Western defense shows out in home win
Sep. 23—Missouri Western football defeated Fort Hays State 28-7 on Saturday, notching their third-straight victory and marking their first 3-1 start since 2015
Western was the highest scoring offense in the MIAA heading into Saturday's contest, and came out the gate looking like another high-scoring performance was on the docket with the help of their defense.
Freshman running back for Western Seth Cromwell was the beneficiary of Western's defensive takeaways in less than seven minutes into the game.
Western's Jaden Brown would be the catalyst for an early lead as Brown tallied an interception on the second play of the game and would turn right around and block a punt on Hays' second possession. Both big plays would set up Cromwell touchdowns from one yard following the interception and from two yards out following the blocked punt.
"We try to score every time we get in the red zone," Cromwell said. "When we put that heavy package in, we know we're gonna score. If we're in the five-yard zone, I want that touchdown."
But as strong as Western looked to start the game, the offense wasn't able to make the most of their opportunities until much later in the third quarter when they scored their third touchdown of the game on an Armani Edden passing touchdown to Caleb Martin to extend their lead to 21-0.
The constant for Western was their defense. Dakari Streeter continued his stellar play this season by posting his fourth-straight game with a sack. But on this particular day, the redshirt senior would provide extra to the box score as he tallied three sacks on the day. Head coach Tyler Fenwick, who earned his first win at Spratt Stadium as head coach of the Griffons on Saturday, has been impressed with the way Streeter has played this season and was impressed with the way the defensive front played despite starting defensive lineman CJ Ravenell not available after he suffered an injury last week at Central Oklahoma.
"We were nervous about that," Fenwick said in reference to not having Ravenell available. "CJ is such a rock on the defensive line. All those guys stepped up. Dakari's been doing it all year. No, it didn't surprise me that he had a big game again today. He's been doing it all year."
Fort Hays would eventually strike back and avoid the shutout on a eight-yard touchdown from Jack Dawson to Jayden Horace with just over ten minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Following the Tigers' score, the fate of the game would be in Western's hands. Eight plays of clean, chain-moving holding a 14 point lead was able to slash over six minutes on the game clock. Play number nine of the drive was what the Griffons didn't want to see as Edden threw an interception on 3rd and 15.
On the possession that started on the MWSU 45-yard line, Fort Hays would get all the way to the Western seven-yard line. Facing a 3rd and 3 and needing a touchdown to stay in the game, a lofted pass to the right side of the end zone would see one of the biggest defensive plays for Missouri Western's defense in quite some time. Senior defensive back Brayden Wright, who already had a forced fumble earlier in the game, intercepted Dawson's pass to the end zone and returned it 101 yards for a pick-six and essentially put away the Tigers with the big play.
"We live by a motto of 'we bend, but we don't break.'" Wright said. "Doesn't matter where they go down the field, they gotta get in the box. They can get to the one, they can get to the two-half yard line, but they gotta cross that goal line. If they put that ball in the air, it's our job to go get it."
On the afternoon, the Griffon defense finished the day with seven sacks, one blocked punt, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Western will be afforded another home game in front of their own faithful when No. 11 Emporia State comes into Spratt Stadium next Saturday.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter @NPNowMeikel.
