Bronchos Defeat Fort Hays Tigers in a Thrilling 21-14 Victory.

In a tightly contested standstill through three quarters, Central Oklahoma football capped a dramatic fourth quarter win with a big touchdown to defeat Fort Hays State 21-14 Saturday evening at Lewis Field Stadium. 

The Bronchos moved to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), while The Tigers fell 4-3 overall and 3-2 in league play.

The first quarter produced a defensive chess match between both teams, with the score being 0-0 at the start of the second. The offense finally clicked for UCO when Jett Huff connected with Ashton Schumann for a 37-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. Fort Hays State answered later in the second with 23 seconds left on the clock, when Caleb Heavner threw a touchdown pass to Cale Cormaney tying the game up 7-7 at the half. 

The Tigers seized the moment in the third quarter thanks to a pivotal miscue. A bad snap sailed over quarterback Huff’s head, Taderian Partee recovered the ball and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown putting Fort Hayes ahead 14-7. The Bronchos quickly swung the pendulum back in their favor with Dev Matthews scoring a 62-yard rushing touchdown just 27 seconds later, tying the game at 14-14 and sending the game into a decisive fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter produced the game’s deciding moment when a UCO interception return helped set up The Bronchos final touchdown, sealing the 21-14 win. The sequence of big plays swung the momentum, but UCO’s defense stood tall in the final drive.

“We had a rough week last week as a defensive back group allowing over 300+ passing yards, so this week at practice we challenged ourselves to really dig deep and sharpen each other’s skills. We took it into our hands to watch what we were eating. We were making sure to get extra work after practice and truly study our opponents strengths and weaknesses,” said junior defensive back Bryant Coley. 

Central Oklahoma rushed for 223 yards as a team and had a pair of 100-yard rushers. William Mason finished with 123, while Matthews added 105. Huff finished with 161 passing yards and Schumann was his top target with six catches for 61 yards. Linebacker Jack Puckett led UCO with 11 tackles, which included a pair of sacks.

UCO will be home this Saturday, where they will host Emporia State at Chad Richison Stadium with kickoff to begin at 7 p.m.