HOUGHTON, Mich. — Phil Milbrath rushed for a career-high 202 yards and Michigan Tech's defense came oh-so-close to a shutout in a 21-7 Homecoming win over No. 25 Ferris State at Sherman Field this afternoon. The seventh-largest crowd in school history of 2,989 saw the Huskies outgain the Bulldogs 389-240 in total yards to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Tech held possession of the ball for more than 37 of the game's 60 minutes. Nearly 10 minutes of that possession time came during the only scoring drive of the first half. The Black and Gold started on their 14 yard line and ran off 18 plays before Milbrath tallied his 13th touchdown of the season on a six-yard run.

The score was 7-0 at halftime, and game remained a field position battle until early in the fourth quarter. Ferris State downed a punt at the one-yard line to pin the Huskies back.

Quarterback Steve Short then guided the hosts on a 99-yard drive to paydirt. A 46-yard pass to Bobby Slowik was the key play on the drive before Short sprinted inside the right pylon for a 14-0 lead.

After Tech's Ben Foelker intercepted his first career pass on FSU's ensuing possession, Milbrath put the game away with a 52-yard run.

Ferris pulled starting quarterback Tom Schneider in favor of Kyle Parrish on the Bulldogs's final drive of the game. It paid off as Parrish found Rahseem Jones-Salaam for a 30-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds remaining.

"Our defense played really well today," said head coach Tom Kearly. "They maybe deserved to get the shutout. To hold the No. 25 team in the country off the scoreboard until under a minute to play was big."

The Tech defense allowed just 13 first downs and only 100 yards passing in the game. Junior safety David Carmody led the defense with 10 total tackles. Senior linebacker Sean Spellman tallied eight tackles.

Milbrath's 200-yard performance was the first of his career and boosted his season total to 806 yards. The sophomore, who entered the game as the GLIAC's leading scorer, added two touchdowns to run his season total to 14 TDs.

Short finished 11-of-18 for 130 yards passing. His favorite target was Keith White, who snared four balls for 44 yards.

"Steve managed the game well once again. We took what the defense was giving us, which was a normal box and extra coverage downfield. The running game was there all day, and Phil was a real workhorse today."

Michigan Tech improved to 3-1 at home this season and 10-2 in its last 12 games at Sherman Field.

The Huskies will travel to Findlay next Saturday (Oct. 11) for a noon kickoff.

Notes: Tech has won six straight games over Ferris State including last year's Homecoming contest. The Huskies have won six consecutive Homecoming games overall ... The Huskies were 34 seconds away from their first shutout since Nov. 11, 2000, a 34-0 win over Findlay.