December 4, 2021-In a bowl game that mirrored seven of Emporia State's regular season games the Farmers Bank & Trust Live United Bowl came down to the final seconds as Southeastern Oklahoma pulled out a 37-34 victory in the final ten seconds. There were 994 yards of total offense in the contest.
Emporia State struck first with a 27 yard touchdown pass from
Braden Gleason to
Corey Thomas with 8:10 left for the only scoring in the first quarter.
The scoring picked up in the second quarter with both teams trading touchdowns. Duce Pittman caught a 33 yard touchdown pass from Daulton Hatley with 13:40 left in the quarter for the Savage Storm. The Hornets answered with a 31 yard touchdown pass from Gleason to
Tommy Zimmerman with 12:00 remaining. Hatley followed with an eight yard pass to Katrell Blakely with 7:17 left to tie the game at 14. The Hornets would get the final score of the half when Gleason hit
Tyler Kahmann for five yards with 2:22 left as Emporia State took a 21-14 lead to the break.
The scoring didn't let up in the third quarter as Hatley hit Marquis Gray for a 60 yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to pull Southeastern into 21 -21 tie.
Calvin Boyce scored from one yard out to cap a six play, 68 yard drive but
Sam Dobbins PAT was wide as the Hornets led 27-21 with 12:09 left in the third. Ryan Taylor went 51 yards for a score on the next drive and the PAT gave Southeastern a 28-27 lead with 9:16 left.
Following a Hornet punt the Savage Storm drove down to the Hornet four yard line but Emporia State stiffened and held them to a 28 yard field goal as Southeastern took a 31-27 lead with seven seconds left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing drive Zimmerman was stripped following a completion and Southeastern's Josh Mulumba returned it 24 yards down to the Hornet two yard line. Emporia State's defense again came through with a goal line stand, keeping the Savage Storm out of the end zone on four rushes. The Hornets were able to get a little room for
Ross Brungardt who boomed a 51 yard punt to give the ball back to Southeastern. The Storm would drive to the 15 yard line before the Emporia State defense stiffened again and held Southeastern to another 35 yard field goal for a 34-27 lead with 8:19 left.
Juwan Johnson returned the kick-off 33 yards to set Emporia State up at their own 45 yard line. Five plays later
Canaan Brooks scored from ten yards out and Dobbins PAT tied the game at 34 with 6:38 left in the game.
Emporia State forced a punt on Southeastern's possession and took over at their own 37 yard line with 4:14 left. The Hornets got to midfield before a third down pass was broken up. Brungardt punted to the Southeastern 15 yard line and the Storm's Tainique Taylor lost three yards on the return and fumbled it but was able to recover it with 2:24 left. The Storm ran two plays followed by Emporia State timeouts forcing a third and six with 2:05 left from their own 16 yard line. Hatley found Braxton Kincade on a desperation heave and he came down with it 42 yards downfield at the Hornet 42 yard line. They would convert on fourth and three from the Hornet 35 and got down to the Emporia State 12 yard line before calling timeout with ten seconds left. Trey Keats then hit his third field goal of the game to give Southeastern Oklahoma a 37-34 lead with six seconds left.
The Hornet had one last play as Gleason hit Jaylon Varner for ten yards who then lateralled to
Billy Ross Jr who was pushed out of bounds after another eight yards as time expired.
Braden Gleason finished the game 25 of 40 for 309 yards and three touchdowns while adding 33 yards on seven carries.
Corey Thomas became the first Hornet this season to have a 100 receiving yards in a game, finishing with 103 on six catches with a touchdown while
Jaylen Varner had nine catches for 87 yards.
Tyler Kahmann had 58 yards on three catches with a touchdown while
Tommy Zimmerman had two catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.
Canaan Brooks gained 108 yards on 19 rushes with a touchdown while
Calvin Boyce scored on his only rush.
Emporia State finishes the season 6-6 after advancing to the post season for the sixth time in the last nine years.
