{"id":98868,"date":"2026-09-03T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=98868"},"modified":"2026-09-03T09:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:15:58","slug":"no-23-fhsu-ready-for-nationally-ranked-home-opener-vs-no-9-csu-pueblo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=98868","title":{"rendered":"No. 23 FHSU ready for nationally-ranked home opener vs No. 9 CSU Pueblo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Story by ELI BLANKINSHIP Video by BRYNN RAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After an impressive 35-14 victory against the Angelo State Rams in Week 0, No. 23 Fort Hays State University hopes to start the non-conference season 2-0 as they prepare to host the No. 9 CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves in their home opener tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, the Tigers took a long trip to St. Angelo, Texas, that lasted over 9 hours and covered 560 miles. FHSU faced even more adversity on gameday with an hour-long weather delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was very pleased with our performance and how our guys handled the situation,\u201d FHSU Head Coach Chris Brown said. \u201cThey came out and found a way to win the ballgame, and that&#8217;s cool to see your kids do that because\u2026they knew they were going to find a way to get it done, and they continued to compete for four quarters and won the ballgame.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tigers scored 14 unanswered points at the start of the second half and then scored 14 more points to put the game on ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making his first collegiate start at quarterback, Iowa State transfer Major Cantrell led the way for FHSU, going 18-28 passing for a total of 229 yards and 1 touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI haven&#8217;t started a game since high school football my senior year. It was really like three years ago, if you think about it,\u201d Cantrell said. \u201cIt was a lot of preparation, but it was fun to actually apply that and be in action with it with my teammates. It was a lot of excitement, a lot of energy. [I was] definitely a little rattled up first half, but proud of the guys, and the way they responded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FHSU Player Profile - Major Cantrell\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TxKqO04CFf8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>TMN reporter Brynn Ray speaks with FHSU quarterback Major Cantrell ahead of Thursday&#8217;s home opener. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a one-point victory in Pueblo, Colorado, last season, fans can expect a competitive rematch between the ThunderWolves and Tigers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, the ThunderWolves hosted their home opener against the University of Central Missouri and trampled the Mules by a final score of 44-25. Leading the way for CSU Pueblo was senior wide receiver Dedrik Taylor-Akins, who recorded 9 receptions for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we need to get our hands on him a little bit and disrupt him at the line of scrimmage,\u201d Brown said of covering Taylor-Adkins. \u201cThe main thing is just don&#8217;t give up the big play. They had three [or four] of them last week\u2026but if we keep them in front, make them earn everything, I think that&#8217;s the key to it because I think the more the offense is on the field and the more plays they have to run, there&#8217;s usually a mistake that costs you, and so hopefully we just keep everything in front, go make the tackle, bring them down and then live on to play the next play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite all the added pressure that comes along with a ranked matchup, the Tigers are ready to rise to the occasion in their home opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;re a great football team, and it&#8217;s a great challenge,\u201d Cantrell said. \u201cI think that&#8217;s the exciting part is you want to continue to grow each week, and facing a good football team is how you&#8217;re going to have growth, so we&#8217;re excited for the challenge. We&#8217;re excited they&#8217;re a competitive football team, and we can&#8217;t wait for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tigers kick off against the ThunderWolves at 7 pm tonight at Lewis Field Stadium. The game will also be broadcast live on the MIAA Network, presented by Tiger Media Network. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Story by ELI BLANKINSHIP Video by BRYNN RAY Tiger Media Network After an impressive 35-14 victory against the Angelo State Rams in Week 0, No.&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":98869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3387,7349],"tags":[16379,15753,1694,99,16602],"class_list":["post-98868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sports","category-sports","tag-brynn-ray","tag-eli-blankinship","tag-fhsu-football","tag-football","tag-major-cantrell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/UCM-11-1-AM-26-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98870,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98868\/revisions\/98870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}