By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Wideout Cordarol Scales played at Los Angeles Valley College his first two years of college football. In 2007, L.A. Valley finished 2-8, its third straight season with two wins. The next season, with Scales collecting 31 catches, L.A. Valley broke through with a 6-4 mark, its first winning record since at least 2000.

"Valley College was in a slump and we ended up pretty good," Scales said.

Scales was recruited by NCAA Division I University of Oklahoma, but transferred to Fort Hays State University because of the coaching staff and a chance to turn around a program that has nine wins since 2004.

"I liked the way we are basically underdogs," Scales said. "Turn this program around."

Scales is part of a vaunted new receiving corps for Fort Hays, a squad that opened the season last Saturday with a 45-17 victory at Western State (Colo.) College. The wideouts, though, did not play well as the Tigers received most of their offense, including three return TDs, from special teams.

On Saturday, Fort Hays will likely need better wideout play when the Tigers face a much stiffer test in Colorado School of Mines, a playoff team in 2007 and 2008 and receiving votes in the preseason coaches' poll. Mines beat Fort Hays 37-17 last season in Colorado. The Ramada Kickoff Classic starts at 7 p.m. at Lewis Field Stadium.

"My first game, I played pretty bad this game," Scales said. "Next game, I've got to come back on top and be better. We are going to get better this year."

Scales led the team with three catches for 45 yards, while Robert Mercer, a NCAA Division I transfer from University of Ohio, had three catches for 32 yards. Kenny Kinard, a transfer also from LA Valley, returned a kickoff 90 yards for a TD, but caught just one ball for 11 yards.

The Tigers ranked in the bottom half of the conference in every offensive statistic after Week 1. Fort Hays averaged 12.2 yards a catch, slightly better than last season. Fort Hays will have help this week when O.J. Murdock, a transfer who played at NCAA Division I University of South Carolina, returns. Murdock missed Saturday's contest because of a transcript issue.

"I think we have got a tremendous amount of ability, but we still have got a long way to go," Tiger coach Kevin Verdugo said. "There is a lot of things, detailed things. I think they got caught up in the moment of the game a lot. We can't run post routes at five yards and break them to the post. We have to get to the depths that we are supposed to be. We have got to get the correct spacing in our formations."

Fort Hays and Emporia State University were the lone two conference teams that did not have a player rank in the top 10 in receptions or receiving yards after the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opened play last week. In the second half, Fort Hays had four three-and-outs. The Tigers had one drive longer than 54 yards all game.

"We have got some room to improve," Verdugo said. "A lot of room to improve."

Fort Hays has had mixed results against Mines in Verdugo's tenure.

A rival from Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference days, the Tigers and Orediggers still play each other every season in non-conference. Fort Hays beat Mines 34-10 at Lewis Field Stadium in 2007, while Mines had won the previous two games.

Mines lost to Washburn University 27-14 in Week 1, but has two of the best players in the nation in quarterback David Pesek and junior defensive lineman Marc Schiechl. Pesek was named RMAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and picked up first team all-RMAC in 2008 after he passed for 2,672 yards and 21 TDs. Schiechl finished tied for third in the nation in tackles for loss (21) and is the RMAC's all-time leader in sacks (27). He was picked as RMAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

"Same thing you always see out of them. They are very well coached," Verdugo said. "Very intelligent football team. Their players, they have got an older group of players. They have to continue to mature and get better."

The Tiger offense, which ranked last, second to last and last in the MIAA before Fort Hays moved to the spread offense this season, looked for better results against Western State. Senior quarterback Mike Garrison delivered a solid game, but he could have added points on the board.

"He played very well," Verdugo said. "Grading him out, he had four poor throws in the ball game that he could have done a better job. Two of those would have been touchdowns. Not a terrible day for a quarterback. He graded out actually quite high on his decision-making process, and we have a list of goals that the quarterback has for every game, and the only one that he did not achieve was a 60 percent completion percentage for passing the ball."

In addition to the missed TD passes, Fort Hays could have added two more touchdowns on runs, including one on a missed block that would have sprung senior Jacobb Irvin for a big gain. Two others came on passes.

"We had chances to get some more points on the board with some plays," Verdugo said. "One of them, the first quarter, going down the middle of the pipe to Robert Mercer, a vertical route."

In the second half, Fort Hays recovered a turnover deep in Western State territory. Three straight times, the Tigers went for the end zone, but missed all three. Two of the plays went to Scales, who said he had "a little bit" of first-game jitters and was affected a little by the altitude in Colorado. Once, Garrison went over the top to Scales. Later, Scales was open in the end zone.

"He jumped and mistimed his jump on the (1-yard-line) and Mike really put too much air under the ball and threw it to high," Verdugo said. "Then, we went over to the other side with Scales. Got him 1-on-1, Cordarol beat him, had about five yards left in the end zone and when you watch it on tape, it looks like it was just past the fingertips of Scales. But again we put too much loft on the ball and led him too much."

This week, Scales and the wideouts have refocused -- and look to propel Fort Hays' turnaround this season.

"We are going to get it this week," Scales said.