By ELI BLANKINSHIP
Tiger Media Network
After falling to Central Oklahoma 31-10 on the road last weekend, Fort Hays State (3-3, 2-2) returns home tomorrow for a date with the No. 12 Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (4-1, 3-1).
FHSU Head Coach Chris Brown said the Bearcats present similar challenges this season as NW Missouri teams in the past.
“Same as always, they’re tough up front, they’re athletic, they’re physical, [and] play very disciplined,” Brown said. “They don’t give you a bunch of looks, but they’re just very, very good at what they do. They tackle well. They close the distance down very quickly. There aren’t many yards after the catch. The run game we have to be satisfied with just getting 3 or 4 yards on a carry because that’s about what they give you.”
Defensively, FHSU will likely have their hands full on Saturday night against a Bearcat running back room led by sophomore Quincy Torry. Torry leads the team with 370 total yards and 7 touchdowns on 65 carries.
“They love to run the ball,” said senior safety Eli Moulton. “They’re going to throw some eye candy at you, so it’s going to be about discipline and doing your 1/11th. That’s what we really focus on: doing your 1/11th for 6 seconds, [and going] as hard as you can.”
In addition to stopping the Bearcat running game, FHSU’s offense will need to right the ship after gaining a season-low 239 total yards of offense last week against the Bronchos. With quarterback Major Cantrell playing through an injury the last two weeks, FHSU relied heavily on the ground game, running the ball a season-high 49 times.
Cantrell went 14-for-24 for 157 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions against UCO.
Brown spoke about what may have led to Cantrell’s struggles against the Bronchos.
“If you’re really limited through the week on the amount of snaps you can take, or the reps, or live reps, or whatever you can take in practice, it kind of limits your ability on game day as well,” Brown said. “Hopefully, as the weeks go on, it continues to get better, and hopefully this week it gets better and he’s feeling better on Saturday.”
With FHSU’s potential starting quarterback in question, the next players in line on the depth chart are sophomore Kody Guy and junior Mason McMinn. Guy has played sparingly this season, appearing in 5 games and only attempting 1 pass. McMinn has yet to appear for FHSU.
One bright spot for the Tigers last week was junior wide receiver Kolton Coleman. Coleman hauled in a career-high 4 receptions for 84 receiving yards, adding yet another viable receiver to the depth chart after Walter Flournory’s 80-yard performance on Homecoming.
“I’m definitely happy about how I played, but definitely not happy how I played overall,” Coleman said. “I think I can do a lot better for my team, and I think my team is definitely expecting a lot more out of me. I think I can definitely do a little better each time I learn a little more, and I think where I’m at right now is definitely a good spot, but we can always keep climbing from there.”
The Tigers kick off against the Bearcats at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Lewis Field Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on the MIAA Network by students from Tiger Media Network.
Story submitted as part of Convergent Media Lab, a course within the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at Fort Hays State University