KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Football student-athletes Chance Fuller and Adrian Soto earned MIAA Football Athlete of the Week honors on Monday (Oct. 4) for their efforts in Fort Hays State's epic second-half comeback victory against No. 12 ranked Nebraska-Kearney this past Saturday in Hays. Fuller is the Co-Offensive Player of the Week, while Soto is the Special Teams Player of the Week.
Fuller orchestrated an amazing second-half comeback by the Fort Hays State offense. Down 21-0 at halftime, Fuller led the Tigers on six-straight touchdown drives in the second half to get past the Lopers. The Tigers were a perfect 6-of-6 scoring touchdowns on full-length drives in the second half as their final touch of the ball was a kneel down to run out the clock. Fuller finished with 345 passing yards and three touchdowns, while adding 38 rushing yards to finish with 383 yards of total offense in the game. He was exceptional in the second half going 13-of-16 passing for 239 yards, with 30 of his 38 rushing yards. He shares Offensive Player of the Week honors this week with Logan Twehous, quarterback for Central Missouri who threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Northeastern State.
Soto continues to be a do-it-all player for FHSU, finishing with 309 all-purpose yards in the win over UNK. Soto had a season-high 124 kick return yards and his 47-yard return to the UNK 37 was huge in Fort Hays State keeping its offensive momentum rolling in the second half. The return set up a quick 1:10 scoring drive that cut the UNK lead down to 35-21 late in the third quarter and the Tigers continued to storm back outscoring UNK 21-0 in the fourth quarter. Soto was also close to producing 100 rushing and 100 receiving yards as well, finishing with 98 rushing and 87 receiving (a combined 185 yards on offense).
Offensively, Soto caught a pass for 25 yards on FHSU's first drive of the fourth quarter, which set up a touchdown pass on the following play to make the score 35-28 in favor of UNK. On the next Tiger drive, he had a 14-yard rush and a 40-yard reception that helped lead to the game-tying touchdown. On the final FHSU drive of the game, he had a key 14-yard rush on third down to keep FHSU moving. Two plays later FHSU scored the game-winning touchdown to complete an amazing second-half comeback. Soto has produced over 200 all-purpose yards in three of the last four games for FHSU (222 at Missouri Western, 267 at Missouri Southern, and 309 vs. Nebraska-Kearney).
FHSU Sports Information