The Central Missouri Mules had a two-hour lightning delay at Walton Stadium/Kennedy Field. The Mules jumped out scoring on their first four possessions on their way to a 29-9 win over Minnesota State-Mankato.
The game kicked off at 9:04 , but the delay did not hur the Mules, as jJunior quarterback Eric Czerniewski took the Mules 73 yards down the field on the game’s first possession, hitting sophomore tight end DeMarco Cosby for a 28 yard chunk and junior wideout Tim Richmond for a 23 yard gain to get down to the one. On second down, he found senior Edgar Givens from two yards out for the score.
The Mules defense stopped the Mavericks on fourth down the next possession, a trend that would go on all game (MSU was 2-of-7 on fourth down conversions). UCM converted that into a 23-yard Mark Starks field goal after a 57-yard completion to Cosby set it up.
Czerniewski started the game 9-of-9 for 140 yards and carried that into the second quarter, tossing a nine-yard score to Warrensburg native Zain Gower out of the backfield to put the Mules up 17-0.
Senior defensive lineman Neil Barnes forced an MSU fumble a couple plays later that senior linebacker Mike Dillon recovered at the MSU 13. The Mules converted that into another field goal from Starks to make it 20 unanswered.
Czerniewski was 13-of-19 for 230 yards and two scores in the half. The closest Minnesota State would get from there is 22-9 on a Spencer Goff field goal with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It got there with a 12-play, 45-yard drive that spanned 8:57, but that would be its last score of the night.
The defense was the story though, holding MSU to only 213 yards passing and 17-of-41 completions to go with three sacks. The Mules also held the Maverick rushing attack to only 2.6 yards per carry. Senior linebacker Adrian Singletary led the way with 10 tackles and a forced fumble.
Czerniewski finished 21-of-32 for 319 yards while Givens had six grabs for 96 yards to go with his two scores. Cosby added 89 yards receiving for the Mules as well.
Story courtesy Central Missouri media relations
