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Loss isn't taking anything away
10/5/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
TOPEKA -- Fort Hays State University senior quarterback Mike Garrison and his Tiger teammates received compliments as they shook hands with Washburn University players after a 28-14 loss to the Ichabods on Saturday.
"Everyone is like, you have a great team, a great offense, just keep pushing, you are going to win some games," Garrison said. "Even Washburn is telling that to us when we walk through the line, so we know we are good. We can do it. We just need to stay mentally and physically sharp out there."
The Tigers dropped to 4-2 overall, 2-2 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, while No. 17 Washburn moved to 5-1, 3-1. However, Fort Hays delivered a strong game against the Ichabods, the nation's No. 1 scoring offense.
The loss didn't diminish the Tigers' thoughts of continuing a turnaround that has already tied the most single-season victories (four) and MIAA wins (two) in the five-year Kevin Verdugo era. Fort Hays was solid on both sides of the ball, had just one turnover and picked off two passes against Washburn, the conference leader in turnover margin.
"I told our players we are a good football team," Verdugo said. "We are going to go home and correct what we did wrong. (Saturday), we made some mistakes, but we are going to come back out and we have got Central Missouri next Saturday and we are going to play well. I know we will."
Sophomore linebacker Nick Dreitz even looked toward the postseason -- a benchmark Fort Hays has not reached since 1995.
"We are getting better every week," Dreitz said. "We are going to keep on getting better, get to the playoffs and hopefully get these guys first round."
The Tigers committed some mistakes Saturday, namely a fumble in Washburn territory, a safety and multiple big passing plays from Ichabod sophomore quarterback Dane Simoneau, who threw for 398 yards. Yet Fort Hays held Washburn, averaging 57.3 points in its first three home contests, to 28 points.
"Just a few big plays in there," Dreitz said. "We stop those, we win this game."
The Tiger defense continues to improve in first-year defensive coordinator Kyle Nystrom's 4-2-5 scheme. In the last two weeks, Fort Hays has permitted just 48 points, fourth-best in the conference. In the first four contests, the Tigers allowed 127 points.
"Compared to the first game, we have gotten a lot better and we are going to keep getting better," Dreitz said. "We feel like we stopped the run pretty good this game better than we have."
"I thought we did pretty well overall," Verdugo said of the defense.
Washburn entered Saturday with a conference-best nine interceptions, including four from freshman Pierre Desir. Garrison, though, often used checkdowns and screen passes and completed 24-0f-39 for 221 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Nine of the passes went to junior running back James Walker, the conference leader in yards from scrimmage with 748, including 131 against Washburn. Garrison's lone mistakes came on a few misfired deep passes.
Overall, Garrison now has 1,428 yards passing with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. His 62.9 completion percentage is on pace to break the school record of 60.0 set by Robert Long in 1985. In addition, Garrison is on pace to throw for 2,618 yards, third-most in Fort Hays annals.
"I just need to clean it up, get in the film room some more, just learn the defense a little more, so just once it's out there, just second nature to me," he said.
Junior wideout O.J. Murdock hauled in another TD pass Saturday, his fifth straight game with one score. He has 16 catches for 405 yards, good for 25.3 yards per catch, still on course to break school and MIAA marks.
Defensively, Fort Hays picked off Simoneau twice. Simoneau went into Saturday's game with three interceptions. Junior Michael Walker picked off one at the Fort Hays 2, while senior C.J. Lovett had another interception at the Tiger 3. The poor field position eventually led to eight Washburn points on a safety and touchdown off a short field.
"Safety, that was tough, since we got it on the ... 2-yard line. It is tough to get out of there when you are backed up to the end zone," Garrison said.
The safety, though, was only one of a few mistakes made by the improved Tigers.
"We are still chugging," Garrison said. "We are still a very good team."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |