By CAYDEN SANDERS
Tiger Media Network
A tale of two halves. That’s what Thursday night’s home opener came down to for the Fort Hays State University football team.
The Tigers led No. 3 ranked Pittsburg State University early before allowing 30 consecutive points in a 40-14 loss to the Gorillas at Lewis Field Stadium.
FHSU’s defense held its own early in the first quarter, forcing the Gorillas to punt on their opening possession.
“It was great to come out and get a stop on a team like Pitt State. I think that gave a confidence boost going into the rest of the first half,” safety Mason Perez said.
Fort Hays quarterback Jack Dawson and the offense marched down the field 49 yards for a touchdown when he connected with wide receiver Bryson Smith. The PAT led to an early 7-0 lead for the Tigers with 9:22 to play in the opening quarter.
“Being able to go out on the field and put on a good drive against Pitt with every call going right for us was a great feeling, and being able to lead the game at the beginning gave us some motivation for sure,” said Dawson, who finished 15-of-32 passing for 165 yards, two TDs and one interception.
The Gorillas settled for a 39-yard field goal to pull within 7-3 at the 6:33 mark of the first quarter. PSU’s third offensive possession resulted in its best production to that point — a 9-yard TD pass from Chad Dodson Jr. to Dallas Bond, giving the Gorillas a 10-7 edge with 4:56 to play before halftime.
Fort Hays State answered right back as Dawson connected with wide receiver Jayden Horace from 7 yards out to give the Tigers a 14-10 lead with 1:15 to go in the half.
Pitt State (2-0) was able to pull within 14-13 at halftime when kicker Austin Schmitt was good from 24 yards out just before the break.
It would prove to be big for momentum for the Gorillas.
The PSU defense buckled down in the second half, and its offensive got chugging along. The Gorillas erupted for 20 points in the third quarter thanks to touchdowns from three different players – giving a 33-14 advantage to PItt State entering the final quarter.
“It sucked seeing Pitt coming out and score before we did in the second half, and it took a lot out of us on the defense,” Perez said.
Pitt State scored one final time late in the fourth quarter as quarterback Ty Pennington found wide receiver Kam Gillespie for a 15-yard strike..
Head coach Chris Brown said at the beginning of the week the game would be a good barometer of where FHSU was so far this season, especially coming off a 56-0 win at Northeastern State in the season opener.
“We are right there. We just have a couple of things here and there to fix, and we could be a really good football team,” he said.
Makel Williams had a game-high 13 tackles for FHSU, and Perez finished with nine. Kaleb Pillow was third on the team with seven.
“With losing Ty Cooper, I was really impressed with the rover position, especially (Kaleb Pillow) being a redshirt freshman and coming out here and playing a team like this. It’s made me excited going forward,” Perez said.
Fort Hays (1-1) ended the night gaining 212 total yards compared to 476 for Pitt State. Running back Travis Dixon led the rushing attack with 37 yards on 12 carries. Cale Cormaney led the team with two catches for 52 yards.
Dodson Jr. completed 26 of 36 passes for 239 yards and one interception. Three different PSU running backs rushed for 40 or more yards.
FHSU will host perennial power Northwest Missouri State at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 at Lewis Field Stadium. Both teams enter the contest coming off a loss, as the Bearcats dropped a 33-13 decision at home to Emporia State, which snapped a 29-game losing streak to NWMSU.