Story by CAYDEN SANDERS Photos by ANNABELLE MALSAM and GILLILAN LYNCH
Tiger Media Network
Fort Hays State University opened MIAA conference play at home against Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday night. FHSU defeated UNK 26-7 and has now won 12 of the last 13 games against the Lopers.
“We can’t be satisfied with this win. There are so many points left out. I mean, field goals need to turn into touchdowns,” Head Coach Chris Brown said. “It really is a good win. It’s hard to win in this conference, but we’ve got to learn from our mistakes in this game and play a little bit more physical and still finish people off.”
Last season, the Tigers jumped on Nebraska-Kearney early, leading 24-0 at halftime. However, the Lopers stormed back at the end of the game, scoring 20 unanswered points before FHSU kicked a fourth-quarter field goal to win 27-20.
On Saturday, FHSU (2-1, 1-0) once again held UNK (2-1, 0-1) scoreless through the first half. But this time, the Tigers continued their shutout until the Lopers scored their only touchdown with less than two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
“We could be really good. We’ve got some talent,” Brown said. “We’ve got to tackle better defensively, stay in our gaps. We missed a lot of tackles tonight. [We] didn’t really give up the big, big play, except there towards the end, where we can just make a tackle. We dive at the feet and miss.”
Fort Hays State’s defense was the difference, allowing just 272 yards of offense and forcing three UNK turnovers. The Tiger defense gave up 424.5 yards per game through the first two games of the season.
“We’ve got to create turnovers defensively. And to do that, you’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to be aggressive, and you’ve got to attack,” Brown said. “I feel like we did that for the most part today, but still, give up big plays.”
Senior Running Back Travis Dixon raises his helmet during the national anthem. 
Jaxon Kolzow walks the sideline to prepare for the game against UNK. 
The coin toss kid flips to decide how the game will start. 
Quarterback Caleb Heavner awaits the result of the coin toss. 
Coach Al McCray hypes up the huddle before the Tigers receive the ball to start the game. 
Quarterback Caleb Heavner watches his defense from the sidelines. 
Running back Joshua Clark celebrates the Tiger win. 
Wide Receiver Jabari Lewis looks at the score in between plays.
The Lopers went 4-12 on third down and only found the red zone twice. Their only red zone conversion came on their score in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got dogs all around,” said senior defensive lineman Jalen Williams. “Man, it’s just the work we do behind the lights. It’s hard some days, blood in, blood out, stacking days. We grind like our leader, Coach Brown, he doesn’t settle for nothing. So we can’t settle for nothing.”
While the FHSU defense proved to be stout, the Tiger offense struggled at times, managing just 270 yards of total offense and was outgained by UNK despite running six more plays. However, two recovered fumbles and a 78-yard pick-six by junior safety Michael Polley with 3:27 left in the second quarter helped provide the Tigers with a boost when the Lopers were driving in Tiger territory. Brown praised Polley for being able to swing momentum in the Tigers’ favor.
For that to happen, doing some ball drills in practice probably helped as well this week. But that was a huge play by him,” Brown said.
FHSU did manage a balanced offensive attack. The Tigers rushed for 136 yards, led by Travis Dixon, who had 110 yards and FHSU’s only offensive touchdown. Dixon is the first Tiger rusher to gain over 100 yards against an opponent since Shane Watts last year against UNK.
Caleb Heavener threw for 134 yards on 17-28 passing. The Tigers are 8th in total offense in the MIAA with 306.3 yards a game.
“Offensively, we’ve just got to get things rolling. We’ve got to get that fourth-and-one conversion done and get that taken care of. We did a good job of managing the clock there at the end, taking some more time off the clock as well, and then getting some first downs,” Brown said. “But [there is] a lot of room to improve, which is good, but we need that. We didn’t get those things shored up this week.”
Dixon, who was one of the only bright spots for FHSU’s offense, went down with an injury late in the fourth quarter. Brown spoke about Dixon and his impact on the team.
“A tremendous young man [who] works his tail off, got himself in shape when he came back from an Achilles injury last year. And hope for the best for him,” Brown said. “He’s a great kid. He works hard. I recruited that kid myself and brought him here, so he and I have a pretty good connection, a good relationship. I hope we get to see him back on the field.”
While Dixon and his status are unknown going forward, senior wide receiver Ryan Allen feels the offense is getting better as the weeks go on.
“We’re rolling now. And you know, we worked out some kinks that we had in the first two weeks,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but it was better, and that’s all you can ask for. We got the job done.”
Another area where FHSU thrived was in special teams, namely the kicking of red-shirt freshman David Arriaga, who went 4-4 on field goals and made both of his PAT attempts.
The FHSU offense also controlled time of possession, holding the ball for nine more minutes than the Lopers.
FHSU goes on the road this week to play Pittsburg State (1-2, 0-2). The Gorillas will play their fourth-ranked team in a row against the Tigers and are coming off a 17-14 victory over top-five-ranked Grand Valley State.
Brown talked about the importance of practice and film hours for this next week’s success.
“Just practice, doing everything right in practice, in the weight room, film studies, getting together a little bit more with the O-line and running backs kind of figure out where the blocks are going to be and where we need to hit the hole,” Brown said. “Defensively, [we] just need to continue to communicate. I felt like we got better this week. Defensively, we’ve still got to become better tacklers, and that’s the big thing; if you miss tackles in this conference, it’s going to kill you.”
Kickoff from Pittsburg is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday inside Carnie Smith Stadium.
This story was written as part of INF 349: Convergent Media Lab, a course in the Department of Informatics at Fort Hays State University