By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post

Hays, Kan. – Fort Hays State held No. 1 Northwest Missouri State 205 yards and 24 points below their season average, but were held to a season low 197 yards and lost 28-7 Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field. It’s the fewest points and yards for Northwest (10-0) this season, but the Bearcats clinch at least a share of the MIAA title with their 25-straight win, the longest streak in all of college football. It’s also their 13th-straight win over the Tigers dating back to 1978.

Chris Brown Postgame Press Conference

 

Postgame Player Interviews (Alex Schmidtberber, Layne Bieberle, Mason Dickey)

 

Game Highlights

The Tigers (6-4) were 0-for-14 on third down and held to 74 rushing yards.

Northwest Missouri state scored on a pick-six on the Tigers first possession of the game. They added another touchdown following a short FHSU punt which gave them the ball as the Tigers 35. The Bearcats also blocked two field goal attempts and led 14-0 at the half.

The Tigers played most of the game without starting quarterback Jacob Mezera who injured his shoulder on the second possession of the game and never returned. Backup Brad Schencker completed 10-of-27 passes for 150 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

He engineered a five-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter after Northwest had built a 21-0 lead. Schencker hit Bilal Salat on a 65-yard strike then found freshman Layne Bieberle in the corner of the end zone to pull the Tigers within 14 points.

Northwest quarterback Kyle Zimmerman, who came into the game with 31 touchdown passes and no interceptions, threw two picks, one by Raheeme Dumas and the other by Jose Delgado. Zimmerman threw one TD pass but never had a completion longer than 24 yards the entire game.

Alex Schmidtberger led the Tigers with 16 tackles to move into third place in the Division II era.