Story by CAYDEN SANDERS Photos by ANNABELLE MALSAM
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays State University football team welcomed the No. 12 University of Central Missouri Mules to Lewis Feild Stadium for FHSU’s homecoming game on Saturday. FHSU scored first and always had an answer for the Mules, winning 31-21 – their second victory over a ranked team this season.
“This was what we’ve been looking for in our team right now. I mean, offense helped defense, defense helped offense, [and] special teams helped both,” FHSU Head Coach Chris Brown said. “But we know our guys played hard. They played physical tonight. I felt like we did a good job on both lines of scrimmages, of dominating those and making big plays as well, offensively and defensively. We made some big plays as well that are a hard offense to stop and held them to 21 points. [That] says something about our defense and what they did today.”
With the game tied 7-7 midway through the second quarter, FHSU (4-2, 2-2) scored 14 unanswered points behind new starting quarterback, Caleb Heavner. The sophomore from Denison, Texas threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns on 24-30 attempts. He also rushed for a team-high 97 yards with one touchdown on the ground.
“We just fought, man, I don’t think that we’ve really done that yet this year and tonight, we just fought and we executed,” Heavner said. “And you know, when we were up 21-7, you know, one thing we were saying was, ‘don’t get comfortable.’ I just think we had that fight in us. I would just say that was probably the biggest difference.”
After a scoreless third quarter, a Carson Arndt field goal put FHSU up 24-7 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. However, UCM (3-2, 1-2) and reigning MIAA Player of the Year and Harlon Hill winner, Zach Zebrowski kept things challenging for the Tigers scoring on the first play of the drive on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Zebrowski to Zach Patterson to pull within 10, 24-14.
FHSU answered back on their ensuing possession with a seven-play drive ending in a 38-yard touchdown scamper from Heavner to push the Tiger lead to 31-14. UCM scored once more with just over a minute on the clock and was unable to recover the onside kick, sealing FHSU’s victory.
For Heavner, beating a team like UCM helps to build confidence as the Tigers prepare for another home game this weekend against Washburn.
“Definitely makes us build confidence, because Central Missouri is a very good football team. There’s a reason they’re the reigning MIAA Champs and credit to our defense, they helped us tonight, and we were able to move, but it definitely helps us going throughout the year,” Heavner said.
UCM outgained FHSU with 533 yards of total offense to FHSU’s 445. The Tigers outrushed UCM, 143 yards to 62. Shane Watts rushed for 50 yards and one touchdown. Through the air, Jayden Horace earned 70 yards on ten catches and a touchdown, while Ryan Allen had 66 yards on four catches and a touchdown.
Zebrowski threw for 471 yards and three touchdowns on 35-49 passing. FHSU’s defense allowed its second-straight game of an individual gaining 200+ reception yards as Zach Patterson earned 232 yards.
Linebacker Makel Williams led the Tiger defense with 14 total tackles and one tackle for loss. Linebacker John Johnson made it back into the lineup since his injury and earned nine total tackles.
“Coming off of last week, we knew teams like that like to go for it on third and fourth down, so that really wasn’t the money down. So we were always looking for it down because they felt like they could get it,” Williams said. “So I think third down getting those sacks and, you know, balls batted down, I just felt like it was what we needed to do.”
The Tigers will be back at home against Washburn at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday at Lewis Field Stadium.
“Our guys stayed locked in, they stayed focused and played hard the entire time, and played with some physicality as well. And you saw guys flying around tonight in it. It looked like Tiger football again,” Brown said. “Still need to be more physical, of course, because Coach Brown’s never happy with that, but I’m very pleased with the performance of this team tonight. We need to build off of this, and there are still a lot of mistakes that we need to get fixed. And if we can fix and if we could fix those mistakes, we could be a pretty darn good football team.”