UNK Rallies to Win on Senior Day; Bowl Game Still a Possibility
Kearney, Neb. – Super senior Junior Gonzalez hit a 28-yard field goal as time expired to lift Nebraska Kearney to a 20-18 win over Central Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium. This was UNK's home finale and "Senior Day" for 19 traditional and Super Seniors. The Lopers (7-3) keep their bowl game hopes alive while the Bronchos (5-5) drop a third straight game. These two teams will meet in Edmond next September to start the 2023 season. "Give Central Oklahoma credit. Defensively they played well and are pretty gifted on that side of the ball. We knew that all week," said UNK head coach Josh Lynn. "I don't think we played our best football especially offensively. However, we put enough points on the board to win and Junior bailed us out." UCO turned four UNK turnovers into nine points and controlled the second half to erase a 17-6 deficit. Six-five, 220-pound quarterback Stephon Brown, formerly of TCU and Appalachian State, called his own number with 7:56 left to give the 'Chos its first lead of the day. However, the two-point conversion failed. The Lopers went three-and-out on the ensuing drive and then UCO picked up two first downs and was in position to seal things as they had it 2nd & 4 from the UNK 26-yard line with three minutes remaining. But UNK’s defense managed to stuff Brown on back-to-back keepers to the tune of three net yards. Prior to third down, both teams called timeouts. UCO first-year head coach Adam Dorrel, who won three national titles as Northwest Missouri's head coach, had a decision to make and he decided to go for it but saw two players go in motion at the same time, resulting in illegal procedure. The 'Chos almost got dinged for another penalty prior to attempting a 45-yard field goal but managed to call another timeout. Sophomore kicker Nicky Quevedo had made field goals of 36, 39, 45 and 45 yards earlier in the day but saw this attempt go wide right. That is only his second miss in nine attempts between 40-49 yards this fall. "The thing I must proud of is the defensive effort today. Offensively we put them in bad spots and then I put them in a bad spot. I go for it on a short field on 4th and 1 … they got a field goal out of that," said Lynn. "Our defense responded all day (and forced field goals). I just assumed he (Quevedo) was going to make the last one. He had a great game." With a timeout in the bag, UNK went into the two-minute offense with QB TJ Davis (Colorado Springs) hitting sophomore slot JerQon Conners (St. Louis) for gains of 19 and 12 yards and sophomore slot AJ McPhee (Belle Grade, Fla.) making a leap grab for a 16-yard gain to the UCO 41-yard. These catches were sandwiched around a Loper false start penalty. Davis next raced up the middle for an 11-yard gain that resulted in a first down, moved the ball to the 'Chos 18-yard line and briefly stopped the clock with 1:13 to play. An incomplete pass and three Davis runs that netted seven yards followed and setup the game winner. "People prepare for something against us all week long and of course we go out there and tried to do that. In two-minute situations we spread it out and throw the football and TJ does stuff with his feet. That's a little bit different than what they've seen all week long on film," said Lynn. Gonzalez had a memorable day as his 34-yard field goal at 4:19 of the first quarter made it 3-0 and put him at 202 career points. He is just the seventh Loper kicker to reach that milestone (now 207 points). "Once he missed the field goal and I knew we could get in position, that's when the nerves came. That's when I had to go back to the basics and visualize making the kick," said Gonzalez. "Once I hit the field and saw my guys around me, I knew it was going to go in." UNK out gained UCO 382-319 but most of that production game in the first half. Davis ran 25 times for 91 yards with backs Zane Schawang (Waverly), Miko Maessner (Kearney) and Montrez Jackson (Trenton, Fla.) combining for 118 more. Davis pushes his season tally to 1,033 yards, marking his third straight 1k season. All-time leading rusher Mike Miller ('04) is the only other Loper with three 1k seasons in a career. In the air, Davis went 13 of 21 for 173 yards, two TD's and one INT. Both scoring passes (15 and 12 yards) went to Albion senior receiver Cody Nelson with the pick setting up UCO's go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter. Nelson, McPhee and Conners were three of the six Lopers with two receptions in the win. "Sometimes we get a bad rap on not be able to throw the football because of what we do offensively. It's a credit to TJ and we probably need to throw it a little more," said Lynn. "The confidence coming off Northwest (259 passing yards) and then way he threw the ball didn't hurt things." Brown paced UCO by running 21 times for 113 yards and one TD while going 9 of 18 in the air for 136 yards and one INT. He also caught a 15-yard pass on a trick play as part of UCO's go-ahead TD drive in the fourth. Next, back Jaylen Cottrell had 44 yards on 16 carries with junior defensive back Dylan Buchheit at a team-best 11 tackles. UNK's defense saw super senior ILB Jacey Nutter (Thedford) have a career-high 15 tackles (nine solo) and one INT with All-American safety Darius Swanson (Aurora, Colo.) at eight stops and ILB Jimmy Harrison (Hobbs, NM) at six tackles. The Lopers close out the regular season next Saturday in Tahlequah, Okla., against Northeastern State (2-8). The RiverHawks fell today at Fort Hays State, 37-14.
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