FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State at
#2/4 Northwest Missouri State
Thursday, September 1 – 7 p.m.
Maryville, Mo. – Bearcat Stadium
Radio: KJLS (103.3-FM)
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Fort Hays State Football will open its 2022 season on Thursday night at No. 2/4 ranked Northwest Missouri State in Maryville. The two programs have combined for nine MIAA titles since 2013 and Fort Hays State is the last opponent to win in Maryville, which occurred back in 2018. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bearcat Stadium.
Northwest Missouri State won the MIAA title in 2021 with a record of 9-1. The Bearcats received the No. 3 seed in Super Region 3 of the NCAA Playoffs and won a pair of games to get to the national quarterfinals. They fell in that round to No. 1 seed/No. 1 nationally ranked Ferris State (Mich.), which went on to win the national title.
Fort Hays State is coming off a tough season in 2021 in which it finished 5-6 overall. It snapped a string of five straight seasons of eight or more wins for the Tigers. FHSU played in a lot of close games, but unfortunately came up short in four of six games decided by eight points or less (one-score games). All six of Fort Hays State's losses were by 10 or less. One of those losses by eight or less was to Northwest Missouri State by a score of 15-7 to open the 2021 season in Hays.
Northwest Missouri State enters this game on a 12-game win streak at home, the longest current home win streak in NCAA Division II. Fort Hays State was the last opponent to win in Maryville, which occurred in Northwest Missouri State's final home game of the 2018 season by a score of 17-16. That result helped FHSU claim a share of the MIAA title with NWMSU that season. A year earlier in 2017, Fort Hays State won 13-12 in Maryville to claim the outright MIAA title, a season that saw the Tigers go undefeated in the regular season before falling in the NCAA Playoffs. So not only is FHSU the last opponent to win in Maryville, it can claim the last two losses handed to the Bearcats on their home turf. The teams have not met in Maryville since that win by the Tigers in 2018 as Northwest Missouri State got its revenge with a 36-33 double overtime win in Hays in 2019 and then the 15-7 win in Hays last year.
This will be the eighth time in the last nine seasons that the Bearcats hold an AFCA Top 10 national ranking going into the matchup with FHSU. The 2019 meeting is the only outlier in that run, when the Bearcats held the No. 12 ranking in the AFCA poll.
The Tigers return nine of 13 All-MIAA selections from a year ago. First-team selections that are back include Adrian Soto and Hunter Budke. Soto earned the honor as an all-purpose back, leading the MIAA in all-purpose yards per game (157.1). He showed great versatility as the team's leading rusher with 814 yards, a strong receiving option with 485 yards, and produced 429 kick return yards. He finished with 1,728 all-purpose yards for the season. Budke was the premier receiving tight end in NCAA Division II with 620 yards on 47 catches with eight touchdowns. He would eventually gain All-America First Team distinctions from five different organizations for his efforts in 2021.
Two-time All-MIAA Second Team selection Chance Fuller returns for his senior campaign at quarterback. Fuller threw for over 3,000 yards each of the last two seasons. He enters Thursday's contest just 115 passing yards shy of the career record at FHSU, held by Jacob Mezera (7,682). Fuller already owns school records for career passing touchdowns (64), passing touchdowns in a season (35), passing yards in a game (474), and pass completions in a game (40).
The offensive line has a strong veteran presence this year, including three individuals with All-MIAA pedigree. Pat Kelly is a two-time All-MIAA selection and has started 35 games in his career at left tackle. Ted Hessing was an All-MIAA Second Team pick in 2019, seeing the majority of action at right tackle that season before moving to right guard. He was out all of last year with an injury. Kristopher Stroughter was an All-MIAA Third Team selection last year, holding down the right tackle position. Senituli Teuhema also has a whole season of starting experience under his belt as a center.
Manny Ramsey, Fort Hays State's top receiver from last year, is a two-time All-MIAA selection. He led the MIAA and ranked 13th in NCAA Division II for receptions per game last season (6.5), finishing the year with 65 catches for 811 yards. He produced over 800 receiving yards each of the last two seasons and seven 100+ yard receiving games in his career.
On the defensive side of the ball, linebackers Myles Menges and John Johnson both return after leading the team in tackles last year. Menges had 75 and Johnson had 72. Layke Heimerman also returns after sustaining a season-ending injury five games into the 2021 season. He led the team in tackles with 44 before his injury and still managed to rank fifth on the team in tackles by season's end. Menges and Heimerman each received All-MIAA honors. Johnson came on strong in the second half of the season by replacing Heimerman as a starter. He averaged 10.3 tackles per game over the final six contests, producing a total of 62 in that span.
Ty Cooper, Will White, Mason Perez, and Tyler Cummings are the four players returning in the defensive secondary that had at least 30 tackles last season. Devin White also returns after tying for the team lead in interceptions last season with two.
The Tigers will be entering their 11th season under head coach Chris Brown, who carries an overall record of 71-43. He has guided the Tigers to a pair of NCAA Playoff appearances, four postseason contests overall, and a pair of MIAA titles (2017 and 2018). Brown has the third-longest tenure among MIAA head coaches, only behind Craig Schurig who enters his 21st season at Washburn and Garin Higgins who enters his 15th season at Emporia State. Brown was an assistant coach for Schurig at Washburn before becoming head coach at Fort Hays State.