October 22, 2017-In a game that took over 24 hours to complete, Emporia State gave up 360 rushing yards as Pittsburg State held the ball for 34:45 of time of possession in a 27-10 Gorilla victory. The game started at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, went into a delay at 4:21 p.m. and resumed 21 hours and 39 minutes later after a series of thunderstorms rolled through the Emporia area.
Emporia State opened the game with a touchdown drive on their opening possession for the fifth straight game. After throwing an incompletion on his first attempt, Braxton Marstall hit six straight passes, capped by a four yard strike to Louis Dailey for a 7-0 lead with 10:13 left in the quarter. Pittsburg State drove down to the Hornet seven yard line before Gabe Cleveland picked off John Roderique in the endzone to end the threat.
The Gorillas tied the score with 44 seconds left in the first quarter on a 59 yard burst up the middle by Michael Rose to make it 7-7. Pitt State took a 14-7 lead ontheir next possession when they drove 87 yards in 12 plays with Rose scoring his second touchdown of the game on a ten yard run with 9:20 left in the half.
Pittsburg State took a two score lead with 11:38 left in the third quarter on a reverse wide receiver pass from Brendon Franklin to Lorenzo West of 36 yards. The play came after a Marstall fumble forced by the Gorillas Carnell Lewis with 11:46 left in the quarter. Emporia State answered with a 43 yard field goal by Justin Marcha with 8:44 left in the quarter to cut the lead to 21-10. The Gorillas went back up 14 with a 29 yard field goal from Jared Vincent with 4:20 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets took their first drive of the fourth quarter to the Gorilla 44 yard line before Landon Nault was stopped on fourth and two, giving the ball back to Pitt State. The Gorillas made it down to the Emporia State 22 yard line before lightning halted the game at 4:21 p.m. The teams attempted to come out and warm up at 5 p.m. but more lightning came in and forced the teams back to the locker rooms. After nearly seven hours of delays and near restarts, the game was suspended at 11 p.m. with 10:08 remaining.
When the game resumed on Sunday, the Hornets held Pitt State to a field goal to make it 27-10 with 7:37 left in the contest. Marstall was not able to finish the game due to an injury so T'Quan Wallace took over at quarterback for the Hornets. He hit Kai Callins for seven yards and Justin Brown for 17 on his first two passes before Callins was tripped up behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of seven. After a three yard sack Wallace connected with Brown for 15 yards on third and 20, but was sacked again on fourth down giving the ball back to the Gorillas.
Pittsburg State ended the game with a 5:10 drive that saw them convert on fourth and six thanks to a pass interference penalty on Emporia State with just over three minutes remaining. Thomas LePage, who replaced Roderique at QB due to an injury, hit Austin Panko for 15 yards to convert another fourth down for the Gorillas with 59 seconds left to seal the win.
Marstall was the leading rusher for the Hornets with 79 yards on 15 carries while he went 17 of 28 through the air for 128 yards and a touchdown. Justin Brown had his third straight 100 yard receiving game, catching nine passes for 110 yards. Gabe Clevelan had 11 tackles and two interceptions while Luke Meyer recorded a career high 12 tackles for th Hornet defense.
Emporia State will travel to Hays, Kan. to close out October against the #8 Ft. Hays State Tigers. Kick-off at Lewis Field Stadium is set for 2:00 p.m.
NOTES
This is the second time in three years the Hornets have had a game delayed until at least the next day. Emporia State's 45-34 win over Central Missouri in 2015 began on Sept. 10 and ended on Sept. 11 due to inclement weather.
Marstall passed both Tad Hatfield (2,384 yds in 2003) and Pete Jelovic (2,422 yds in 1997) to move into eighth on the Emporia State single season passing chart with 2,442 yards.
This was the first time Emporia State has lost to Pittsburg State in Welch Stadium since 2008.
