FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State’s defense played well on Saturday (Nov. 5) against Northwest Missouri State, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. But the Tiger offense was held to a season low in yards and struggled to get points on the board in a 28-7 loss. The Tigers held the Bearcats to a season low in points despite the loss. FHSU is now 6-4, while NWMSU moved to 10-0 with one week to play in the regular season.
Fort Hays State held the MIAA’s top offense, which averaged 523.4 entering the game, to just 318 yards. The defending national champions had yet to score less than 41 points in a game this season, but the Tigers handed them a new season low. However, the Bearcats own the top defense in the MIAA by far and showed why on Saturday, holding the Tigers to a season-low 197 and just 11 first downs. Both teams turned the ball over three times.
Northwest Missouri State jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to strong defensive play. Kevin Berg had a 21-yard interception return for a touchdown on Fort Hays State’s first drive of the game, and then forced a short field by making the Tigers punt from the FHSU 3-yardline later in the quarter. The Bearcats had just a 35-yard field to score and eventually found the endzone with a Phil Jackson 3-yard run.
Neither offense found much traction for the rest of the first half as the Bearcats had just 128 total yards at the break, compared to just 79 for the Tigers. Fort Hays State could not capitalize on two scoring opportunities as field goal attempts from 43 and 45 yards in the first half were blocked.
Both teams went scoreless again in the third quarter before the Bearcats broke the scoring drought with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Zimmerman to TJ Schieber at the 9:53 mark of the fourth quarter to lead 21-0.
Fort Hays State finally found offensive success on the ensuing drive as Brad Schencker hit Bilal Salat for a 65-yard passing gain to the FHSU 10-yardline. Later in the drive, Schencker hit a leaping Layne Bieberle in the back left corner of the endzone to give Fort Hays State its lone touchdown of the game with 7:55 remaining. The Bearcats went on to deliver the game-sealing touchdown with 2:48 remaining to push the final margin back to 21.
The Tigers forced Zimmerman into his first two interceptions of the season. Zimmerman entered with 31 touchdowns and no interceptions through nine games. Raheeme Dumas and Jose Delgado were the players to record interceptions for FHSU. Alex Schmidtberger led the Tigers in tackles with 16, upping his career total to 334 which makes him third on the career tackles list at FHSU in the NCAA Division II era. Sie Doe, Jr. extended his FHSU single-season sacks record to 14 and is now just one shy of the career school record.
Schencker finished 10-of-27 passing for 150 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Kenneth Iheme led the Tigers in rushing with 42 yards, while Salat had a team-high 83 yards receiving on just two catches.
Zimmerman finished with 174 passing yards for NWMSU, completing 20-of-32 attempts with one touchdown. Jackson finished with 85 rushing yards, while Cameron Wilcox added 76 and a touchdown. The Bearcats spread the ball around to 11 different receivers in the game.
Fort Hays State closes out the regular season next week at Nebraska-Kearney. Game time is set for 2 pm.