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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Dustin Basks
31
Winner Nebraska-Kearney UNKFB 2-0 , 2-0
27
Central Oklahoma UCO 0-2 , 0-2
Winner
Nebraska-Kearney UNKFB
2-0 , 2-0
31
Final
27
Central Oklahoma UCO
0-2 , 0-2
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UNKFB Nebraska-Kearney 14 0 10 7 31
UCO Central Oklahoma 7 10 3 7 27

Game Recap: Football | | Chris Brannick

UCO Comes Up Short Against Kearney

EDMOND – The University of Central Oklahoma football team dropped a close 31-27 battle with Nebraska-Kearney in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association action at Wantland Stadium Thursday night in the Bronchos' home-opener of the 2018 season.
 
Central quarterback Keats Calhoon misfired on a pass to Dustin Basks with 22 seconds remaining on 4th & 12 from the Kearney 30-yard line.
 
"We lost a close one," seventh-year head football coach Nick Bobeck said. "There were a handful of plays that you can point to that made the difference tonight. We certainly had our chances and we didn't get it done."
 
Calhoon didn't misfire much. He hooked up with Basks 11 times for 136 yards, including once for 26 yards on the final drive that put the Bronchos in great position for the game-winning score. That was the longest pass play of the game for Central. Basks' receptions and yards were both career marks.
 
Calhoon finished 21-for-30 with 236 yards and one touchdown. He threw a perfect corner endzone spiral to L'liott Curry for a score earlier in the night. Calhoon, starting in just his second career game, also ran the ball nine times for 29 yards.
 
Curry chipped in in the passing game with six catches for 74 yards and the one score. His 9-yard touchdown catch was his second score in as many weeks to start the season.
 
Chandler Garrett was the leading rusher for the Bronchos Thursday. He had 12 carries for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Garrett got the game going, capping off a brilliant game-opening scoring drive for the Bronchos. UCO took the ball to start the game, and methodically marched down the field – 75 yards in seven plays – taking a 7-0 lead after Garrett charged in from six yards out.
 
Nebraska-Kearney answered though, going up 14-7 after the first quarter. The Lopers scored on the game's second possession to cap off a 5-play, 75-yard drive, then again with 1:41 to go in the opening stanza after a 7-play, 87-yard drive.
 
UCO got the touchdown from Curry in the second quarter, as well as a 30-yard field goal with 32 seconds to play in the half, to go up 17-14 at halftime.
 
Kearney led 24-20 after three quarters, and it appeared the Bronchos were going to come away with a hard-fought win in the fourth.
 
Garrett scored his second touchdown of the night on a 2-yard run with only 3:18 left on the clock. The Bronchos went 85 yards in eight plays to go up 27-24.
 
But again, Kearney had an answer. The Lopers went down the field in 1:59 seconds, scoring on a 1-yard run with 1:11 to play, to go up 31-27. Calhoon's final drive was close, but not enough.
 
Central finished with 123 yards on the ground as a team, and 258 through the air (Curry was also 1-for-1 with 22 yards). But UNK tallied 284 yards rushing with a potent option attack, and another 166 in the passing game.
 
Derek Loccident led the defensive charge for the Bronchos with seven tackles. O'Shay Harris had a big game with 6.5 tackles. The two UCO safeties combined for 1.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
 
Harris also forced a fumble. The Bronchos forced three fumbles on the night, recovering two of them. Colton Lindsey and Chris Pogi added five tackles in Central's defensive effort.
 
UCO falls to 0-2 on the season. The Bronchos will play at Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo. next Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. UCO returns home to face Northwest Missouri on Saturday, Sept. 22.
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