FHSU Sports Information Department
Fort Hays State Football plays its second road contest of the 2015 season on Saturday night (Sept. 19) at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. Game time is set for 6 pm at Hunter Stadium. Fort Hays State, looking for its first 3-0 start since the 2010 season, has received votes in the AFCA Division II Poll the past two weeks. Lindenwood enters the contest at 1-1.
The Tigers have played well on the road since the start of the 2014 season. FHSU is 6-1 on the road since the start of 2014, the only loss coming in overtime at Washburn in 2014. FHSU is 1-0 on the road so far this year after a thrilling 30-29 win over Central Oklahoma in the season opener. The Tigers defeated Northeastern State at home last week by a score of 27-13.
Lindenwood picked up a win over Washburn in its season opener at home two weeks ago by a score of 20-14. Last week, they fell to then No. 5 ranked Pittsburg State in Pittsburg by a score of 56-28. Fort Hays State leads the brief all-time series history with Lindenwood 2-1.
Shaquille Cooper has provided a tremendous boost on offense for the Tigers at running back. Through two games, he has rushed for 426 yards. He had a career-high 263 yards last week against Northeastern State and 163 in the season opener against Central Oklahoma. He was named the MIAA/Astroturf Co-Offensive Athlete of the Week this past week and earned the same honor the previous week by himself. He has a total of 480 all-purpose yards for rushing and receiving yards combined. Cooper has helped the Tigers average 333 yards rushing per game so far, which leads the MIAA. Quarterback Treveon Albert has added 152 rushing yards through the first two games.
Defensively, Brock Long, Alex Schmidtberger, and DeAndre James have reached double figures in tackles in each of the first two games. Long leads the team with 28 tackles and two sacks, while adding a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Schmidtberger has 24 tackles, a team-best three tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. From the safety position, James has produced 25 tackles, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.