FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State put 14 points on the board in a hurry, then endured a one-hour, 32-minute rain delay before eventually defeating Central Oklahoma 34-20 on Saturday (Sept. 17). The Tigers moved to 2-1, while the Bronchos dropped to 0-3.
The Tiger offense was red-hot out of the gates putting together 145 yards of total offense on their first two drives of the game, which resulted in touchdowns. Jacob Mezera found Shaquille Cooper on a pass from 30 yards out for the first score, just under five minutes into the game, then found Cooper again on a 21-yard connection at the 7:37 mark of the first quarter. After a UCO drive was halted on downs at the FHSU 38-yard line, a lightning strike from an incoming storm was too close and put the game into delay at 7:25 pm. Steady rain and lightning persisted until about 8:30 pm.
FHSU did not lose any momentum out of the long break as Mezera hit Layne Bieberle for a 62-yard touchdown strike to make it 21-0 at the 5:09 mark of the first quarter. UCO trimmed the lead down to 24-10 by halftime with a touchdown and field goal in the second quarter and Brandon Brown of FHSU had a field goal in the second quarter from 27 yards out.
Brown added another field goal at the 11:42 mark of the third quarter to extend the lead to 27-10, but UCO chipped away to pull within one score. UCO had a 42-yard Seth Hiddink field goal at the 9:00 mark of the third quarter and a one-yard Clay McKenzie touchdown run at the 13:08 mark of the fourth quarter to make it 27-20 in favor of the Tigers.
The Tigers put the game away with a nine-play, 78-yard drive in the fourth quarter, culminating on a 19-yard Mezera touchdown run with 9:12 to play. UCO drove the ball to the FHSU 5-yard line but fumbled near the goal line and FHSU recovered for a touchback. The Tigers then drove 76 yards to run out the clock.
Mezera had a hand in four touchdowns for the game, three passing and one rushing. He finished with 250 yards passing, completing 14-of-24 attempts with one interception. He also rushed for 53 yards, producing 303 yards of total offense.
Cooper had 161 all-purpose yards with team highs in both rushing (95) and receiving (66). Kenneth Iheme had a great night rushing too, averaging 7.8 yards per carry with 94 yards. FHSU finished with 475 yards of total offense and held a UCO team averaging over 500 yards of total offense per game to just 383.
Sie Doe, Jr., had a big night on defense, finishing with a team-high 13 tackles and a sack from his defensive end position. He added a pass break-up and 2.5 tackles for loss. Alex Schmidtberger also reached double figures in tackles with 11.
T.J. Eckert finished with 246 passing yards for UCO. Jake Gandara had 63 rushing yards and Connor Pulley had a team-high 128 receiving yards for the Bronchos. Riley Galyon led UCO in tackles with 10.
The Tigers head to Tahlequah, Oklahoma next week to face Northeastern State. Kickoff is set for 1 pm on Saturday (Sept. 24). Northeastern State enters the game at 1-2 after an overtime loss at Pittsburg State.
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