Homecoming win for Emporia State Football 39-17 over Neb.-Kearney

October 28, 2023-Emporia State shook off a scoreless first quarter to score 39 points in 32 minutes to defeat Neb.-Kearney 39-17 for the Hornets Homecoming contest on Saturday afternoon.
 
Both teams struggled to begin the game on a cool and wet fall afternoon as both teams punted on their opening drive. Braden Gleason threw just his third interception of the season on the Hornets second drive and the Lopers took over at the ESU 14 yard line.  The Hornet defense took over and were able to hold UNK to a field goal as the Lopers took a 3-0 lead with 10:21 left in the opening period.   That would be the only score of the first quarter as Emporia State was held scoreless in the opening quarter for the first time since the Northwest Missouri game on September 7.

The Lopers went up 10-0 on their opening drive of the second quarter on a one yard touchdown run by Zane Schawang with 9:25 left in the second quarter. After not scoring for over 20 minutes the Hornets would score 12 points in the next three minutes.  It started with a 34 yard touchdown pass from Gleason to Trenden Collins with 7:57 left.  The snap on the PAT was off and Caden Dodson was stopped trying to run in the conversion as Emporia State pulled within 10-6.  On the ensuing drive Jaaron Joseph had the first of his two interceptions, setting ESU up at the UNK ten yard line. On the next play Gleason hit Jaylen Varner for a touchdown to give the Hornets a 12-10 lead as the two point conversion was not converted. With 6:23 left in the half.

Emporia State got the ball back at the UNK 34 yard with 2:03 left in the half following a 23 yard Loper punt. Five plays later Gleason connected with Tyler Kahmann for a 12 yard touchdown with 1:11 left as they took an 18-10 lead into the half.

Neb.-Kearney was set to receive the second half kick off and Caden Dodson sent a line drive kick that brushed off the Lopers Darrius Jackson and was recovered in the endzone by Emporia State's Tyler Schultze. Dodson's PAT was good and Emporia State took a 25-10 lead just six seconds into the second half.

Joseph picked off his second pass of the game with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter to set the Hornets up at mid field. Billy Ross Jr., seeing his first action in three weeks,  would gain 34 of 51 yards on the ensuing drive that was capped by a 19 yard Gleason to Kahmann touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the third quarter. Dodson's PAT made it 32-10 and ended a run of 32 straight points by the Hornets.

TJ Davis scored on an 11 yard scramble on the opening drive of the fourth quarter to pull the Lopers within 15 points at 32-17 with 12:43 to go. The Hornets eventually got the score back with 6:05 remaining when Gleason hit Tommy Zimmerman for a 15 yard touchdown pass to give ESU a 39-17 lead. It was the fifth touchdown pass of the game for Gleason and the 99^th of his career.  The Lopers then ran the final 5:58 off the clock on a ten play drive that only gained 31 yards.  UNK got into ESU territory but a false start penalty and back to back sacks by Chance Rodriguez pushed the Lopers back to their own 38 yard line with 17 seconds left.  A short pass from Davis to Malcolm Lee resulted in a five yard gain as time expired.

Gleason finished the day 27 of 42 for 250 yards with five touchdown passes.  Varner had ten catches for 79 yards and a touchdown while Kahmann added six receptions for 61 yards and two touchdowns.  Zimmerman finished with four catches for 45 yards and a score.  Ross had 72 yards on just eight carries to lead the Hornet ground attack.

Defensively Laon Jones had a team high nine tackles with a sack while Chance Rodriguez had seven tackles and two sacks.  Jaaron Joseph picked off two passes and had a tackle for loss.  Tyelr Schultze had a special teams touchdown and blocked a punt for the Hornets.
 
Emporia State will be back in action on Saturday, November 3 when they take on Missouri Southern in the final home game of the 2023 season.  The Senior Day/Salute To Service game is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m.
 
NOTES:
Braden Gleason continued his assault on the ESU record book. He now has 11,212 yards of total offense to break Braxton Marstall's Emporia State career record of 11,156 yards set from 2014-18. He is now second all-time in the MIAA in total offense passing Washburn's Dane Simoneau (11,148 yards from 2007-11) and Marstall.
Gleason now has 10,254 passing yards and moved past MWSU's Kasey Waterman (10,025 yards from 1998-2001) for fourth on the MIAA career passing yards list.
Gleason passed MWSU's Drew Newhart (95 TD from 2007-10) and Kasey Waterman (98 TD from 1998-2001) to move into third on the MIAA career passing touchdown list.
Gleason moved past Braxton Marstall (2,893 yards in 2017) and Brent Wilson (2,985 yards in 2013) for eighth in single season passing yards at ESU with 2,922 passing yards.
Gleason moved into a tie with Braxton Marstall (31 TD passes in 2016) for fourth on the ESU single season list with 31 touchdown passes.
 Kahmann moved into a tie for fifth with Tyler Harris (2018), Shjuan Ricahrdson (2012) and Bruce Cerone (1969) for fifth on the Emporia State single season touchdown receptions list with 13.