UNK football rallied back against Central Missouri in their season finale on Saturday, but still came up short, losing 38-24. The Lopers finished with a record of 6-5, 4-5 in the MIAA conference.
UNK trailed 24-3 at halftime; however, in this conference, it is hard to come back from behind.
“In this league, it is tough to come back from behind,” said coach Ryan Held. “We were able to do it once (against Central Oklahoma). Both sides just didn’t make the plays that we needed when we had the chances.”
Looking back at the Central Oklahoma game, UNK trailed by 17 halfway through the second quarter. Coming out after halftime, the Lopers came out on fire. Redshirt junior running back Stone Wilson tallied four rushing touchdowns for the Lopers. Central Oklahoma finished third in the MIAA conference.
Wilson only appeared in five games for UNK after battling an injury for the first half of the season.
“I am truly so proud of these guys,” Held said. “We had some tough matches and faced some injuries, but I couldn’t have picked a better team to do this with.”
UNK started the season by picking up two wins over in-state opponents, Wayne State and Chadron State. Then the Lopers faced off against Fort Hays State on the road, picking up their first loss of the season. Fort Hays later ended up fourth in the MIAA.
Then, the Lopers bounced back and picked up two more wins against Emporia State and Washburn. In the Washburn match-up, redshirt senior running back Isaiah Harris came down with a season-ending injury. Harris had a season high of 270 rushing yards and four touchdowns. in the game against Emporia State. Harris’s 698 yards in five games were still enough for the fifth most rushing yards in the MIAA.
The Lopers traveled to face Pittsburg State and lost 23-6. The following weekend, UNK faced Missouri Western in a big homecoming matchup. UNK won 27-7 and picked up its fifth win this season.
The Lopers at this point were 5-2. This could be seen as the peak of the season because UNK would proceed to lose three of its next four.
The next two weekends, the Lopers were on the road. UNK started in Joplin, Missouri, against Missouri Southern, which resulted in a 24-16 loss and then the next game was in Maryville, Missouri, battling Northwest Missouri State. The Lopers lost 14-0 in Maryville.
The Lopers picked up the win from behind against Central Oklahoma and then had a late-season bye week to round out the season against Central Missouri.
To try and offset injuries, there were multiple different Lopers who tried and stepped up to help mend the gap in the offense. Wilson returned after Harris went down, and Wilson stepped up in big ways.
Wilson had a season high of 100 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns, and his longest drive was 45 yards. All of these happened in the game against Central Oklahoma.
The Lopers will return in action in the Spring of 2026.
