Fort Hays, surprise MIAA football champ in 2017, wants to rebound from playoff collapse
Heading into the 2017 MIAA football season, Fort Hays State were predicted to finish fifth in both the coaches and media preseason polls. The Tigers weren’t given much of a chance to mount a serious challenge for the conference title; they’d finished fourth in 2016, hadn’t won a conference championship since 1995, and well, who was going to knock off back-to-back NCAA Division II champions Northwest Missouri State, anyway?
Well, the Tigers gave themselves a chance. They didn’t just knock Northwest off their perch for a first conference title in 22 years; they also went undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 1917, going 11-0.
But Fort Hays’ Cinderella season went downhill in the playoffs.
“There are some things as a coaching staff that we could have done better to help these young men through that process and getting them prepared for that first playoff game,” said Fort Hays coach Chris Brown on Tuesday afternoon at MIAA football media day.
The Tigers, full of confidence after trouncing Northwest, played host to a first-round playoff game at Lewis Field against No. 10-ranked Ferris State.
The Tigers lost 31-21. A dream season had come crashing down in their own backyard.
“In the playoffs, we saw a team that was good and better than us, obviously,” linebacker Jose Delgado said on Tuesday.
Brown blames himself and his coaching staff for not properly preparing their team for Fort Hays’ first playoff game since 1995. But it was not because of malpractice or negligence on the coaching staff’s part, just simply a lack of postseason experience.
“Not quite understanding how to practice as a coaching staff, we knew what we were kind of doing,” Brown said. “But it was ‘how do we structure everything,’ and then having Thanksgiving and when do we let players go home and when do we let them come back, all the different things that go into that.”
But Brown, his staff, and his players are prepared to take the negatives from 2017’s disappointing ending and use it for good heading into 2018.
The Tigers were voted to finish second in the MIAA in both the media and coaches preseason poll, still behind Northwest despite Fort Hays defeating the Bearcats 13-12 last year.
“It just matters where we finish,” tight end Matt Wendelberg said about the preseason rankings. “You can put us at the bottom this year and it doesn’t matter, we’re still going to try and push on top and give our best effort to be there.”
Fort Hays State will kick off its season at 7 p.m. Aug. 30 against Central Missouri at home. The perhaps championship-deciding matchup against Northwest is the second-to-last game of the season — same as in 2017 — at 1:30 p.m Nov. 3 in Maryville, Mo.
Preseason MIAA football polls
First-place votes in parentheses
Coaches
- 1. Northwest Missouri (4): 103
- 2. Fort Hays State (5): 102
- 3. Central Missouri (2): 96
- 4. Pittsburg State: 81
- 5. (tie) Central Oklahoma: 67
- 5. (tie) Emporia State: 67
- 7. Washburn: 63
- 8. Lindenwood: 46
- 9. Missouri Western: 40
- 10. Nebraska-Kearney: 30
- 11. Northeastern State: 19
- 12. Missouri Southern: 12
Media
- 1. Northwest Missouri (14): 382
- 2. Fort Hays State (13): 375
- 3. Central Missouri (6): 349
- 4. Pittsburg State (1): 311
- 5. Emporia State: 243
- 6. Central Oklahoma: 229
- 7. Washburn: 223
- 8. Missouri Western: 171
- 9. Lindenwood: 160
- 10. Nebraska-Kearney: 98
- 11. Northeastern State: 66
- 12. Missouri Southern: 45