by Shawn Jones
  Central Football Play-By-Play
  October 22, 2008

The theme of Homecoming 2008 at UCM is "Mules on a Mission". How appropriate for this Mules football team!

After a dominating performance in all three phases last Saturday in a 47-14 win over Missouri Southern in Joplin, the Mules "playoff" run to make the real playoffs is down to three games. This Saturday, the mission continues against the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. UNO is a very good team -- a big, physical squad coming from the rugged NCC to the more well-rounded MIAA. They run the option and run it very well with quarterback Zach Miller and tailback Brian McNeill averaging 245 yards per game rushing! The Mavericks are fighting mad after losing 35-28 at Pitt State to drop to 4-3. UNO could very well be the best 4-3 team in NCAA Division II football, but if the Mules bottle up what they did at MSSU Saturday and bring it vs. UNO and MWSU and FHSU, their playoff mission will be accomplished.

Willie Fritz is a big special teams guy and his kicking game was out of this world at MSSU. All of this occurred last week: A blocked field goal, blocked punt, on-side kick perfectly executed, 67.5 yards per kickoff, two pooch punts by Eric Czerniewski downed at the Lion five yard-line, kickoff returns of 48 and 33 yards, two field goals and a 65-yard punt.

In addition, the Mules went right into the teeth of Southern's #2 pass defense in NCAA Division II with 361 passing yards and five total TD passes. Eric threw two to Tim Richmond, who had 149 receiving yards -- the most since Todd Devoe had 152 in 2001. The offensive line did not give up a sack. Glenn Milner ran hard....and all of this with zero turnovers! Defensively, the Mules had two takeaways, nine tackles-for-loss and four sacks.

It was simply a great all-around effort last week. So now the Mules are 6-2, and they have wrapped up their 10th winning season in 12 years under Coach Fritz. But the mission is beyond a winning season for the Mules -- it's a playoff berth. This week, the Mules' defensive front-four and the entire defense will need a great game against UNO's powerful offensive line, quarterback and tailback. They will run that power option right at the Mules. On the other side of the ball, the Mules need to continue their aerial assault. Of course, if the Mules get anything close to what they got last week in special teams, that gives the Mules an excellent chance at victory.

With it being homecoming, I hope many of you can make it back to campus for the game. All former football players are invited to the Markey Lobby of Walton Stadium Friday night at 7:00 p.m. for a football reception. Beverages and appetizers will be provided as you tell stories (some true perhaps) about your glory days as a Mule! Friday night at 5:30, the Homecoming Pep Rally will take place at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field, it's free and open to the public and it's always a fun time to see the spirit of the students. The parade begins at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Hopefully the big crowd and spirit of UCM Homecoming will help the Mules continue their post-season mission against a good UNO team on Homecoming 2008. When you are in the Burg for Homecoming, tune us in on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 "The Bar". 90.9 "The Bridge" and www.warrensburgradio.com beginning at 12:10 p.m. After the game, join us at Fitter's in downtown Warrensburg for the Scoreboard Show. Go Mules!