December 5, 2015-Playing in the NCAA Division II National Quarterfinals for the first time in school history, #18 Emporia State fell 38-17 at #1 Northwest Missouri on Saturday. The Hornets end the season 11-3, the most wins since going 11-2 during their 1989 NAIA National Runner-up season.
EARLY HOLE
The Hornets were able to hold the Bearcats to a field goal on their first possession. A short punt into a stiff wind gave Northwest Missouri a short field and they sent 37 yards on seven plays to take a 10-0 lead with 6:29 left in the first quarter. They made it 17-0 in the second when Cameron Wilcox scored on a two yard run to cap a 10 play, 86 yard drive with 9:23 left in the half.
ON THE BOARD
Emporia State answered on the next drive starting with a 65 yard pass from Brent Wilson to Morris Williams and three plays later Wilson scrambled for 12 yards and a touchdown to cut the lead to 17-7 with 7:40 left in the half. Northwest Missouri took over with 2:23 left in the half and took a 24-7 lead on a Bolles to Jordan Bishop for a nine yard touchdown with 45 seconds left. Wilson was able to lead Emporia State 52 yards in the final 45 seconds and Austin Morton nailed a career long 42 yard field goal to pull the Hornets within 24-10 at the break.
THIRD QUARTER
After trading punts to open the second half Northwest was able to take a 31-10 lead on a four play, 57 yard drive. After Jason Tetuan and Eddi Vinson combined on a sack on first down, Bolles was able to get the ball past Vinson and found Randy Schmidt for 60 yards before Tre Dickerson tackled him at the one yard line. Two plays later Phil Jackson scored to make it 31-10 with 7:09 left in the third. Emporia State answered on the very next play from scrimmage as Wilson hit Williams for a 68 yard touchdown with 6:53 left. Leading 31-17 and facing third and two on the next drive Bolles stood in the pocket before getting hit and was able to conenct with Jordan Grove for a 40 yard touchdown that gave the Bearcats a 38-17 lead with 5:09 left in the quarter.
FOURTH DOWN PROBLEMS
Defensively Emporia State was able to force punts on two possessions and a Northwest Missouri would miss a 43 yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Offensively the Hornets would drive to inside the Bearcat 35 yard line on their next three possessions, but ended up turning the ball over on downs each time as neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
THE NUMBERS
Brent Wilson went 23 of 38 for 324 yards with a touchdown and added one rushing touchdown for the Hornets. Morris Williams caught a career high ten passes for 191 yards and a touchdown. The 324 yards were the most given up by the Bearcat defense since Washburn's Dane Simoneau went for 372 yards on Oct. 22, 2011. Jason Tetuan finished with a career high 18 tackles, the most by a Hornet since Jordan Sanders had 19 tackles in the Hornets playoff game at Minn.-Duluth on Nov. 23, 2013.
HISTORIC CAREER
Wilson finished the season 337 of 521 for 4,244 yards and 40 touchdowns and added 316 rushing yards for 4,560 yards of total offense. He is ranked second in MIAA history on both single season passing and total offense. He ended his career with 9,516 yards of total offense to rank seventh in MIAA history and his 8,621 passing yards ranks ninth on the MIAA career list.
