By ELI BLANKINSHIP
Tiger Media Network
After losing on the road to Missouri Western for the fourth straight time since 2018, FHSU is set to take on another Missouri foe, the Missouri Southern State Lions, for homecoming on Saturday. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1) are tied at No. 5 in the MIAA standings, while the Lions (1-3, 0-2) are tied for last.
“[The] pressure is on us now, and I like pressure,” FHSU Head Coach Chris Brown said. “We still need to take [it] one week at a time. Do I feel like this team can do the things they need to win seven games in a row? Absolutely. I feel like we’ve got the guys in this room to do those things.”
Turnovers were a problem for FHSU against MWSU, with quarterback Major Cantrell throwing 3 interceptions to go along with 3 touchdowns.
“Some of these throws and some of these misses…aren’t all [on] Major,” Brown said. “Sometimes it’s the receiver cutting the route short, [the] receiver not being in the correct area where he’s supposed to be, the receiver not making the right read, and sometimes it’s the quarterback too, not making the right read or making the right choice as well.”
Brown said FHSU has to shore up those areas, especially in advance of playing MSSU, which he said gives multiple coverages on defense.
FHSU will rely heavily on its rushing offense to crack the Lion defense. If the Tigers can establish success on the ground, history says there is a good chance for a Fort Hays victory. Dating back to 2013, the Tigers are 44-2 under Brown when rushing for 200+ yards.
This season is no different, as FHSU rushed for 211 and 207 yards respectively, in wins against Angelo State and Pittsburg State. AG Floyd and LaAngelo Bell carry the bulk of those rushing responsibilities. Floyd leads the team in carries and has a team-best 6 rushing touchdowns. He also leads FHSU with 72.5 yards per game. Bell has scored 3 times on the ground and is second in rushing attempts.
“I think our running back room is one of the best rooms on the offensive side,” Bell said. “We have a lot of depth with AG, Curtis, [and] me being added. The room is just so deep, [and] we have just such good players. We could do a lot of things throughout that room, and with Major at quarterback, there are just endless possibilities. It’s great.”
Cantrell is another capable member of the Tiger rushing attack. He is third on the team in rushing attempts, second in total rushing yards and yards per game, and leads the team with an average of 7.1 yards per carry. Cantrell also has 1 rushing touchdown.
MSSU is also a run-heavy team, led by Allen Mitchell and Narkel LeFlore, who will be challenges for a Tiger defense that has struggled in FHSU’s losses.
The Tigers gave up 539 yards of offense against CSU Pueblo and 605 yards against Missouri Western. Last week, the Tigers’ secondary was bombarded by the Griffons, giving up 429 yards through the air and 6 passing touchdowns. The Griffons also rushed for 190 yards and 1 touchdown.
“[You] can’t take any team for granted,” said the junior defensive lineman Cody Abston. [We] saw that last week. We were favored to win that game, [and] we go in where we didn’t show up, so I think that’s a good learning point for our team. Missouri Southern, they’re going to come in. [and] they’re going to play hard, especially [because] they played a good game last week….So we’re going to have to just go out there, play physical, hit them first, and just don’t take it for granted.”
In addition to providing an opportunity to right the ship, Saturday’s game is also Homecoming for Fort Hays State. Historically, homecoming football has always drawn a big crowd at Lewis Field Stadium. In 2025, FHSU packed in 8,211 fans on homecoming in a stadium with a seating capacity of 6,362.
“Our home crowd is definitely a big advantage for us,” Brown said. “They truly support us every single week that we’re at home….The stands are always full, that’s what we feed off of. We love that energy. We love that excitement. We love how they get at the opposing team as well….It’s good to be back home and hopefully we put on a good show and a good performance for them on Saturday.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Lewis Field Stadium. Tiger Media Network will provide coverage of the game streaming on the MIAA Network.
Story submitted as part of Convergent Media Lab, a course within the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at Fort Hays State University