By Jared Fields, Sports Editor
Football season kicked off this weekend for first year head coach Chris Thomsen and the Wildcats, but after costly miscues and a botched punt return at game’s end, the Wildcats couldn’t pull out the win for Thomsen’s debut.
Junior Danieal Manning returned a kickoff and an interception for a touchdown, but the team’s mistakes led to Central Oklahoma’s 49-37 victory.
With just less then four minutes left in the game, ACU trailed 35-30 and punter Chase Fishback pinned UCO at the 12-yard line. A penalty put UCO back to the six yard line to begin their drive, and the Wildcats seemed poised to jump back into the game.
However, UCO’s first play was a 94-yard strike to a wide receiver down the sideline. The Bronchos’ touchdown silenced the crowd at Shotwell Stadium.
Manning took the UCO kick and returned it 78 yards to put the team back in the game and down by only five points. After letting the Bronchos get first down on their first play, ACU made a defensive stop and forced UCO to punt with 2:20 left on the game clock.
Manning settled under the punt near the UCO 10-yard line and was hit as he caught the ball. The ball bounced into the endzone behind him where a number of UCO players fell on the pigskin for the game deciding touchdown.
“He has the green light,” coach Thomsen said. “He was just trying to make a play like he had been all day.”
The Wildcats had one more offensive series, but it was too little, too late for their 12-point deficit.
“Our guys played hard and fought the whole game,” Thomsen said. “We’ve got to get better at some areas real fast.”
The Wildcats’ got off to a slow start. UCO went up 14-0 in the first quarter off of a rushing touchdown, and an interception that led to another touchdown.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Billy Malone answered right away with a 75-yard bomb to wide receiver Robb Spells on the first play of the drive to bring the Wildcats back within a touchdown.
On the next UCO possession, Danieal Manning intercepted a screen pass and ran it back 35-yards to tie the game and give the team some momentum.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats were driving into the red zone, but a pass intended for sophomore wide receiver Jerale Badon was picked off by UCO and led to a Bronchos touchdown.
Central Oklahoma scored once more before the half to take a 28-14 lead into halftime.
The Wildcats received the opening kickoff for the second half, but on the third play of the drive, Malone was intercepted for the fourth and final time in the game and the pass was ran back for a UCO touchdown that put the Wildcats down 35-14.
Just as the Wildcats’ had done all game, they answered on the first play of the drive. Malone and Spells hooked up for a school record tying 92-yard pass for a touchdown.
After a 22-yard field goal by Mark Trevino put the Cats at 35-24, Malone hit Jerale Badon for a 12-yard touchdown pass. ACU went for the two-point conversion to get within field goal range of the Bronchos, but running back Rashon Myles’ attempt failed, and the score stayed at 35-30.
Then UCO’s 94-yard strike set off the chain of events that led to the Wildcats’ first loss of the season.
Malone finished the game with 294 yards and three touchdowns, despite his four interceptions. Malone’s hard fought loss on the field caught his coach’s attention.
“Malone played hard, competed, and wants to win,” coach Thomsen said.
Of Malone’s 294 yards, Spells accounted for 183 of those and two of the touchdowns on just three catches. Myles ran for 91 yards on 14 carries and no touchdowns.
Defensively, junior linebacker Marcus Brown led the effort for the Wildcats. Brown had 13 total tackles with two coming for a loss.
The Wildcats’ next game will be Saturday against Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The next home game is 6 p.m. Sept. 17, against Texas A&M-Commerce.
