Skip To Main Content

University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Chas Stallard
Chas Stallard
37
Central Oklahoma UCO 1-3 , 1-3
41
Winner Mo. Western. St. MWSU 2-2 , 2-2
Central Oklahoma UCO
1-3 , 1-3
37
Final
41
Mo. Western. St. MWSU
2-2 , 2-2
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UCO Central Oklahoma 13 7 3 14 37
MWSU Mo. Western. St. 15 0 6 20 41

Game Recap: Football | | Chris Brannick

Bronchos fall on final play, again

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Chas Stallard heaved a pass to the end zone as time expired for the second Saturday in a row, and like last week, the pass was broken up. Missouri Western beat the University of Central Oklahoma 41-37 in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association action at Spratt Stadium.

Stallard took the Bronchos down the field from their own 31 with 24 seconds left in an attempted game-winning drive. Passes to Jake Standlee, L'liott Curry, and J.T. Luper on the drive gave the Bronchos 1st & 10 at the Missouri Western 25 yard line with only three seconds left on the clock. Stallard scrambled out of the pocket, and targeted Luper in the front corner of the end zone before a Missouri Western defender ran in front of the pass and knocked it down.

Stallard finished 18 of 34 passing with two touchdowns and a career-high 383 yards. He added 76 yards on the ground to reach 459 yards of total offense, the third-most in one game in school history.

Luper continued his brilliant start to the season. He caught eight passes – two touchdowns – and tallied 253 yards, which is the second most by one receiver in a single game in school history. Luper had catches of 85 and 83 Saturday.

"These guys show they are going to fight to last second every time we step out on the field," UCO head coach Nick Bobeck said. "We've had a chance to win every game, and I think we should be 4-0, but the bottom line is we're not. We have to correct the mistakes we're making to start winning some football games."

The Bronchos drop to 1-3 on the season with the loss.

Stallard also hit Josh Crockett five times for 73 yards, and Curry thrice for 43 yards. Romel Price added one catch for eight yards and Standlee had one catch for two yards.

UCO totaled a season-high 612 yards of offense. Quan Hogan, a redshirt freshman from Norman, had a bit of a breakout game. With the Bronchos dealing with injuries to their first two running backs on the depth chart, Hogan and Standlee have been tasked with stepping up and carrying a heavy load.

Hogan was the leading rusher Saturday, carrying the ball 12 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns. His 75-yard scamper in the first quarter was more yardage than he had in his career before the play.

Standlee had 11 carries for 17 yards with a long of eight. Chandler Garrett also jumped onto the field for a couple of plays. He had a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to put the Bronchos on the board. He had a 9-yard scramble in the fourth to finish with two carries for 10 yards.

Alex Figueroa led the defense with 14 tackles, three of which were for a loss, and one sack. Colton Lindsey also hit double-digit tackles, making 12 stops with two coming behind the line of scrimmage.

Saturday's game started out with fireworks. Missouri Western struck first, with a 25-yard score on 3rd & 8 to go up 7-0. The Bronchos came out a bit sluggish on both sides of the ball, and were close to going down by two touchdowns early before making a big stop on 4th & goal to take over on downs.

The Bronchos still weren't getting much going on offense, but after a Jay Tedesco punt pinned the Missouri Western at its own 1-yard line, the Bronchos made a stand on defense and flipped the field position.

Taking over at the MWSU 39, Stallard found Luper on a 38-yard fade route before Garrett pounded in for a score. Western though, blocked the point after try and held a slight 7-6 lead in the first quarter.

On the next series, just two plays later, Missouri Western responded with a 71-yard rushing touchdown, and added a two-point conversion to go up 15-6 with just over five minutes left in the opening quarter.

UCO's response?

Hogan took a handoff on the next play from scrimmage, stuttered through a hole on the right side of the line, and exploded out and away from the crowd for his 75-yard touchdown run. Alex Quevedo hit the PAT this time and the score was 15-13 with 5:01 remaining in the opening quarter. The teams had already produced more than 300 yards of offense in less than 10 minutes of play.

After exchanging punts on a pair of drives that took the game to the second quarter, UCO took over possession on its own 15 with 10:16 remaining in the opening half. That's when Stallard launched a pass down the sideline where Luper sprinted past his defender. The pass dropped right into Luper's hands and he raced toward the end zone, shaking a would-be tackler off around the 20, and gave the Bronchos a 20-15 lead, which it held through halftime.

Quevedo hit a 24-yard field goal on the Bronchos' first possession out of halftime to make it 23-15. But on the next possession, Missouri Western got six points back on a strange play. Lindsey stopped Missouri Western's Josh Caldwell on a 1-yard run, and forced a fumble as the two fell to the ground. The scramble for the ball ended after it popped out of the pile, where Griffon receiver Dijuan Ussery scooped up the ball and darted down the field for a 45-yard score.

Western though, missed the PAT and it was 23-21. On the next possession, Quevedo missed a 51-yard field goal attempt wide left. Missouri Western ran one more play before the teams switched ends to start the fourth quarter with the Bronchos ahead 23-21.

Missouri Western then scored seven plays later on a 25-yard back of the end zone catch by Ussery. The PAT was blocked by Broncho defensive end Jared Lopes, but the Griffons held a 27-23 lead.

Now it was the Bronchos' turn, and on the second play of the ensuing drive, Stallard dropped back to pass and heaved a shot down field to Luper. The pass fell incomplete, but Missouri Western's Darrian Bass was flagged for roughing the passer with targeting and was ejected from the game.

Stallard hit Crockett for a 20-yard gain two plays later. Then, Hogan had runs of 14 and 12, the latter of which put the Bronchos ahead 30-27.

Missouri Western responded quickly, scoring on a 48-yard pass play to go up 34-30 with 3:23 on the fourth quarter clock.

UCO, not willing to rollover and give up, took back the lead after Stallard hit Luper for an 83-yard score with 2:24 to go to make it 37-34.

Western though answered again, scoring in four plays in just under a minute, finished off by a 68-yard passing touchdown that moved it to 41-37.

The Bronchos had two more chances. The first, a four-play, eight-yard drive that ended with Stallard taking a sack on 4th & 1 with just 46 seconds on the clock.
But the Bronchos had all three timeouts left, and forced a turnover on downs as Western attempted to run the clock out.

That's when Stallard took over at his own 31, with 24 seconds on the clock.

Standlee caught the first pass in the backfield and did all he could to get out of bounds after only two yards. Then Stallard found Curry over the middle for a 22 yard gain. The Bronchos spiked the ball to stop the clock with eight seconds left following that play.

Stallard hit Luper for a 20 yard gain to the Missouri Western 25 yard line. Luper tip-toed the sideline to make the catch and fall out of bounds with three seconds left. Missouri Western called a timeout, giving Central Oklahoma the opportunity to discuss its final play.

Unfortunately for Central, it ended the same as it did when Stallard heaved a hail mary as time expired in Week 3.

The Bronchos have lost three games in four weeks by a combined 14 points. UCO returns home in Week 5, hosting Emporia State at Wantland Stadium at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
Print Friendly Version
Skip Ad
Skip Sponsors