November 21, 2015-Austin Morton hit a 33 yard field goal as time expired to give #18 Emporia State a 51-49 win over #6 Minnesota State in the first round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs in Mankato, Minn. It was the first playoff win in Emporia State history and came against last year's national runners-up.
WILD START
Emporia State took an early 7-0 lead when JP Lohrentz scooped up a Maverick fumble and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown 32 seconds into the game. Minnesota State would tie the game with 11:21 left when Rumeal Harris returned an interception 45 yards to make it 7-7. It was the first time a team had returned an interception for a touchdown against Brent Wilson in his 35 game career.
COMEBACKS
After the unconventional start Minnesota State settled in and seemed to take control as they went up 28-10 with 6:09 left in the half. Emporia State would dominate the rest of the quarter as Brent Wilson and Kavaski Ervin connected on 43 and 48 yard touchdown passes to pull the Hornets within four at the half. Emporia State would outgain 168 yards to 20 over the final six minutes of the half.
STRONG THIRD
The Hornets continued their run to start the third quarter getting a 73 yard touchdown from Wilson to Morris Williams II and and a 23 yard shovel pass score from Wilson to Antonio Brown to take a 38-28 lead with 8:52 left in the quarter. Ervin and Wilson would hook up again for a 15 yard touchdown as Emporia State would score 35 straight points and took a 45-28 lead with 5:42 remaining in the third.
ANOTHER COMEBACK
Minnesota State switched quarterbacks after the Hornets took the 17 point lead and Ricky Lloyd would start a comeback for the Mavericks. He scored on a five yard runto make it 45-35 Hornets heading into the fourth quarter. Austin Morton hit a season high 41 yard field goal to make it 48-35 before Chad Zastrow scored his third rushing touchdown to make it 48-42 with 11:37 remaining. The Mavericks then retook the lead with 8:27 left on a ten yard pass from Lloyd to Bryce Duncan.
FINAL DRIVES
The Hornets looked poised to retake the lead as they drove to the Maverick eight yard line when Wilson was intercepted in the end zone by Rob Myers with 4:26 left. JP Lohrentz then picked off his third pass of the game with 2:35 left, giving Emporia State another chance from the Minnesota State 43 yard line. Wilson hit three straight passes to get the Hornets down to the 20 yard line and then scrambled for seven more to set Emporia State up at the 13 yard line. He was then sacked when trying to spike the ball forcing the Hornets to call their final time out with 39 seconds left. After a rush by Landon Nault, Wilson spiked the ball with four seconds left to bring Morton onto the field. The most accurate kicker in the MIAA calmly hit a 33 yarder as time expired to send the Hornets into the second round of the playoffs for the first time in school history.
THE NUMBERS
Brent Wilson was 27 of 47 for 437 yards and five touchdowns and added 11 yards on nine carries. For the first time in school history, three players had over 100 yards receiving in a game. Williams had eight catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, Mitchell Foote had eight catches for 116 yards and Kavaski Ervin had six catches for 139 yards and three touchdowns. Morton connected on three field goals from 32, 41 and 33 yards out. Defensively Jason Tetuan had 14 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks and forced two fumbles. JP Lohrentz had 12 tackles and three intercpetions to go with his 46 yard fumble return for a score.
RECORDS
Brent Wilson broke the Emporia State single season total offense and passing yards and career passing yards records today. He now has 3,857 passing yards and 4,172 yard of total offense this season. He has 8,234 yards passing in his career. All three of the records were previously held by Tyler Eckenrode.
UP NEXT
Emporia State will take on either Henderson State or Sioux Falls on Saturday, November 28 on the road.
