October 10, 2015-Brent Wilson threw for 336 yards and ran for 108 as #18 Emporia State overcame an early 14 point deficit to defeat #13 Pittsburg State 46-42 on Saturday afternoon on Jones Field at Welch Stadium. With the win Emporia State improves to 6-0 on the season and joins #3 Northwest Missouri with a two game lead on the rest of the MIAA.
DOWN EARLY
Emporia State gave up touchdown drives on the first two Pittsburg State drives to trail 14-0 just 6:05 into the game. They would trail 28-19 with 1:58 left in the half before scoring 13 straight points to take a 32-28 lead with 4:37 left in the third quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER COMEBACK
The Hornets trailed 35-32 entering the fourth quarter and had not had a fourth quarter comeback since a 35-30 win over Missouri Western in 2013. On their first drive of the fourth quarter, Wilson delivered what may be the play of the season. Facing a second and four from the Pittsburg State 36 yard line, Wilson was forced from the pocket and scrambled 36 yards to give the Hornets a 39-35 lead with 10:41 left in the game. The Gorillas would retake the lead wtih 4:44 left in the game on a two yard John Roderique touchdown run. Wilson then engineered an eight play, 72 yard touchdown drive in which he accounted for 68 of the yards and capped it with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Kavaski Ervin with 2:06 left in the game.
DEFENSE COMES UP BIG WHEN NEEDED
Pittsburg State got the ball back with 2:06 left, needing to go 80 yards to take the lead. Dominique Jones stopped Jeff Seybold on first down for no gain. On second and ten JP Lohrentz broke up a pass from Roderique to Marquise Cushon and on third down Tre Dickerson broke up a pass to Levi Copelin. Pitt State called their final timeout with 1:35 left to set up their fourth down play. Roderique found Cushon open down the field but just missed the throw and the Hornets were able to go into victory formation with 1:31 left to seal the win.
NUMBERS
Wilson went 26 of 43 for 336 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 108 yards on ten carries with a touchdown. Kavaski Ervin had six catches for 88 yards with a pair of touchdowns while Mitchell Foote caught six passes for 53 yards and a score. Jordan Reed had two catches for 64 yards and a touchdown for the Hornets. Antonio Brown was the second leading rusher for the Hornets with 60 yards on 15 carries as Emporia State gained 223 yards on the ground.
MOVING ON UP
Brent Wilson continues to move up in the Emporia State record books. His 444 yards of total offense moved him past 1998 Harlon Hill Trophy winner Brian Shay into second place on the Hornets career chart with 7,230 yards of total offense.
Wilson's four touchdown passes gives him 21 on the season to pass Sean Ponder for fifth and give him two spots in the Emporia State top five for single season touchdowns.
Wilson's 336 passing yards gives him 2,099 for the season to pass Joe Jacobs for tenth on the Emporia State single season list and give him two of the top ten marks in school history.
STREAK BREAKER
The win by the Hornets snapped a 22 game regular season road winning streak by the Gorillas. The last road loss before today for Pittsburg State was a 17-14 win by Emporia State in 2010.
UP NEXT
The Hornets travel to Hays, Kan. next week to take on Ft. Hays State. Kick-off at Lewis Field is set for 2:00 p.m.
