ESU SCORES 52-23 WIN AT LINCOLN

Hornets roll up 303 yards on the ground

2011-12 Lance Uhles vs. Langston
Stephen Coleman

Football | 12/16/2011 1:55:00 PM

October 22, 2011-Emporia State rolled up 563 yards of offense, including a season high 303 yards rushing in a 52-23 victory at Lincoln on Saturday. Dasor Horton led ESU with 120 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries for the Hornets.

Lincoln got on the board first with a 16 play, 72 yard drive that took 7:27 off the clock. Percy Turner scored from one yard out with 7:33 left in the quarter to make it 7-0 Blue Tigers. The drive was aided by a fake punt on fourth and four from the LU 34 yard line and a personal foul on ESU after Jeff Richards and Jordan Sanders had stopped Corderious Gregory for a loss of three on a third and four play.

The Hornets answered right away with a seven play, 72 yard drive that took only 2:17 off the clock to tie the game on Adrian Abner’s first touchdown rush of the season with 5:16 left in the quarter.

On the next drive ESU stopped LU for a loss of ten on another fourth down attempt to set up at the Blue Tiger 31 yard line. Two plays later the Hornets went up 14-7 on Horton’s 19 yard touchdown run as the clock expired at the end of the first quarter. LU would tie the game at 14-14 on a 13 yard run by Turner. That capped a two play 38 yard drive that was jump started by a 19 yard punt return by Fred Fuller.

The Hornets would fail to convert a fourth down with 6:02 left to give the ball back to the Blue Tigers at their own 40 yard line. LU engineered a 14 play 59 yard drive that culminated with their first field goal of the season, a 20 yarder by Courtney Ward, to give the Blue Tigers a 17-14 lead with 28 seconds left in the half. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Lincoln moved the kick off back to the 15 yard line. Kevin Gaddis returned the kick 30 yards to the LU 30 yard line with 20 seconds left. On first down Eckenrode hooked up with Shjuan Richardson for 15 yards before throwing an incomplete pass on second down with 8 seconds left. Ray Ray Davis hauled in a pass from Eckenrode over the middle and fought his way into the endzone as time expired to give the Hornets a 21-17 lead.

On the opening drive of the second half, Vince Harris recovered a fumble by Turner at the Hornet two yard line to preserve the lead. ESU then went 88 yards before stalling out at the ten yard line and settling for a 27 yard field goal by Zak King for a 24-17 lead. The Hornets forced a punt on the next possession and went up 14 points on an 11 play, 82 yard drive. LaDarrian Page scored from ten yards out to make the score 31-17 with 5:06 left in the third quarter.

After forcing another Lincoln punt, Eckenrode was intercepted on the ensuing possession by O’Hara Fluellen setting the Blue Tigers up at the Hornet 14 yard line. Redmond hooked up with Gregory again on a 13 yard touchdown pass with 1:26 left. The PAT was blocked by Kennedy Ezimako to end the third quarter with ESU leading 31-23.

Eckenrode capped a six play, 60 yard drive with a six yard touchdown run with 14:27 left in the game. The Hornets forced a punt on the next drive and Eckenrode found Kameron Gee wide open over the middle for a 63 yard touchdown pass with 12:08 left in the game for a 45-23 lead.
Derek Lohman would intercept Turner and return it 52 yards to the LU three yard line with 6:21 left in the game. Craig Gilmore hit Brian Murphy on the first play to make it 52-23 with 6:17 left in the game.

Eckenrode ended the game 14 of 24 for 241 yards with two touchdowns and added 19 yards on five carries with a touchdown. Richardson was his favorite target, pulling in four catches for 91 yards as ten different Hornets caught a pass. Horton had 120 yards on eight rushes with a touchdown, including a career long 59 yard gain. Jordan Tice had 54 yards on two carries, Abner had 53 yards on ten rushes with a touchdown and Page had 39 yards on nine carries with a touchdown.

Defensively Jordan Sanders was credited with a team high 12 tackles. Lohmann and Stephaun Raines each had two interceptions and Vince Harris had a fumble recovery to go with his three tackles for loss as ESU was plus four in the take away margin.

ESU returns to Jones Field at Welch Stadium on October 29 to take on Truman. Kick-off is set for 2:07 p.m. with the game being televised as part of the MIAA Broadcasting Network.

NOTES:
Eckenrode moved into fourth on the ESU career passing chart and now has 3,703 yards in 26 games.
Eckenrode moved into eighth on the ESU single season passing chart and now has 1,994 yards with three games remaining.
This was the first time ESU had gained 300 rushing yards in a game since gaining 375 against Truman in overtime on Oct. 24, 2009.
ESU has now scored a total of 57 points in the fourth quarter of their last three games.
The 52 points were the most by ESU since scoring 57 in four overtimes against Pitt State in 2006.
ESU has scored over 30 points in five games for the first time since the 2006 season.

###HORNETS###

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