Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney football team returns home after a two week road swing to face the Central Missouri Mules this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. 

The contest is "Homecoming" for UNK with the annual parade set for Downtown on the Bricks in the morning. Check the Loper schedule page for media and ticket links.

Like the season opener vs. NW Missouri State, UNK will have a shuttle from West campus. UCM fans are enourgared to tail gate in lot # 20, which is several blocks from the field.

Loper head coach Josh Lamberson, after facing his alma mater in week one at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium at Foster Field, now gets to square off again his former employer. Lamberson was at UCM for five years, serving as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Another Loper-Mule connection comes with tight ends/T's coach Kevin Bleil, who was a graduate assistant at UCM.

This will be just the seventh all-time meeting between the two programs with Central holding a 4-2 lead. Last year in Warrensburg, UCM rallied from a 14-7 halftime deficit to post a 45-28 win as they scored 17 points in third quarter and 21 more in the fourth.

The 2015 Mules (1-2), led by sixth-year head man Jim Svoboda, could be called the "Cardiac Kids" as all three of their games have come down to the fourth quarter and the final five minutes. Unfortunately for UCM, they fell at Emporia State, 45-34, and at home to Northwest, 34-30, the past two weeks.

The offense graduated several stars, including quarterback Hayden Hawk, running back LaVance Taylor, receiver Anthony Kirkwood and tight end Cullen Rosine.
 
Six-three, 210 pound junior Garrett Fugate is off to a solid start, completing 56% of his passes to average 295 yards per game. Having six TD's to just one INT, he also is UCM's second leading rusher with 48 carries for 131 yards and two scores. Fugate and Co. have reached the red zone 11 times and come away with four TD's.

 
One time Iowa and Missouri commit Markel Smith, a 5-11, 230 lbs. freshman, has rushed 39 times for a team-best 143 yards. He also is one of nine different Mules with four or more catches with that group led by 5-11 sophomore Jaylen Zachery (14 recep., 317 yds., two TD's) and 6-2 senior Clayton Cooper (11 recep., 115 yds.).
 
Finally, the line features three sophomore starters.
 
Just three seniors start on a defensive eunit allowing 32 points and 434 yards per game. Most of the damage from the opposition has come through the air to the tune of 349 yards per game.

Opponents, converting 46% on third down, have thrown eight TD's but also five INT's. To date, UCM has registered nine sacks.
 
Sophomore backers Alex Lackey (22) and Austin Miller (21) lead in tackles with each having picked off a pass. In the secondary, 6-4 junior free safety Tevin Teamer has made 20 tackles, picked off a pass and returned a fumble 36 yards.
 
Up front, junior nose guard Dalainey Taala comes in at 6-1 and 300 lbs. with senior end Jason Venckus having a team-best 2.5 sacks.
 
On special teams, Papillion redshirt freshman Billy Greco has been very busying, booting 7 of 10 field goals and making 7 of 8 PAT's. His three pointers include makes of 45 and 46 yards, respectively. Finally, UCM has had a punt blocked and two players have attempted nine punts. The pair are averaging 32.6 yards with Fugate having a pooch punt of 15 yards.

Last September in Warrensburg, Loper senior QB Bronson Marsh (Millard South H.S.) had his best day as passer, going 25 of 44 for 253 yards and three TD's. The scoring tosses covered 24, 26 and 29 yards, respectively, as UNK trailed 38-28 with six minutes to go. UCM tacked on a 73-yard run by Taylor to complete the scoring.

Marsh has been busy in the air of late, throwing 37 and 41 passes over the past two weeks. That has bumped him up to seventh all-time in career attempts (495). In his three years at Kearney, Marsh is averaging 26 attempts per game.

Not to be forgotten is a Loper running game that went had a productive showing at Missouri Southern State. Senior back Romero Cotton (Hutchinson, Kans.) had his seventh 100-yard day with Marsh having some late runs to end with a season-best 57 yards.

Cotton, needing just 245 more yards to reach 2,000 in his career, had a career-long 49-yard run for a score last year at UCM. That gave Kearney an early 7-0 lead. Last week in Joplin, the two-time wrestling national champ had runs of 33 and 35 yards to finish with 116 on just 116 carries.

Defensively, junior backer Tyke Kozeal (Sargent) needs just 18 more tackles to pass former teammate Kellen Werner's career record of 316. Through three games, the two-time MIAA Scholar Athlete has 45 tackles, including 2.0 sacks, two QB hurries and a pass breakup.

Up front, junior Peyton Lange (Elkhorn H.S.) is playing well after moving from end to an inside position. He has made 18 tackles, 2.5 for loss, and forced a fumble in last Saturday night's game. That was UNK's first forced turnover of the season.

Finally, sophomore safety George Brown (University City, Mo.) has a team-best four PBU's as well as a forced fumble and 18 tackles (11 solo).

UNK heads to Central Oklahoma next Saturday. It'll be the Lopers first trip to Edmond since1994.