FHSU Athletics
#13/12 Angelo State (0-0, 0-0 LSC) at
RV/#20 Fort Hays State (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
Thursday, August 28, 2025 ⦁ 7 p.m.
Hays, Kan. ⦁ Lewis Field Stadium
Game Sponsor: Vyve Broadband
Radio: KJLS (103.3) CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Video: MIAA Network: CLICK HERE TO WATCH ($)
Fort Hays State opens the 2025 season on Thursday night when it plays host to Angelo State in the Vyve Broadband Kickoff Classic at Lewis Field Stadium. Both the Tigers (No. 20) and Rams (No. 12) are ranked among the preseason top 25 of the D2Football.com Poll, while the Rams (No. 13) are a top 25 team in the AFCA poll. This will be the second-straight year the teams meet in the season opener in Hays.
Fort Hays State knocked off a No. 24 nationally ranked Angelo State team in the season opener of 2024 by a score of 21-7. The game never got going on the original night it was scheduled due to storms in the Hays area, so the game was postponed to the following day. Fort Hays State went on to win the weather-delayed contest 21-7 in its first-ever meeting with Angelo State in football.
The season-opening win for Fort Hays State started a dominant season at home in 2024, a perfect 6-0 at Lewis Field Stadium. Angelo State was among two nationally ranked teams the Tigers defeated in Hays last year, the other being No. 12 ranked Central Missouri by a score of 31-21 for Homecoming. The Tigers knocked off three nationally ranked teams overall in 2024, despite falling just short of an NCAA playoff berth in Super Region 3 with an 8-3 record.
Angelo State, on the other hand, lost both of its non-conference games to open last season. The Rams took a loss to Emporia State following their loss to FHSU. From that point, the Rams got red-hot, reeled off nine-straight wins to go undefeated in Lone Star Conference play, and made the NCAA playoffs with a 9-2 record in Super Region 4. They fell in the opening round of the playoffs at home to Bemidji State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
This year, the meeting between FHSU and ASU will be within the same super region. Both teams are part of Super Region 4 after a realignment of super regions in NCAA Division II. The MIAA, Great American Conference (GAC), Lone Star Conference (LSC) and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) are all in the same super region now, while the GLIAC and GLVC are no longer part of FHSU's super region. The GLIAC has perennial powerhouse programs Ferris State and Grand Valley State out of Michigan. Ferris State claimed its third national title over the last four years in 2024.
In last year's meeting, Fort Hays State built a 14-0 lead through one quarter before Angelo State cut the lead in half with a second-quarter touchdown. Neither team scored in the third before FHSU pushed its lead back out to 14 early in the fourth quarter and eventually won by that margin. Shane Watts, who went on to earn All-America honors at running back in 2024, scored two of FHSU's three touchdowns. Watts recently signed with the New England Patriots of the NFL in 2025 and played in two preseason games. Ryan Allen had the other Tiger touchdown in the game, a leaping 19-yard touchdown reception. It was the second-straight year Allen scored a touchdown on his first reception of the season. FHSU had three players finish with double-digit tackles in the game, lead by Makel Williams with 12.
The Tigers had a strong defense all throughout 2024 and the 203 yards they limited the Rams to in the season opener last year was the second fewest they allowed in a game throughout the season. Their lowest was a smothering of a No. 11-ranked Emporia State squad in Emporia on November 2 when they held the Hornets to just 138 yards of total offense in a 36-7 win. FHSU finished the 2024 season with the top scoring defense in the MIAA at just 16.9 points allowed per game. The Tigers had the second-best total defense in the conference, allowing just 330.1 yards per game in one of the top offensive conferences in the nation. Central Oklahoma (538.2) and Central Missouri (526.1) owned the top two total offenses nationally and were the only teams in Division II to average 500 yards or more of total offense per game.
Fort Hays State returns seven of its starters on offense from 2024, but just four on defense. Headlining the offensive starters returning are All-MIAA selections Josh Shaw (OL), Porter Dannevik (OL), Cale Cormaney (TE) and Caleb Heavner (QB). All-MIAA performers John Johnson (LB) and Gaven Haselhorst (DL) are among the four returning starters on the defensive side of the ball. Shaw and Johnson were named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List for 2025. It was the second-straight year Johnson was on the list.
After taking over the starting role at quarterback midway through last season, Heavner went on to set an FHSU record for completion percentage in a season (70.2). He threw for 1,649 yards and 13 touchdowns, while doing a good job of limiting mistakes with just two interceptions for the year. He added 353 rushing yards on the ground and reached the endzone five times carrying the ball. Shaw and Dannevik helped the FHSU offense average better than 400 yards of total offense per game for the second-straight year, while Cormaney notched over 300 receiving yards from his tight end position.
Johnson ranked second on the team in tackles per game last year (8.0), notching 63 in eight games of action after fighting through a mid-season injury. Haselhorst notched 31 tackles as a defensive end and finished with 3.5 sacks, second on the team only to Myles Menges, who earned MIAA Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2024. He was the fourth Tiger to be the Defensive Player of the Year in the MIAA under head coach Chris Brown, joining Sie Doe, Jr. (2016), Nathan Shepherd (2017), and Jose Delgado (2018).
Angelo State is headed by quarterback Braeden Fuller, who was the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2024. He had numbers similar to FHSU's Heavner in regards to a high touchdown to low interception ratio. He finished with 2,318 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and just two interceptions, while rushing for 678 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Tigers limited Fuller to a 2024 season-low 48 passing yards and just three yards of rushing (his second-lowest rushing total of the season). The Tigers were the only team to hold him under 100 yards passing in a game last year.
Both FHSU and ASU head coaches are looking for significant wins on Thursday night. Chris Brown of FHSU is seeking his 90th win, already the all-time wins leader in FHSU history. Now in his 14th season, Brown is the longest tenured Tiger head coach, passing the 13 seasons coached by Wayne McConnell. Jeff Girsch is seeking his 50th win at Angelo State, this being just his seventh year guiding the Rams.
This will be the second of three-straight season openers between FHSU and Angelo State. The Rams will host the third installment in San Angelo, Texas in 2026.