Bronchos Freeze Ichabodes in Shutout

The University of Central Oklahoma football team pitched its first shutout since Oct. 2014, in a 34-0 win over Washburn University on Saturday at Wantland Stadium.

“I was really proud of the team today for playing consistent,” said head coach Nick Bobeck. “We dipped down just a little bit in the second quarter, but the team responded well in the second half with a great performance.”

The Broncho defense held Washburn to a season-low 231 total yards of offense. They forced one turnover and held the Ichabods to 4-of-15 on third down attempts and 2-of-6 on fourth down attempts.

Linebackers Colton Lindsey and Dillion Hall, along with cornerback Kolby Underwood, each had eight tackles to lead the Bronchos while linebacker Jeremiah Hill came away with the Bronchos only turnover on a fumble recovery, along with chipping in one of the team’s six tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Noble Lybrand recorded the only sack.

“We’ve been pretty good on the defensive side of the ball,” Bobeck said. “We’ve finally got some consistency along the defensive line where were struggling early in the season. Then in the back end, we’re not giving up chunk plays like we were.”

Offensively, the Bronchos were led by quarterback Will Collins, who went 19-of-24 passing for 282 yards and two touchdowns while adding another score on the ground.

Running back Clay McKenzie only had 35 yards, but it was enough to get him past 3,000 yards for his career, making him the eighth player in program history to do so. He also found the end zone, giving him 40 career touchdowns and tying him for third-most in program history.

“He’s not a flashy kid and he never has been,” Bobeck said. “He’s a physical kid who wears people down and had done that throughout his career. This is a mark that’s a pretty big number.”

Wide receiver Mekail Hall led in yards with 111 on five catches, including a 40-yarder on the second play of the game. Dustin Basks led in catches with seven for 105 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s a talented kid,” Bobeck said about Basks. “He’s an explosive kid who is really good with the ball in his hands and you guys saw a little bit of that today.”

The Bronchos struck first as Collins found wide receiver Ronald Monroe in the corner of the end zone to take an early 7-0 lead. On the following drive, the Bronchos add three more points as kicker Alex Quevedo hit a 25-yard field goal to make it 10-0. The defense made their presence known as Hill recovered a fumble inside the Washburn 20-yard line.

Four plays later, Quevedo hit a 24-yard field goal to make it 13-0 at the start of the second quarter. After a scoreless second quarter, the Bronchos took their 13-0 lead into the half.

After a stop to open the third quarter, McKenzie found the end zone with a 2-yard touchdown run, increasing the lead to 20-0. On the following drive, Collins hit a streaking Basks for a 56-yard touchdown, making it 27-0 in the middle of the third quarter.

They found the end zone for the last time in the fourth quarter as Collins ran it in from 4-yards to close out the 34-0 win and improve to 5-3 on the season.

The Bronchos travel to Joplin, Missouri on Saturday to take on Missouri Southern State University. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.