By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
On a day when Missouri Western's offense had some trouble finishing off drives, the Griffon defense made up for it.
The Griffons (3-1) forced five turnovers which turned into 21 points, Missouri Western sacked Fort Hays State quarterback Jack Dawson seven times and MWSU all-in-all shut the Tigers down in a 28-7 victory at Spratt Stadium in St. Joseph Saturday.
Missouri Western picked off Dawson three times, while also recovering a pair of fumbles.
The game got off to a disastrous start for Fort Hays State. The Tigers (2-2) turned it over on their second play from scrimmage, as Dawson had a pass picked off by Missouri Western's Jaden Brown.
The Griffons turned that into points seven plays later, as Seth Cromwell ran the ball in from one yard away to give Missouri Western a 7-0 lead with 10:45 left in the first quarter.
Disaster struck again for Hays just a few plays later. The Tigers went three-and-out on their ensuing drive. As they tried to punt it away, Missouri Western's Jake Leader and Sam Taylor blocked the kick, and the Griffons took over at the Hays 4-yard line.
Two plays later, Cromwell struck again - this time from two yards out - and the Griffons led 14-0 with 8:32 still to play in the first.
That score didn't change for awhile.
The Griffons had two red zone trips in the second quarter that came up empty - one on a missed field goal and the other ended with an interception by Missouri Western quarterback Armani Edden.
Hays had plenty of empty possessions themselves. The Tigers crossed the 50-yard-line five times and only scored on one of those trips.
The Griffons scored the first points of the second half late in the third. After Grant Finley recovered a fumble forced by Braden Wright, Missouri Western took over at the Hays 8-yard-line and scored two plays later.
Edden found Caleb Martin in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard score and the Griffons led 21-0 headed to the fourth quarter.
Hays finally punched one in early in the fourth when Dawson connected with Jayden Horace for an eight-yard touchdown to make it 21-7 with 10:02 to go.
The Griffons milked some clock on the ensuing drive, but Edden threw a pick on a third down play, and Hays took over at the Griffon 39-yard-line, down 14, with 3:49 to go, and all three timeouts.
The Tigers got all the way to the seven, but on a third down play, Dawson threw an interception in the end zone, which Brayden Wright took 100 yards the other way for a score, putting the game away at 28-7 with 2:35 left.
Missouri Western held Hays to just 331 total yards, including just 74 on the ground. Dakari Streeter led the tackling effort for the Griffons, finishing with eight total tackles and three sacks.
Dawson completed 27-of-42 passes for 257 yards to lead Hays offensively, but he had three picks and was sacked seven times.
Missouri Western had a modest 237 yards of offense, and finished with two turnovers. Edden finished 16-of-24 for 112 yards, a touchdown and two picks.
Brandon Hall had a solid day on the ground with 52 yards on nine carries.
The Griffons are 3-1 to start the season for the first time since 2015.
Their three-game winning streak is their longest since 2019 and they've now beaten Fort Hays State in each of the last five meetings and in 15 of the last 17 overall.
Missouri Western stays home for a big test against No. 11 Emporia State (4-0) next Saturday for homecoming at Spratt Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. The game will be carried on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3) with coverage starting at 3.
Tyler Fenwick, Brayden Wright interviews
Full game broadcast
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