In a total offensive effort, Central Missouri football defeated Northeastern State 62-10 for its first victory of the season.
The Mules offense totaled 608 yards on offense while scoring on their first six drives of the game.
Sophomore Kyle Bradley started for UCM at quarterback. The Mules were without All-American quarterback Brook Bolles who is out for the season following an injury to his throwing arm in the first game of the season at Fort Hays State.
“We feel bad for him,” said head coach Jim Svoboda. “Nobody has put in more time and effort or been more dedicated than he has.”
The Riverhawks struck first with a field goal.
On the Mules following drive, on a third-and-2, Bradley scrambled for 18 yards into Riverhawks territory where the Mules would even the game with a field goal of their own.
The Mules made a quarterback change to begin their second drive of the game and redshirt freshman Jeremy Hunt made his Mules debut. Hunt marched the Mules down the field, completing all five of his passes to four different receivers before punctuating the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. In the final minute of the first quarter, Bradley re-entered the game to throw an 86-yard touchdown to senior Kyrion Parker to give the Mules a 17-3 lead.
“Early on, they were both a little shaky in terms of accuracy, but our receivers made some great plays on the ball to get them going,” Svoboda said.
Hunt came in midway through the second and continued to pick apart the Riverhawks defense, throwing touchdowns to sophomore Devante Turner and freshman Zion Perry. The Mules led 34-3 at the half after racking up 363 yards of total offense.
Central Missouri didn’t let off the gas in the second half, scoring four more touchdowns and piling up another 300 yards of offense. True freshman running back Dashawn Bates broke off a 60-yard touchdown for the first of his Mules career to make it 55-10.
“I think Dashawn is special. He’s brought exceptional speed,” Svoboda said. “I think for any kid to come in as a true freshman and play with the level of execution that he did is remarkable.”
Hunt finished 11-15 with 175 yards and two touchdowns while picking up a touchdown on the ground. Bradley went 5-13 with 126 yards and two touchdowns. Neither Mules quarterback threw an interception.
Svoboda said a starter for next week’s game had not been decided.
“We’re a long way from that, we have an extra day or two of practice this week and there will be ongoing evaluations,” Svoboda said. “Obviously, we’ll do what we feel is best for the team.”
Svoboda said the Mules still have a lot to work on before their next contest with Missouri Western.
“We’re still getting too many penalties and we need to clean up our field goal unit,” Svoboda said. “In terms of our quarterbacks, both of them threw the ball well but we missed a lot of reads that we need to be executing.”
The Mules host Missouri Western next week for Family Weekend at UCM. The Griffons are 1-1 on the season but are fresh off a 23-13 upset of No. 5 Fort Hays State, which beat the Mules 20-16 in the season opener.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 15 at Walton Stadium.