{"id":90491,"date":"2025-10-06T09:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T14:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=90491"},"modified":"2025-10-06T09:27:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T14:27:26","slug":"fort-hays-state-runs-past-missouri-southern-for-seventh-straight-win-in-joplin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=90491","title":{"rendered":"Fort Hays State runs past Missouri Southern for seventh straight win in Joplin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By GARRETT WELLBROCK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JOPLIN, Mo. \u2013 Fort Hays State leaned on its ground game and timely defense to extend its dominance over Missouri Southern, holding off the Lions 28-21 on Saturday to notch its seventh straight win in Joplin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The RV\/No. 21-ranked Tigers (4-2, 3-1 MIAA) rushed for a season-high 254 yards and never trailed, improving to 11-1 in their last 12 meetings with Missouri Southern. Junior quarterback Caleb Heavner accounted for three touchdowns, rushing for 94 yards and two scores while throwing for another. Joshua Clark paced the Tigers on the ground with his first 100-yard game of the year, finishing with 116 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FHSU\u2019s offense also scored a touchdown on its opening drive, the first time this season the Tigers have managed to do so.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe had a great script, Coach Ross did a great job of calling plays, and we executed,\u201d Heavner said. \u201cWe can do that all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heavner punched in a 12-yard run to open the scoring, but the Lions (2-3, 0-3) answered with a 70-yard strike from freshman quarterback Tillman Martin to Isaiah Green. FHSU regained control on a 32-yard field goal from Zane Hall and stretched its lead when Heavner found Cale Cormaney for a 16-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, miscues kept Missouri Southern in the game. For the second straight week, the Tigers allowed a touchdown on the final play of the first half, this time a 34-yard heave from Martin to Isaiah Padello that cut the lead to 17-14 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty frustrating,\u201d defensive back Michael Chavez said of the late-half lapses. \u201cTwo weeks in a row, that\u2019s on us. We\u2019ve got to get back to the fundamentals \u2014 ball drills, playing through the hands \u2014 and make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chavez was otherwise instrumental to FHSU finding a win on the road, forcing two turnovers and intercepting Martin in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust right place, right time, doing my job,\u201d he said. \u201c[I\u2019m] just blessed to be here, blessed for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tigers\u2019 defense set the tone after halftime when senior linebacker John Johnson stripped Martin on the first play of the third quarter, setting up another Hall field goal. Heavner\u2019s 1-yard plunge early in the fourth quarter, keyed by a 58-yard burst from Clark, gave FHSU a 28-14 cushion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin threw for 322 yards, but the Lions mustered only 65 rushing yards against a physical FHSU front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe think we established that physicality, especially as the game went on,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cIn those moments when the plays come your way, you\u2019ve got to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FHSU Head Coach Chris Brown said the game showed both his team\u2019s progress and its flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not anything easy in the MIAA,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe had so many opportunities to put this game away. We gave up two big plays in the first half that killed us. If we finish those drives and take care of the ball, we might be up 28-0. Right now, it\u2019s the consistency that\u2019s killing us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tigers return home Saturday for a primetime matchup with defending MIAA champion Central Oklahoma. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and will be streamed on The MIAA Network and broadcast on 38 the Spot in Kansas City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By GARRETT WELLBROCK Tiger Media Network JOPLIN, Mo. \u2013 Fort Hays State leaned on its ground game and timely defense to extend its dominance over&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":88748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3387,7349],"tags":[1694,99,16421],"class_list":["post-90491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sports","category-sports","tag-fhsu-football","tag-football","tag-garett-wellbrock"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FHSU-VS-Angelo-4.jpg?fit=1835%2C1933&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90493,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90491\/revisions\/90493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}