FHSU Sports Information Department
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second straight week, Fort Hays State sophomore running back Shaquille Cooper has been named the MIAA/AstroTurf Offensive Athlete of the Week. This time, he shares the honor with Emporia State quarterback Brent Wilson as they were named Co-Offensive Athletes of the Week on Monday (Sept. 14).
Cooper rushed for 263 yards in the 27-13 win over Northeastern State this past week in Hays. His 93-yard touchdown run with 2:19 remaining in the game broke a 13-13 tie. It was a new career-high for Cooper, who has now rushed for over 100 yards in five of his six career games at running back. The 263 rushing yards were fourth-most in a single game in FHSU history. He averaged 9.1 yards per carry in the game. He also added 22 receiving yards to finish with 285 all-purpose yards on the night. Through two games this season, Cooper has 426 rushing yards, averaging 8.5 yards per carry. He has a total of 480 all-purpose yards over the two games.
Wilson threw for 446 yards and five touchdowns to lead Emporia State to a 45-34 come-from-behind win over Central Missouri. The Hornets trailed 14-3 at the end of the first quarter and 21-10 midway through the second quarter. He tossed touchdown passes of 37 and 45 yards in the second quarter to tie the score at 24 before the game was suspended 41 hours until Saturday. UCM had possession to start the second half and scored to go up 31-24. Wilson answered with a 48-yard TD pass and gave the Hornets their first lead of the game with a 14 yard strike to open the fourth quarter. After the Mules hit a field goal to cut the lead to 38-34, Wilson led the Hornets on a seven play, 66-yard drive and capped it with a two-yard touchdown pass. He became the fourth Hornet quarterback with at least 5,000 yards passing and now has 5,093 yards. He passed Pete Jelovic to move into fourth place on the Emporia State career total offense chart and now has 5,767 yards. His 52 touchdown passes are second all-time to Tyler Eckenrode’s 60 TDs from 2009-12. Through the first two games of 2015 Wilson is completing 73.2% of his passes (60 of 82) for 776 yards and eight touchdowns for an efficiency rating of 180.0.