By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
Fort Hays State Football will complete its 2019 schedule on Saturday (Nov. 16) at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Tigers (7-3) will attempt to extend their streak of winning at least eight games in a season to five straight years against a winless RiverHawks (0-10) squad inside Doc Wadley Stadium at 2 pm.
Unless there is an unforeseen shake up and several upsets among teams in the NCAA Super Region rankings, this game will close out the season for the Tigers. Head Coach Chris Brown addressed media on Tuesday saying “Our goal and expectation this year was to win the conference, get to the playoffs, and win in the playoffs. A bowl game was not going to be an option for us, because that is not who we are right now.”
“I told our kids (Monday) this is going to be our last game, and I’m going to stick to my word. When we first started building this program and went to the two bowl games (2015 and 2016), it was great, because we were still trying to build a championship tradition. We’ve done that now and we did not take care of business in the in the regular season,” said Brown. FHSU was the two-time defending MIAA Champion going into this season and made two straight appearances in the NCAA Playoffs before falling just short of both accomplishments this year. Central Missouri will either win the MIAA title outright on Saturday or share it with Northwest Missouri State, pending what happens when they square off in Maryville. Both are among the top seven in the Super Region 3 rankings.
Even with the Tigers falling just short of their postseason goals this year, the 2019 senior class has the opportunity to go out as the winningest in the program’s NCAA Division II history by percentage. A win would push the group of seniors that have been part of the team from 2016-2019 to 36-11 overall, which would be one-loss better than the 2018 senior class mark of 36-12. They can match the 2018 class for most wins by any senior class in the entire program’s history.
The Tigers go into this contest with the fourth-best passing offense in the nation, averaging 328 yards per game. Quarterback Chance Fuller ranks sixth nationally in passing yards per game (309) and fourth in completions per game (24). With 3,090 passing yards, he is the fourth Tiger quarterback in history to throw for at least 3,000 in a season. He is 423 shy of the single-season record of 3,513 by Mike Garrison in 2010. With 31 touchdowns, he is three shy of the single-season passing touchdown record set by Shawn Behr in 1995 with 34.
Harley Hazlett has a chance to become the eighth Tiger receiver in history to reach 2,000 yards in his career. He is just 20 yards shy at 1,980. He leads the Tigers with 803 receiving yards on the season. He already owns the all-time receptions record at FHSU with 180. Manny Ramsey (785) and Layne Bieberle (673) give the Tigers three receivers with over 600 receiving yards this year.
On defense, Drew Harvey is pacing the tackles list with 84 for the season. Jordan Starks (77) and Tanner Hoekman (76), the team leaders in interceptions with three each, rank second and third respectively in tackles. Sheldon Schmidt leads the Tigers in sacks with three.
Fort Hays State is looking for a sixth-straight win against Northeastern State. The Tigers have claimed all five meetings against the RiverHawks in MIAA play.
Northeastern State has struggled mightily this year, allowing 62.6 points per game, while scoring just an average of 10 per contest. The RiverHawks held only two opponents inside of 50 points so far this season.