Missouri Western plays its home opener Thursday, September 9 inside Spratt Stadium as the Griffons entertain the Fort Hays State Tigers at 7:00 p.m. MWSU will try and bounce back from a loss in its season opener last week as they fell on the road at Central Oklahoma, 24-20.
The Griffons rallied from a 24-7 halftime deficit last week in Edmond, but they were unable to complete the comeback as they dropped their fourth straight season opener. Missouri Western had the ball three times in the fourth quarter to take the lead, but they failed to score on all three drives. The MWSU defense blanked the Bronchos in the second half to keep them in the game.
Fort Hays State comes to Spratt Stadium after a 15-7 loss at home in its season opener against Northwest Missouri State. The Tigers struggled offensively as they ran for only 48 yards, completed only 38.1 percent of their passes and had two interceptions. The FHSU defense kept the Tigers in the game as they limited the Bearcats to just 96 yards passing. Chris Brown enters his 10th season as the head coach at Fort Hays State as he is 66-38 overall, including a 61-34 mark in the MIAA.
SERIES HISTORY
MWSU is 16-12-1 all-time against Fort Hays State and they are 9-5-1 in games played at Spratt Stadium. The Griffons have won the last two meetings. Since Fort Hays State came into the MIAA in 2006, the Griffons are 12-2 against FHSU. MWSU is 7-1 in their last eight home games against Fort Hays State. This will be the third straight season in which Missouri Western faces the Tigers in the second game of the season after losing its opening game of the season. In the previous two meetings, MWSU has beaten a ranked Fort Hays State team. The Tigers have been ranked in the previous three meetings.
SEASON OPENERS
The Griffons are now 29-20-2 all-time in season openers after losing last week at Central Oklahoma. MWSU has struggled to get off to a good start in during Coach Williamson tenure as he is 0-4 and the Griffs have dropped the season opener in five of the last six seasons.
HOME OPENERS
MWSU is 37-12-1 all-time in their home openers. The Griffons fell in 2019 to Northwest Missouri State, which stopped a streak of seven consecutive wins in their first game of the season at home. Five of the 12 losses came in the first seven years of the program. Since 1977, Missouri Western is 35-7-1 in their home openers, and they'll try to avoid back-to-back losses in home openers since the 1986 and 1987 seasons. The Griffons have played Fort Hays State just two times in a home opener and they're 2-0, winning 37-14 in 2001 and 23-13 in 2018.
FIRST CAREER SCORES
Missouri Western is a very young team offensively with only one senior on the two-deep roster, and because of that there will be a lot of firsts in 2021. Three Griffons scored their first career touchdowns last Thursday against Central Oklahoma, and all were running backs. Freshman
Brandon Hall found the end zone in the second quarter on a 41-yard TD run, freshman
Shen Butler-Lawson, Jr. had a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and freshman
Brison Cobbins scored on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter against UCO on his first career carry.
OTHER FIRSTS
Along with those three running backs that scored last week, freshman RB
Jonas Bennett had his first career rushing attempt and freshman QB
Reagan Jones played three series under center. He finished 3-for-5 for 28 yards and he finished with 12 yards rushing. Wide Receivers
Hezekiah Trotter,
Traveon James and
C.J. Parks also played a lot for Missouri Western last week and they had their first career receptions.
CAREER NIGHT FOR COOP
Griffon sophomore wide receiver
Cooper Burton had his best day in black and gold. The sophomore from Benton High School in St. Joseph had career highs in receptions (7), receiving yards (90), rushing attempts (3) and rushing yards (23). Burton finished fourth on the team in 2019 as a freshman with 17 catches and he was third with 277 receiving yards.
DOMINATE SECOND HALF
MWSU is loaded with veterans on the defensive side of the ball, but they struggle in the first half against UCO last week. They allowed 24 points and 271 yards of the offensive as the Griffons dug themselves a 24-7 hole in the break. The vets adjust at halftime and shutout UCO in the second half and limited the Bronchos to just 112 yards. Of the six possession Central Oklahoma had, MWSU forced them to punt on five of those drives and had three three-and-outs to keep their team in the game. Seniors
Devan Burrell and
Evan Chohon each had eight tackles to lead that side of the football, while seniors
Terrance March and
Chris Blakeney led the team with 1.5 tackles for loss.
NEED TO PROTECT THE SPRATT
Last Thursday's loss at Central Oklahoma stopped a streak of 11 consecutive wins away from Spratt Stadium that dated back to week two of the 2018 season. Missouri Western has not had the same success at Spratt Stadium. The Griffons are 8-9 overall at home under Coach Williamson and they're 2-6 at Spratt Stadium in their last eight home games. Coach Williamson's tenure got off to a great start at home at he went 6-1 his first seven games inside Spratt Stadium.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the Missouri Western roster over the last year. Like all other teams, no Griffon lost a season of eligibility last fall and it has made their roster very young and inexperienced. MWSU has 117 players on their current roster and 73 of those players are freshman. 15 are in their third season at MWSU as they redshirted in 2019, while 31 of those freshmen are in their second season and 27 are true freshman. The Griffons have 22 sophomores, 16 of which are in their fourth season and six more in their third year. Missouri Western has only 22 upperclassmen on its roster this season. They have 14 juniors and eight seniors.
