UCO Football Fell Short After Late Rally Against Central Missouri

A dramatic finish capped a roller-coaster affair as the University of Central Missouri Mules took down the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos 35-34, in a pivotal conference showdown Saturday evening. 

Central Missouri jumped ahead midway through the first quarter, taking a 7-0 lead after a long opening drive. A 16-play, 80-yard march to cap the drive produced the first score. 

The Mule defense forced a short field post-score on a later sequence before adding a 1-yard touchdown run very early in the second quarter, resulting in a 14-0 deficit for Central Oklahoma.

Sophomore wide receiver Ashton Schumann’s 22-yard touchdown catch with 12:00 to go in the second quarter finally put UCO on the board. Unfortunately, The Mules answered a little over a minute later with a 72-yard scoring pass to push the advantage back to two touchdowns, 21-7. Senior tight end Dominique Dunn’s 12-yard reception with 7:57 left before halftime cut it to 21-14, but UCM extended the lead to 28-14 only 30 seconds later. 

With a little over three minutes left in the second, Jaylen Cottrell’s 9-yard rushing score made it 28-21 at the break. 

When The Bronchos came out of halftime, the UCO defense did not allow UCM to breathe as they kept forcing Central Missouri to punt the ball. The Mules defense lost players throughout the game and soon after, UCO’s Will Mason had a breakout half with over 150+ rushing yards.

The third quarter was scoreless for both teams, but Central Oklahoma scored first in the fourth, tying the game 28-28.

Response is a common theme for The Mules and that is exactly what they did, gaining back the lead 35-28 with 5:05 left in the game.

The Bronchos rallied back once again with under three minutes to go, but couldn’t complete the field goal attempt in clutch time. UCO ultimately fell short 35-34. 

Central Oklahoma is now 2-3 overall and 2-2 in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) play.  

Central Missouri’s head football coach Josh Lamberson was under head UCO football coach Adam Dorrell for 4 years before coaching for The Mules. Since accepting his job at Central Missouri Lamberson has been named 2023 MIAA Coach of the year and was the 2023 MIAA conference champion. 

“Tough break tonight a lot of things could have gone differently in this game. We have not yet put together a full game of complimentary football where both sides of the ball played to their absolute best in the same quarter or even the same game,” said Dorrell.

UCO piled up 617 yards of offense, led by quarterback Jett Huff’s 394 passing yards on 32 of 48 attempts. The junior quarterback came back from a 3 week collarbone injury layoff. While tying the UCO schools record for most 300-yard games in a career, Huff also added 4 touchdowns. 

Ashton Schuman was the top target with 10 catches for 188 yards and a touchdown.

The Bronchos’ defense surrendered 500 yards of total offense, with Central Missouri gaining 348 passing yards and 152 on the ground. 

Reese Roller and Braden Waters matched team-high tackles with eight apiece. Roller added a sack and two tackles for loss.

Central Oklahoma will be on the road this Saturday where they will face Fort Hays State at 7 pm.