By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western's offense had 10 total possessions in Saturday's game against No. 24 Nebraska-Kearney.
The Griffons got into Loper territory on seven of those drives, and five of them covered 57 yards or more. However, Missouri Western (2-4) only scored on three of their possessions Saturday, and were hampered by turnovers and special teams mistakes in a 39-18 loss to UNK at Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph.
It felt somewhat similar to last Saturday when Missouri Western had four drives that made it to the Northwest Missouri State 30-yard line or better, but only resulted in one score.
"Two weeks in a row, we've been able to get on the plus side of the field, and we're not scoring," Missouri Western head football coach Matt Williamson said. "It's costing us big time."
Nebraska-Kearney got the ball to start the game and scored on just the third play. Fifth-year senior quarterback T.J. Davis took off on a 59-yard touchdown run just 42 seconds into the game.
The Lopers then faked a point-after and successfully converted a two-point try on a shovel pass to Willie Fair, giving UNK an early 8-0 advantage.
Missouri Western had the response on its opening series. The Griffons marched 65 yards on 12 plays, and quarterback Reagan Jones scored on a rushing touchdown of his own, a 13-yard rush, to get Missouri Western on the board at 8-7 with 9:52 remaining in the first.
After both teams traded a couple of possessions, Missouri Western had the ball early in the second quarter and was driving, but the Griffons failed to convert on a 4th-and-3 from the UNK 25.
The Lopers, after that, milked nearly 6.5 minutes of clock on a 14-play, 54 yard drive, which ended with a 39-yard field goal from Junior Gonzalez, putting UNK up 11-7 with 5:34 left in the first half.
On the ensuing drive, Missouri Western was forced into a punting down, but an errant snap to punter Evan Williams went between his legs and bounced 20 yards down the field. Williams had to dive on the ball at the Missouri Western 31-yard line.
The Lopers took over at that spot, and took advantage. In just three plays, UNK scored a touchdown. Damien Cearns scored on a six-yard touchdown run on an option pitch from Davis, putting the Lopers up 18-7 with 1:42 left in the second.
The Griffons drove 52 yards on seven plays in the closing moments of the second quarter, but a 51-yard field goal attempt by Cody Watson missed to the left and UNK went to the locker room up 18-7.
Missouri Western got the ball to start the second half and moved 49 yards on 13 plays. Watson, this time, connected on a career-long 38-yard field goal to make it a one-score game at 18-10 with 9:02 left in the third.
That's as close as Missouri Western would get for the rest of the game.
UNK responded on its opening series of the second half, going 77 yards on 12 plays. On 3rd and 7, Davis threw a strike over the middle to Bailey Torres, who scored from 23 yards out to put Kearney up 25-10 with 3:12 left in the third.
Missouri Western achieved two first downs on its ensuing drive, but on the fifth play of that drive, a Reagan Jones pass intended for Cooper Burton bounced off of Cooper's hands and landed in the arms of Kearney's Jaylon Perkins, who returned the interception 16 yards to the MWSU 30.
Kearney, again, took advantage of the Griffons' mistake. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Davis found the end zone on a four-yard rush, his second rushing touchdown and his third all-purpose score of the game, and Kearney led 32-10 with 14:54 to play.
Missouri Western punched in a late touchdown after that. Thanks to a couple of big catches from Traveon James, the Griffons scored from seven yards out as Jones found Brandon Hall on a seven-yard touchdown pass, making it 32-18 with 6:29 remaining.
Missouri Western's Preston Gregg attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by UNK. The Lopers added one more score for good measure just three plays later, as Montrez Jackson went 32 yards up the middle for a rushing touchdown, bringing the final tally to 39-18 with 4:58 left.
The Griffons had one last drive that made it all the way to the UNK 25, but that drive ended in turnover on downs - a bit indicative of how the MWSU offense operated all day. Moving the ball, getting yards, but not scoring enough points.
"You're not going to win football games if you don't score points," Williamson said. "We had fumbles, we had a bad snap (on a punt), we had all kinds of miscues that put our defense in bad situations."
Davis led UNK with 162 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 18 carries. He was also 7-of-13 through the air for 90 yards and a score. Jones was 17-of-33 through the air for Western with 244 yards, a touchdown and an INT.
Jones also rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. James had his third-career 100-yard receiving game for Western, hauling in a game-high eight catches for a season-high 169 yards.
In all, the Griffons ran 81 plays Saturday - 27 more than UNK. Missouri Western had 29 first downs - 14 more than UNK. The Griffons had 428 yards of total offense - 88 more than UNK. Missouri Western had 244 passing yards - 154 more than UNK.
Missouri Western held the ball for 5:48 longer than Kearney did. The difference? Kearney crossed into MWSU territory seven times in the game, and scored on six of those chances.
As opposed to the Griffons, who made it to the Loper side of the 50-yard line seven times, and only scored on three of those trips.
"Those stats don't matter," Williamson said. "You have to keep points off the board and you have to score points. If you lose and don't score points, it doesn't matter. I've talked to our kids and our staff about that."
It also helped that UNK had four drives that started at their own 49 or better. Three of those four drives ended in a touchdown for the Lopers.
"We have to get it fixed and get it fixed fast," Williamson said. "Games come really quick and if you don't get it fixed, we're not going to be able to turn a corner. We will. I'm going to get this thing fixed, get this thing rolling and we'll be ready to go."
Missouri Western lost its fourth straight this season, and have fallen to Nebraska-Kearney in each of the last three meetings with the Lopers.
Missouri Western will again regroup and try to snap their losing skid as they head to Northeastern State (1-5) Saturday. The Riverhawks got walloped by Central Oklahoma 55-6 this past Thursday. Kickoff from Talequah, Oklahoma is set for 4 p.m. Coverage starts at 3 p.m. on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3).
Nebraska-Kearney is home to Emporia State (4-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.