WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Sept. 8, 2016) --
Garrett Fugate connected with
Jaylen Zachery on two first quarter touchdowns and the UCM defense held Fort Hays State to just over 200 yards of total offense in a 34-17 UCM win on Thursday night at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field.
The UCM (2-0, 2-0 MIAA) defense asserted itself right from the get go, forcing three straight three and outs on the Fort Hays State (1-1, 1-1 MIAA) offense. Following the first stop, the Mules offense went 71 yards in just four plays with Fugate hitting Zachery for a 58-yard touchdown on third and eight to put the Mules in front 7-0.
The next drive was much of the same with UCM covering 56 yards in just four plays, this time Fugate to Zachery covered the final 13 yards and the lead was 14-0 with just over six minutes gone in the game.
The Tigers got on the board early in the second quarter on a Malik Thomas three-yard run to pull within 14-7. On the ensuing possession the Mules drove 58 yards in 11 plays, capped by a
Billy Greco 23-yard field goal to pull ahead 17-7, a lead the Mules would take in to halftime.
On UCM's second drive of the third quarter, the Mules found paydirt again. hard running from
Gabe Vandiver resulted in a nine-yard scoring run to put UCM in front 24-7. Vandiver picked up the final 28 yards on the drive with some tough-nosed running.
The Mules made it 31-7 late in the third quarter on
Xavier Washpun's 20-yard scoring run. The scamper capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive.
The Tigers mounted a late comeback, however. Brandon Brown made a 40-yard field goal with 12:20 left in the game to pull FHSU within 31-10. Following a three and out by the Mules and a short punt, FHSU had the ball at midfield. Seven plays later TJ Thomas rushed from seven yards out to pull the Tigers within 31-17.
UCM got the ball back with 8:15 on the clock and put together a back-breaking drive that covered 82 yards in 14 plays and took 7:22 off the clock. Greco capped the drive with a 26-yard field goal to give UCM the 34-17 advantage. The big play on the drive was an 11-yard pass from Fugate to Vandiver on third and 10 to extend the drive deep in UCM territory.
Fugate finished the day 26-of-39 for 306 yards and two scores as UCM racked up 514 yards of total offense. Washpun rushed 17 times for 117 yards and score, while Vandiver added 59 yards and a TD on 11 carries.Â
Zachery caught six passes for 106 yards, his sixth career 100-yard receiving game, and two scores.
Kyle Echols hauled in five passes for 62 yards.
Defensively,
Tevin Teamer led UCM with eight tackles and a fumble recovery as the Mules held FHSU to 223 yards of total offense, including just 82 yards rushing on 34 carries for the league's top rushing offense.
Jackson Newman added six tackles and
Wyatt Hendrix had three tackles and two sacks. As a unit, the defense registered seven tackles for loss, five sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception.
Jacob Mezera was 15-of-28 for 141 yards and an interception for the Tigers. Shaquille Cooper carried 12 times for 63 yardss and Tyler Bacon had six catches for 57 yards.
Alex Schmidtberger led FHSU with 17 tackles, while Jose Delgado had 14 with 2.5 tackles for loss.
The Mules are back in action next Saturday night, Sept. 17 as they travel to St. Joseph to take on Missouri Western. Kickoff at the newly renovated Spratt Memorial Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
