UNK Football Wraps Up Season With A Loss Saturday

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats took advantage of seven turnovers and got another 100-yard effort from sophomore running back Jay Harris to defeat Nebraska Kearney, 56-7, Saturday afternoon in Maryville.

This was the season-finale for both teams with Northwest ending up at 7-4 and UNK at 3-8. In September, these two teams will meet in the season-opener at Cope Stadium.

"It wasn’t a good day at the office. We haven’t imploded all year, but we did today. When you play a great program like Northwest Missouri, it can implode very easily on you and that’s exactly what happened," said UNK head coach Ryan Held on the KRVN Radio post-game show. "The sad thing is we did a lot of good things, at times, this year. That result gives you a sour taste in mouth, but it is what it is. That’s our reality and we have to go into the offseason and work to fix it."

UNK fumbled the opening kickoff, leading to a 17-yard touchdown drive for the 'Cats, with Northwest capping things with 14-yard pick six in the fourth quarter. They tallied 35 points off Loper miscues which included four lost fumbles, three interceptions by three different quarterbacks and a 15-yard personal foul penalty on a punt that gave the ball back to the 'Cats. They scored five plays later to make it 14-0.  ​

Junior receiver Darrius Jackson (St. Louis, Mo.) did bring back a kickoff 79 yards for six points in the second half, just the second kick return for a TD by the Lopers over the last 17 years. The other one came back in 2018 in a loss to Fort Hays State (back Darrius Webb; 98 yards).

The UNK D battled all day as they had to try and hold the 'Cats on many a short field. Northwest's average starting field position was its own 44-yard line; the Lopers was its own 22-yard line. End Quillan Felton (Lithonia, Ga.) sacked super senior quarterback Mike Hohensee three times with Northwest totaling 393 yards over 77 plays. Hohensee finished 17 of 27 for 185 yards and four TD tosses with Harris rumbling for 132 yards on 24 carries. He came in averaging 130 yards and reached the Century mark in every game this fall. He had a long run of 46 yards, so UNK limited him to 86 yards over the 23 other carries (3.7 avg.).  

Senior receivers Keegan Sturdy (five recep., 58 yards, two TD's) and Kashan Griffin (five recep., 57 yards, one TD) were Hohensee's favorite targets with the NW defense having seven tackles for loss, in addition to the seven forced turnovers. That TFL tally included four sacks for a loss of 18 yards.

"I was hopeful that we could blend in the transfers with the old guys and at times we did and at times we were just choppy in all three phases of the game," said Held. "If you’re a competitor, you should be frustrated. It wasn’t like today was the norm but there’s a lot of work to do. There’ll be some soul searching and this league will make you soul search because it’s so good."

In his 49th and final game as a Loper, QB TJ Davis (Colorado Springs) ran 12 times for 64 yards while going 6 of 15 in the air for 74 yards. He ends up with 123 career scores (61 rushing, 61 passing and one receiving and 10,887 yards of offense (6,525 passing, 4,361 rushing and one receiving)

Next, reserve QB's Sean Johnson Jr. (Orlando) and Abram Scholting (Pierce) combined for 46 passing yards with senior back Kevin Brown (East St. Louis, Ill.) have four catches for 39 yards. Finally, junior receive AJ McPhee (Belle Glade, Fla.) had a team-high five targets and two receptions for 26 yards.

Sixth-year senior backer Zach Schlager (McCook) had a game-high 13 tackles to pace the Loper defense. His tally included an eight-yard sack. Next, fifth-year senior safety Tre O'Guinn (Peoria, Ariz.) had nine stops (eight solo), Felton totaled five tackles as did fifth-year senior corner Armani Webster (Chicago) and sixth-year tackle Tell Spies (Mullen). On special teams, sixth-year senior punter Hunter Kraus (Taylor) had a boot of 55 yards in the first half.
 
"I think we have a good solid foundation coming back but we have to get stronger, really pay the price in the offseason and go get some more guys to help us. It’s a learning experience for all of us but we’ll keep working to get it right," said Held.