Fort Hays State football looks for its first win of 2013 on Saturday (Oct. 5) for Homecoming against William Jewell at Lewis Field Stadium in Hays. Game time is set for 7 pm. This is one of two non-conference games for FHSU in 2013. The Tigers enter at 0-4 overall, while William Jewell is 1-3 overall.
Now that the Tigers have a run of four nationally ranked opponents behind them, they look to make a similar push to what they did in 2012. Fort Hays State lost to the same four teams to open 2012, all ranked last year as well, and then went 5-2 the rest of the way.
Fort Hays State won its only non-conference game last year on the road at South Dakota Mines. The Tigers will play South Dakota Mines once again this year, at home on November 2. FHSU has a nine-game conference schedule this year compared to 10 last year.
William Jewell is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Cardinals are coming off a non-conference loss to South Dakota Mines at home by a score of 70-48. The lone win for the Cardinals so far was at Valparaiso. They are 0-1 in conference play so far.
When asked about the upcoming game against William Jewell in his weekly press conference, head coach
Chris Brown said "I'm trying to keep our kids focused and locked in. We've got to get a win. I feel our kids are locked in and tuned in to what we've got to do because they're hungry for a win."
"I think our team is closer and that's good to see. We talk about it all the time, we win and lose together, offensively, defensively, special teams. Not one person causes us a loss," said Brown when asked about the 0-4 start to the season and the team's cohesion.
When asked about the success of moving the ball against Missouri Western last week, a game that saw FHSU post a season-high 24 first downs, coach Brown said "We're going to keep trying to dink and dunk our way down the field. Eventually we'll start getting big plays and hopefully we get a few of those on Saturday. I'll take first down, first down, first down because eventually those are going to lead to touchdowns."
Andre Smith leads FHSU in rushing yards with 257, while
Treveon Albert has thrown for 721 yards and five touchdowns at quarterback.
Keaton Callins is the leading FHSU receiver with 183 yards on 19 catches.
Justin McPhail leads the defense with 36 tackles.
