End of Q1: Central Missouri 21, ACU 0

A good crowd was in Shotwell Stadium today, considering that ACU students were off on their Thanksgiving holiday, and thousands of fans of Abilene High School and Abilene Cooper High School were on a caravan to Arlington, Texas, where both schools were playing (in separate afternoon games) in the UIL playoffs at Cowboys Stadium.

Central Missouri struck first when UCM running back Anthony Stewart ran untouched around left end for 9 yards and a TD at 8:22 of the first quarter. Aaron Jamieson's PAT made the score 7-0.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, ACU quarterback Mitchell Gale threw only his third interception of the season. Mules' cornerback Marion Douglas snagged the pass, and UCM scored on the next play when QB Eric Czerniewski tossed a 9-yard TD pass to TE DeMarco Cosby. Jamieson's PAT padded the Mules' lead to 14-0, just 18 seconds after their first TD.

Czerniewski connected with Stewart on pass in the right flat, and the senior ran untouched for 24 yards and another UCM TD with 2:16 left. Jamieson's PAT made the score 21-0.

After one quarter of play, UCM led in first downs (5 to 2), total yards (156 to 39), rushing yards (17 to 3) and passing yards (139 to 36).

UCM started its first-round game win last week in a similar way, building a 28-0 lead against West Texas A&M on its way to a 55-35 win.