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Bronchos Pull Out Last-Minute Win

Chas Stallard
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EDMOND (Sept. 13) – Cody Jones scored on a 42-yard interception return on the final play of the game to put the finishing touches on a stirring fourth quarter comeback that lifted Central Oklahoma to a stunning 26-17 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association upset of Missouri Western Saturday night at Wantland Stadium.
 
The Bronchos took a 20-17 lead on Seth Hiddink's 18-yard field goal with 17 seconds left and the Griffons picked up one first down before Jones stepped in front of Skyler Windmiller's pass near the MWSU sideline and raced untouched into the end zone as the final buzzer sounded.
 
UCO, which lost to the Griffons 63-30 last year during a 2-8 campaign, improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2004.  MWSU, ranked No. 20 by d2football.com, fell to 1-1.
 
"We never quit and just kept battling the whole night," UCO coach Nick Bobeck said.  "I can't say enough about how hard our defense played the entire game, they came up big time and time again.  And offensively we really turned it on in the fourth quarter and made a bunch of big plays."
 
The Bronchos made plenty of huge defensive plays throughout the game in holding the Griffons to 261 yards, including just 96 rushing.  Linebacker Chass Glaspie made a team-high 11 tackles, including 2.0 for loss, while safety Matt Pruitt had nine tackles and UCO had 10 tackles for loss in the contest.
 
Jones intercepted two passes, returning the first one 41 yards late in the second quarter to set up a Hiddink field goal that got UCO within 14-10 at halftime.  He added three tackles and another broken up pass.
 
The Bronchos dominated the fourth quarter, gaining 229 of their 403 total yards in the final 15 minutes.  Quarterback Chas Stallard hit 29-of-39 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown while adding 90 yards and a score in 19 rushes.
 
MWSU led 14-0 early in the second quarter before the Bronchos scored 10 straight points to get close.

Connor Pulley made a leaping catch for a 34-yard touchdown pass from Stallard with 2:51 left in the half to make it 14-7 and Jones' interception two plays later set up Hiddink's 18-yard field goal.
 
MWSU upped its lead to 17-10 on John Schmiemeier's 30-yard field early in the fourth quarter, but the Bronchos answered with a 73-yard TD drive to tie it.
 
Stallard completed 6-of-7 passes for 70 yards in that scoring march before ending it with a three-yard run and Hiddink's extra point made it 17-all with 9:44 left to play.
 
UCO forced a quick punt and the Bronchos moved 73 yards to the Griffon four before stalling, but Hiddink's 21-yard field goal try was blocked by Arbanas Elliot to leave the game deadlocked.
 
Linebacker Malcolm Howard knocked down a third-and-three pass to force MWSU to punt and UCO Took over at its own 16 with 2:18 left.
 
Stallard sparked the go-ahead 83-yard scoring drive, ripping off runs of 12, 19 and 23 yards as the Bronchos went all the way to the MWSU one before sending Hiddink on for the chip-shot field goal to give UCO its first lead of the night at 20-17 with 17 seconds left.
 
Jones then capped the upset with his big return that sent a flood of UCO students storming the field.

The Bronchos continue league play next Saturday afternoon at Emporia State.
 
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