October 16, 2021-The Emporia State football team dropped their fourth one score game of the season, falling 42-35 to Neb.-Kearney on Saturday afternoon in Welch Stadium. In three of the losses they have had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with under two minutes left.
The Hornets forced a three and out on the Lopers first possession and drove the ball to the UNK 14 yard line when
Braden Gleason's pass was deflected at the reception point and Atoatasi Fox came away with an interception to stop the drive.
The defense forced another three and out and Hunter Kraus delivered a 16 yard punt to set Emporia State up at the Loper 40 yard line. Five plays later Gleason hooked up with
Cole Schumacher on a 24 yard touchdown pass in which Schumacher carried four Lopers the final five yards into the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 7:52 left in the first quarter.
The Lopers turned the ball over on downs at the Hornet 31 on the next series. Emporia State would go 69 yards on 14 plays, capped by a
Canaan Brooks one yard touchdown run to go up 14-0 with 1:52 left in the first quarter.
Neb.-Kearney got on the board at the start of the second quarter when TJ Davis found Damien Cearns for an 11 yard touchdown pass with 12:17 left in the half. Emporia State responded with an 11 play, 75 yard drive capped by a
Calvin Boyce one yard plunge to go back up 21-7 with 9:10 remaining in the half.
Davis rattled off a 30 yard run in the middle of a seven play, 58 yard drive and then scored from two yards out to pull the Lopers within a touchdown at 21-14 with 5:46 left in the half.
Emporia State would march the ball down the field and had first and goal at the three yard line following a
Billy Ross Jr. 12 yard run. On first down Ross gained two yards down to the one but the UNK defense stiffened and held Emporia State out of the end zone on the next two plays to takeover at their own two yard line with 2:10 left in the half. Three plays and one pass interference penalty later receiver AJ McPhee completed a 37 yard touchdown pass to Cody Nelson to tie the score at 21-21 with 57 seconds left in the half.
After combining for 563 yards in the first half, both teams struggled to move the ball in the third quarter. After back to back punts to open the quarter Emporia State turned the ball over on downs with 7:52 left in the period. The Lopers appeared to be on their way to taking a lead when Davis hit Montrez Jackson for 25 yard gain but he was denied the end zone when
Arich Ansley chased him down and stripped the ball at the one and it went out of the end zone for a touchback.
The teams traded punts again and when ESU got the ball back with 3:30 left in the half Gleason had another pass deflected at the reception point and Darius Swanson came away the Lopers second interception of the game. It took UNK seven plays to go 31 yards before Jackson scored from seven yards out to give the Lopers a 28-21 lead with 1:04 left in the third quarter.
Neb.-Kearney would score on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter, on a 42 yard pass from Davis to Dayton Sealey with 12:54 left and 38 yard scoring pass from Davis to Thomas Tews with 9:14 remaining. Emporia State responded with a ten play, 68 yard drive capped by a seven yard touchdown run by Brooks with 7:07 left to pull within 42-28. The Hornets forced a three and out on the UNK possession and got down to the Loper seven yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 2:37 left.
Emporia State forced another three and out and took over with 1:30 left on their own 47 yard line. Gleason completed four straight passes including a 14 yarder to Ross, a 26 yarder to Schumacher and then an 11 yard touchdown to
Corey Thomas to pull within 42-35 with 58 seconds remaining.
The Hornets lined up for an onside kick and
Sam Dobbins was able to get it past the Loper front line and Thomas recovered it at the UN 49 yard line. Swanson broke up a first down pass to Thomas and Gleason was sacked for a loss of four on second down. After a spike to stop the clock, Gleason connected with
Tommy Zimmerman but he was stopped after a seven yard gain to turn the ball over on downs. UNK took one kneel down to end the game.
Emporia State ended the game with 609 yards of total offense on a school record 109 plays.
Canaan Brooks had a career high 151 yards on 30 carries with two touchdowns while
Calvin Boyce added 48 yards on six carries and touchdown.
Braden Gleason was 37 of 62 for 371 yards and two touchdowns.
Tommy Zimmerman had nine catches for 99 yards.
Corey Thomas had seven catches for 60 yards and a score while
Cole Schumacher added 65 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.
Dawson Hammes was credited with a team high nine tackles while
Jace McDown had eight stops.
Arich Ansley had three tackles and forced two fumbles.
Emporia State will be back on Jones Field at Welch Stadium on Saturday, October 23 for a Homecoming contest against Missouri Southern. Kick-off is set for 2:00 p.m.
NOTES:
This is the second straight game Emporia State has ran over 100 plays and accumulated over 600 yards of offense.
This is the ninth straight game dating back to the 2019 season that Emporia State has scored at least 28 points in a game.
