 40 career touchdowns as he reached 1,288 yards for the season. Johnston caught 13 or more touchdowns in each of the last three seasons is only the second Oredigger to ever reach 40 career touchdown receptions; his yardage total finishes fourth all-time at Mines.
- Mines set a program record for wins at 13. 
- The Orediggers were making not just their first appearance in the national championship game, but the first by any Mines team in a bracketed tournament. Colorado School of Mines owns three other NCAA Division II titles in men's cross country.
- Zach Hester and Hayden Gregg each had sacks to take Mines' total to a program-record 71 for the season. Hester had 3.0 tackles for loss overall and also forced a fumble.