KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State football student-athletes Jacob Mezera and Brandon Brown earned two of the three MIAA Football Athlete of the Week honors for their efforts in the first week of the season. Mezera earned Offensive Athlete of the Week, while Brown earned Special Teams Athlete of the Week. Both were instrumental in Fort Hays State’s 48-7 win over Missouri Southern in the season opener last Thursday.

Mezera was efficient in helping Fort Hays State build a 41-7 lead over Missouri Southern by halftime and played just three quarters in the 41-point win. He was 21-of-29 passing for 245 yards and two touchdowns, while he also rushed for one touchdown. His two-yard touchdown run gave the Tigers the lead 7-0 early in the first quarter, then had touchdown passes of 28 and 10 yards in the second quarter. His longest pass of the night went for 40 yards to Layne Bieberle.

Brown was perfect on his kicking attempts in the win over Missouri Southern. He converted both of his field goal attempts from 39 and 36 yards, and went 6-of-6 on extra-point attempts to finish with 12 points for the game. He averaged 56.0 yards per kickoff with three touchbacks.

This is the second time both Mezera and Brown have been named MIAA Football Athletes of the Week in the same week. Both earned the honor last year with their efforts in a 54-41 win at Pittsburg State, a game that saw Mezera set a new school record for total offense (508 yards) and Brown recorded 18 points with a 4-of-4 effort on field goals and 6-of-6 effort on extra-point attempts.

FHSU Sports Information