EDMOND, Okla. – Fort Hays State escaped a poor start at Central Oklahoma on Saturday night (Sept. 16) thanks to a big receiving performance by Monterio Burchfield. His 64-yard touchdown reception with 45 seconds remaining lifted the No. 21 ranked Tigers to a 31-24 win, moving to 3-0 on the season. Burchfield finished the game with 217 yards on eight catches.
 
Burchfield was also key in getting the game tied. With the Tigers trailing 24-21, he jumped up over a defender to haul in a 40-yard pass from Jacob Mezera on 3^rd-and-12 for a key first down. Roughing the passer tacked on extra yards to the play and eventually led to a Brandon Brown 24-yard field goal to tie the game with 3:44 remaining.
 
The Tiger defense gave Mezera and the offense the chance for a game-winning drive. Luke Wright came up with a key sack on third down at the UCO 37-yardline. It forced a punt that allowed the Tigers to start at their own 24-yardline. Just before the game-winning touchdown catch, Matt Wendelberger came up with a key six-yard first down reception on 3^rd-and-4. That set up the heroics for Burchfield, who laid a vicious stiff arm to his defender near midfield on the catch and then outsprinted the defense to the endzone. Burchfield averaged 27.1 yards per catch on the night. He pushed Mezera to over 400 yards passing in the game. Mezera completed 27-of-37 attempts for 401 yards.
 
The Tigers fell into a hole early in the game as UCO took a 14-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, thanks to a 75-yard receiving play that led to the first touchdown and an interception that set up a short field for the second. But, the defense shook off the rough start and the offense pushed its first touchdown in at the 8:52 mark of the second quarter on a Harley Hazlett 8-yard run. UCO led 14-7 at halftime.
 
Kenneth Iheme was key in the third quarter for FHSU, taking the first play from scrimmage in the second half 75 yards for a touchdown on a reception from Mezera. The Tigers instantly grabbed the momentum and tied the game. At the 1:07 mark of the third, Iheme found the endzone from five yards out on a run to push the Tigers into the lead 21-14. Iheme finished with 153 all-purpose yards (88 receiving and 65 rushing).
 
UCO countered with a field goal at the 11:02 mark of the fourth quarter, then a touchdown pass with 7:32 remaining to gain the lead back at 24-21. But Fort Hays State showed its mettle and fought its way to victory late, winning its first contest as an AFCA ranked team.
 
Fort Hays State outgained Central Oklahoma 535 to 369 in total yards. On defense, Connor Shedeed led the Tigers with 10 tackles, while Jose Delgado and Tanner Hoekman each had eight.
 
Chas Stallard led UCO with 280 passing yards, while adding 39 rushing, to become UCO's all-time leader in total offense. J.T. Luper had a big receiving game for the Bronchos with 12 catches for 184 yards.
 
The Tigers are at home next week. They host Northeastern State at 2 pm on Saturday, September 23 at Lewis Field Stadium in Hays.