Tigers Wrap Up Regular Season at Nebraska-Kearney Saturday

FHSU SPORTS INFOMATION DEPARTMENT

Fort Hays State heads north on Saturday (Nov. 12) to take on Nebraska-Kearney in the regular season finale. Game time is set for 2 pm at Cope Stadium. FHSU enters at 6-4, while Nebraska-Kearney is 1-9.

With three MIAA teams inside the top seven of the NCAA Regional Rankings, Fort Hays State remains alive for a potential bowl bid for the second consecutive season. Washburn is currently the first team outside of the three regionally ranked teams on top of the MIAA, but Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State are both one game back of Washburn in the standings. The bowl bid is not a guarantee, but a win on Saturday could put the Tigers in the discussion for potential bowl games.

Fort Hays State looks to extend its win streak over Nebraska-Kearney to five games on Saturday. FHSU has won all four games since UNK became a member of the MIAA. The Tigers are tied for fifth in the MIAA standings, while the Lopers are last in the conference standings.

The Tigers will look to reach seven wins in a season for the third time under head coach Chris Brown, all of which would be accomplished in the last three years. FHSU went 7-4 in 2014 and finished 8-4 last year, matching the program record for wins in a season.

The Tigers are coming off a loss to the nation’s top-ranked team, Northwest Missouri State, last week in Hays. But the positive is the Bearcats faced their toughest challenge of the year as the Tigers held them to a season-low 28 points. Unfortunately, the Tiger offense struggled to get anything going against one of the top defenses in the nation and was only able to produce seven points.

Sie Doe, Jr., continues to impress up front on the defensive line, extending his single-season school record for sacks last week to 14. He is now just one shy of the FHSU career record of 21.5 held by Trevell Smittick, who he passed for the single-season record. He ranks third nationally in total sacks and leads the nation in forced fumbles with five.

Alex Scmidtberger ran his career tackle total to 334 last week with 16 tackles against Northwest Missouri State. He now ranks third for the NCAA Division II era in tackles at FHSU.

Shaquille Cooper looks to go over 2,500 rushing yards for his career at FHSU. He currently has 2,470 and leads the team this year with 673 yards. He ranks sixth in school history in rushing yards and all-purpose yards (3,607 yards).

The Tigers have four receivers with over 300 yards this season, which includes Charles Tigner, Layne Bieberle, Tyler Bacon, and Cooper.