We’re getting closer to 2025, but how was the fall season? The first champion, rubber match, title holder was officially born. Now that we’re a third of the way through the 2024-25 national championship season, let’s take a look back at the champions and look at the fall outlook.
Ferris State’s unthinkable run
The 2024 DII football season had many twists and turns. There were four different No. 1 teams. The two-time defending national runner-up finished 8-3 but failed to make the tournament, with programs like Miles, Virginia Union and Ashland winning their first DII football championship games.
However, when the dust cleared, four DII football powerhouses remained in the national semifinals, and we ended up with a rubber match between Ferris State and Valdosta State. As in 2021, the entire 2024 game will be played in Ferris State, and the Bulldogs’ third straight national title since the 2021 victory.
It’s not just that the Bulldogs win, it’s how they do it that makes them the current DII football dynasty. The margin of victory in the three championship games was an average of 34.3 points. In 2021, when the Bulldogs won, no team came within 20 points. There were close games at Ferris State in 2022, but once the semifinals began, it wasn’t even a contest. They won their four DII football championship games this year by an average of 35 points, with none coming within one point.
This is a program that has made 70 percent of its state quarterfinal appearances over the last 10 years. Head coach Tony Annese has played with different quarterbacks, turning into superstars year after year with a top defensive line and one of the best offenses in the game. It was Grand Valley State in the 80s and Northwest Missouri State in the 2010s. Regardless of what happens in the rest of the 2020s, the decade belongs to Ferris State.
Lynn Wit: Magical Saturday of Battle Heroes
It was a real downer for Lynn. Not a bad way to go into the holiday break with the Fighting Knights winning two state championships in one day.
The semifinals of the DII Men’s Soccer Championship turned out to be an interesting field. It was McKendree who broke program records with his first undefeated season, regional championship and first trip to the national semifinals. Then, in Charleston (WV) and Lynn, two of the winningest programs in the history of the sport, CSU Pueblo reached its third straight semifinal appearance.
Lynn faces Charleston (WV) for its third title in a decade. Lynn first won its third straight DII men’s soccer national championship in 2014, defeating the Golden Eagles in the title game. Three years later, Charleston tied the score and won the 2017 title game, but this year it was Lynn in the rubber, winning 3-2. The Fighting Knights finished undefeated and finished the season 20-0-2. It was head coach John Rootes’ best season, which is saying something – Rootes ranks fifth all-time in DII winning percentage.
That night, Lynn’s women’s volleyball team made program history. Lynn, like almost every other Sunshine State Conference school, has lived in the shadow of Tampa, the second-winningest program in DII women’s volleyball history with half of the state championships in its last six tournaments. The Fighting Knights moved on to a thrilling South Regional Championship, erasing a 2-1 deficit in Tampa and winning the final two sets to advance to their first DII Women’s Volleyball Championship final.
The quarterfinals had one thing in common: no one was a champion. The Warriors appeared to be on their way to the title match with a six-set win. Lynn held a 2-0 lead over San Francisco State in the opener, but the Gators again dominated, starting a thrilling 15-13 final that saw Lynn win and bring the program its first national championship in the sport.
Cal Poly Pomona likes to party… oh, you get the idea
To say it’s been a long time coming for the Broncos is an understatement. Cal Poly Pomona’s last appearance in the national championship game was in 1999. There, the team lost to Franklin Pierce, 3-1, and the Broncos fell short of the national championship.
Twenty-five years later, the Broncos faced the exact same Franklin Pierce program that had destroyed their championship hopes in 1999 in the semifinals, and this time there was no doubt. Cal Poly Pomona got a pair of goals from Angelina Rivas in a 4-0 win. The Broncos’ next opponent was Minnesota State, a team in uncharted territory. The Mavericks were making their first ever title game and statistically had the best defense at any level in women’s soccer. Marisa Salazar put the Broncos ahead with a penalty kick in the 47th minute to give Cal Poly Pomona its first DII women’s soccer title.
St. Anselm ends PSAC’s 12-year DII field hockey streak
Since 2011, the DII Field Hockey Championship has been a PSAC night. In fact, the entire 2000s were like that, as the PSAC program won three national championships (Bentley in 2001, Mass-Lowell in 2005 and 2010).
St. Anselm defeated the defending national champion Kutztown Golden Bears 1-0 in overtime to end the streak. It was the first overtime of the national championship game since 2018 and the third game to go by just one goal. The Hawks, who made their first state title game five years ago in a loss to West Chester, brought home their first trophy and their first NE10 title in more than a decade.
How wild it was. Maddie Davis hit the game-winning shot before Saint Anselm was held without a shot in regulation and made four shots in overtime. The goal tied the Hawks’ program record for career goals (38) and points (102). Head coach Caroline King-Robitaille has slowly turned the program around, and now it’s at the top — the Hawks went 49-139 from her debut in 2001 until she took over in 2012. They are 169-76 since then and now have a chance at a national title on that list.
Adams County’s Damon Martin wins again
The first state championships of the fall season have arrived on the dirt tracks of the cross country trails. Head coach Chris Siemers defeated Wingate, 63-66, for Colorado School of Mines’ fourth DII cross country championship in 10 years. It was another rubber match of sorts, as it was the Colorado School of Mines and Wingate for the third straight year in the top two. Colorado School of Mine beat the Bulldogs in 2022 and 2024, and Wingate beat the Orediggers in 2023.
On the women’s side, the Adams State Grizzlies won the national title…again. It’s their sixth title since 2014 and head coach Damon Martin’s 21st DII women’s cross country title. That’s the most in DII history and the second-highest mark in all of college sports. Martin went right back to work, coaching the Grizzlies’ indoor track and field team to five women’s championships, including the last two. He also holds the title of head men’s track and field coach. If you add his 10 DII track and field titles, Martin’s total is 38, four all-time and all-time.
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