For the final time, the senior class of UNK football players had a chance to put on a show for their home crowd and did just that with a 38-6 win over Lincoln.
UNK honored 16 seniors, including graduates and super seniors, on Saturday during the pregame festivities, and those seniors stole the show against the Blue Tigers.
“The seniors have kept this thing afloat,” coach Ryan Held said. “They maybe won’t get the credit they deserve for this season, but when you look at the whole body of work, they’ve helped lay the foundation and we have to build on that.”
The seniors were headlined by TJ Davis, the two time Harlon Hill finalist, whose five touchdowns helped him break the school record for career touchdowns. He passed Jake Spitzlberger, who held the previous record with 118, with Davis now having 123.
Davis was 17-19 through the air with 230 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 168 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
“I knew it was going to be a bittersweet moment,” Davis said. “We have these 11 games, but we work all year round for these opportunities and we spend so much time together. It’s been a tough year for sure, but at the end of the day are we going to be men about it or are we going to be boys. It’s not the way we wanted to go out, but I’m still going to fight.”
Another senior, Armani Webster, had a big day defensively for the Lopers. He intercepted a pass midway through the second quarter, and had three pass break ups.
“Especially today, I just tried to focus on being the best teammate I can be and enjoying the moment,” Webster said. “You don’t get these moments back, but you get the memories forever.”
Many other Loper seniors had memorable afternoon performances as well. Severyn Foster caught four passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. Tell Spies led the Lopers in tackles with five, including a sack. Hunter Kraus had one punt, 46 yards, and it was downed inside the 20-yard line.
The Lopers dominated throughout all four quarters, scoring 14 points in both the first and second quarters, to go up 22 at the half. UNK lost four fumbles, which hurt a couple of scoring opportunities to build on their lead, but UNK scored 10 points in the second half, and cruised to a 32-point win.
UNK is now 3-7 on the season, and will take on Northwest Missouri next week at 1:30 p.m. in the season finale.
