Central Missouri (11-2) jumped on the Lone Star Champion Wildcats (11-1) from the start, stopping them on the first possession, thanks to a sack of quarterback Mitchell Gale. On the ensuing possession, the Mules took it 82 yards in six plays, highlighted by a 34-yard diving catch by wide receiver Taylor Dyer that got them down to the ACU nine. Anthony Stewart carried it in for the score from there on a rush around the outside corner.
The Mules took advantage of a rare ACU turnover on the next possession as junior cornerback Marlon Douglas picked off a pass from Gale (only his third INT of the season). Douglas returned it to the nine, and the Mules took only one play to convert as Eric Czerniewski hit senior tight end DeMarco Cosby over the middle for the score.
The Mules defense continued to dominate in the early going, stopping the Wilcats on the next two possessions, forcing punts. Central Missouri made it 21-0 on a lightning quick 38 second drive, capped by a short pass to Stewart out wide, who sprinted 24 yards down the sideline for the score.
The Wildcats got on the board in the second quarter, going on a 10-play, 63-yard drive for a TD, but the extra point snap was low, and UCM jumped on the holder to leave the score at 21-6 with 10:27 left before the break.
Like it has all season, the Mules answered, taking it 80 yards in eight plays for another touchdown. Czerniewski hit Cosby for a 27-yard strike up the seam, before completing a 15-yard crossing pattern to Jamorris Warren, who ran past a couple defenders and made a juke near the goal line to coast into the endzone.
Abilene Christian drove down to the UCM 36 on the next possession, and elected to go for it on fourth and 12, but the Mules got the stop and the ball back with 3:14 left before the break.
Central Missouri took just five plays to take advantage, thanks to another acrobatic catch from Dyer for 31 yards. That was followed by a lofted pass to the goal line by Czerniewski behind tight end David Cannon from 20 yards out, which he went and got before stepping into the endzone for the 35-6 lead with 1:35 to play in the half.
From there it all started to go wrong for Central Missouri though. The Wildcats continued to be expplosive on special teams, and returned the kickoff 24 yards up to their own 42 to start the next drive. Gale found Kendrick Johnson on a 15-yard pattern, but he broke the tackle and raced it 58 yards for the score to make it 35-13 with 1:17 left.
The Mules got conservative on the next drive, and ACU called a couple timeouts to force them to punt. The punt got caught up in the wind, and went straight up for only eight yards, giving the Wildcats the ball back with 17 seconds left on the UCM 20. Gale hit Raymond Radway on the first play over the middle for the score, and then the Wildcats converted the two-points to make it 35-21 at the half.
The wind became a major factor in the second half, picking up during the break. ACU started the second half with that 20-25 mph wind as well, and took advantage. After stopping the Mules on the opening possession thanks to a couple sacks, the Wildcats drove 91 yards in nine plays for a touchdown to make it 35-28.
The Mules offense went three-and-out on the next possession, and the 25-yard punt into the wind gave the ball to the Wildcats in UCM territory. The Central Missouri defense held, forcing the Wildcats to kick a field goal from 38 yards out to cut the lead to only four.
Another three-and-out gave the ball back to ACU, but the Mules defense forced one of their own to get the ball back. A Czerniewski pass sailed over the head of Warren and into the hands of ACU’s Drew Cuffee a few plays later though, and he returned the pick to the Mule 17 with 4:17 left in the third.
Central Missouri’s defense came up huge again though, and forced the Wildcats to kick a 27-yard field goal to make it 35-34 with 26 seconds left in the quarter.
The momentum shifted as the teams switched ends in the fourth quarter though. Central Missouri was forced into a third and eight situation on their own 39, but then came the big play. Czerniewski avoided the rush and hit Warren on a 61-yard bomb for a score. The extra point was blocked though, and gave UCM a 41-34 lead early in the fourth.
The Mules defense got back to pressuring Gale like it did in the first half during the final quarter as well, and forced stops on the next two drives. The Mules got the ball back with 6:47 to play on the ACU 48, and extended the lead to two touchdowns, thanks to more big plays from Cosby and Warren.
Czerniewski found Cosby for a 28-yard strike to the eight yard line, and two plays later he tossed one up to Warren in the corner of the endzone for his UCM-record-tying sixth TD pass of the day.
Warren also matched his career-high with three TD grabs, and Cosby set his career-high with 157 yards receiving.
The Wildcats tried to creep back in with a 32-yard TD pass to Edmund Gates with 2:23 left, but the Mules recovered the onside kick. Two plays later, Stewart broke a 42-yard touchdown up the middle to seal the win.
Central Missouri’s defense sacked Gale for the sixth time on the day in the Wildcats final drive, and stopped them on fourth down to get the ball back and run out the clock with three kneels.
Czerniewski finished with 477 yards passing on 29-of-46 completions with six touchdowns. It was the sixth 400-yard game of his career, and second-highest total ever at UCM. There have only been seven 400-yard games in school history, and he owns six of them.
Warren finished with 155 yards on nine grabs, while Cosby had 157 on seven catches. Stewart score three TD’s, two rushing and one receiving, in the game.
The team finished with 553 yards of offense on 65 plays, while the Wildcats had 435 on 84 plays. The Mules were led by safety Patrick Lewis with nine tackles, while seven different Mules combined for the six sacks. The Mules also had eight stops for loss in the contest.
The Mules will head to Maryville, Mo. next weekend for a re-match with Northwest Missouri State at 1:00 p.m. from Bearcat Stadium. The game will be quarterfinal, and for the NCAA Super Region 4 Championship and right to play in the national semifinals.
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