December 1, 2018-Emporia State got five touchdown passes from game MVP Braxton Marstall on the way to a 30-22 win over Ark.-Monticello in the second annual Corsicana Bowl in Corsicana, Texas.
After back to back punts to open the game, the Boll Weevils went on a 99 yard drive to take the lead on a one yard run by quarterback Cole Sears. Kyle Rinck blocked the extra point to make it 6-0 with 5:04 left in the first quarter. The Hornets would tie the game on a 32 yard pass from Marstall to Jordan Reed with six seconds left in the quarter but the extra point missed to make it 6-6.
Emporia State took a 12-6 lead on their first drive of the second quarter when Marstall connected with Reed again on an eight yard pass with 11:13 left in the half. The extra point was blocked. After a pair of punts, Ark.-Monticello took over at their own 47 yard line with 5:26 left in the half. They take 12 plays and 4:27 off the clock to go 22 yards before settling for a 48 yard field goal from Josh Marini with 59 seconds left. Three plays and two UAM penalties later Marstall hit Justin Brown on a 45 yard touchdown with two seconds left. After the try for two failed, Emporia State went to the locker room up 18-9.
The Boll Weevils forced teh Hornets into a three and out to start the second half and then went 55 yards in four plays and pulled within 18-16 on an 18 yard pass from Cole Sears to DeAndre Washington with 10:54 left in the third. The Hornets got a big kick return by Travon Jones back to the Monticello 44 yard line but would turn the ball over on downs at the UAM 22 when Reed was only able to get ten of 11 yards needed on fourth down. The Boll Weevils took the lead on a 35 yard field goal from Marini with 5:56 left in the third to give UAM the lead back at 19-18. The Hornets only needed four plays to go 55 yards as Marstall hit Tyler Harris who made a diving one handed catch from 31 yards out to put Emporia State back up 24-19 with 4:18 left in the quarter.
Both defenses stiffened up over the next four drives before Ark.-Monticello got another field goal from Marini, this one for 31 yards out, to pull within 24-22 with 12:29 left in the game. Another big return from Jones gave the Hornets the ball at the ESU 36 yard line. Marstall connected with Landon Nault for 44 yards on first down and two plays later hit Harris for a 13 yard touchdown and 30-22 lead with 11:03 left in the game.
Dobbins delivered a 55 yard punt that was downed at the one yard line with 7:24 left in the game. On first down Sears hit CJ Parham for a 77 yard pass on first down to get the Boll Weevils down to the Hornet 22 yard line. On the next play Logan Thompson sacked Sears and forced a fumble that was recovered by Parker Bass to stop the threat with 6:33 left. ESU then went on their longest drive in terms of time used as they went 36 yards on seven plays and took 3:44 off the clock before turning it over on downs with 2:49 left.
After a rush of five yards on first down, Sears threw three straight incompletions with one being knocked down at the line by TreVaun Ammons and another break up on fourth down by Lawson Holbert. The Hornets were able to burn another 1:08 off the clock before turning the ball over on downs with 1:00 left at the Boll Weevils 28 yard line. Sears and Washington were able to connect on a 24 yard pass to get into Hornet territory at the 46 yard line. Sears then hit Malcomn Staten for six yards, Washington for 11 and Staten again for nine yards to reach the Emporia State 20 yard line with under 30 seconds left. Brent Davenport broke up a pass on second and one and Sears threw incomplete on third and fourth down to give the ball back to ESU with nine seconds left to go to victory formation.
Marstall finished the game 22 of 30 for 315 yards and five touchdowns while adding 21 yards on 14 carries on the ground. Jordan Reed was his favorite target, getting seven catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Tyler Harris had 67 yards and two touchdowns on four catches while Justin Brown added a touchdown and 56 yards on two receptions. Landon Nault had 77 yards on four catches and added a team high 59 yards on 14 carries. Logan Thompson had a career high 15 tackles with a sack, forced fumble and 2.5 tackles for loss. Jace McDown had nine tackles and two pass break ups while Brent Davenport added four pass break ups.
With the win Emporia State finished the season 8-4, tying for the ninth most wins in school history.
NOTES:
With his five touchdown passes Braxton Marstall now has a school record 87 touchdown passes, breaking Brent Wilson's previous mark of 84 set from 2012-15.
With 326 yards of total offense Braxton Marstall now has 11,156 yards of total offense and passed Dane Simoneau of Washburn (11,148 yards from 2007-11) for second in career total offense in MIAA history.
With his 59 rushing yards Landon Nault became the first Hornet since Tyler Paul in 2003 to gain 1,000 yards in a season, ending with 1,008 yards.
With his 315 passing yards Braxton Marstall finished with 3,049 passing yards, the fifth 3,000 yard passing season in ESU history.
This is the first time in Emporia State history they have had a player pass for 3,000 yards and another player run for 1,000 yards in the same season.
