November 4, 2023-For the first time in school history Emporia State had two players with 100 receiving yards and two players with 100 rushing yards as they rolled to a school record 795 yards of total offense in a 63-28 Senior Day win over Missouri Southern at Welch Stadium.
The Hornets wasted no time getting out to a 14-0 lead thanks to a two yard touchdown run by
DeAndre Thomas and a 74 yard touchdown pass from
Braden Gleason to
Tyler Kahmann in the first seven minutes of the game. Southern would get on the board thanks to a 26 yard touchdown pass from Luke Sampson to David Bethune with 6:03 left in the first quarter. Emporia State answered with another touchdown from Thomas, this time from four yards out to take a 21-7 lead with 3:21 left in the first.
Gleason found Kahmann for a four yard touchdown and their second connection of the game as the Hornets took a 28-7 lead with 14:10 remaining in the half. On the next series
Chris Pope forced a Lion fumble and
Rylan Miller jumped on it at the Southern 38 yard line. Five plays later Gleason hit
Jaylen Varner for an eight yard touchdown as Emporia State took a 35-7 lead. On the next Lion possession Montreal Wilson broke up a pass on fourth down to give the Hornets the ball back. They would drive 63 yards and finished it off with a five yard pass from Gleason to
Trenden Collins for a 42-7 lead with 3:18 remaining in the half.
The Lions took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 92 yards in four plays thanks to a pass interference call on the Hornets and back to back 37 yard pass completions before Anthodius Ashley scored from three yards out with 13:22 left in the third quarter. The Hornets would get the touchdown back with 5:17 left in the quarter when Thomas scored his third touchdown of the game from six yards out to make it 49-14. Southern answered with a 27 yard pass from Sampson to Bethune with 4:22 left to get within 49-21 with 4:22 to go in the third.
The scoring continued with a one yard pass from Sampson to Dmitri Lloyd with 12:26 left in the game to get the Lions within 56-28. The Hornets answered with a nine play, 75 yard drive capped by Thomas' fifth rushing touchdown of the afternoon. The score gave Emporia State a 63-28 lead with 7:04 remaining and would be the final drive
Braden Gleason's career on Jones Field at Welch Stadium. The Hornets would force a three and out on the Lions next possession and
Chase Ricke replaced Gleason to start the final drive. Emporia State was able to run the final 6:38 off the clock to end the game. The Hornets did not punt in the game so senior punter
Ross Brungardt took the field as a receiver on the final kneel down for the Hornets.
Gleason finished the game 42 of 46 for 482 yards and four touchdowns and added 30 rushing yards for 512 yards of total offense. Thomas had career highs of 23 carries for 150 yards and five touchdowns while
Billy Ross Jr. had 101 yards on 23 carries. Kahmann had nine catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns while Varner finished with 11 receptions for 105 yards and a score. Defensively
Bo Odom led Emporia State with eight tackles while
Chris Pope had a forced fumble and
Rylan Miller a fumble recovery.
Emporia State will play their final regular season game on November 11 when they travel to Fort Hays State. Kick off from Lewis Field Stadium in Hays, Kan. Is set for 1:00 p.m.
NOTES:
The 795 yards of total offense broke the old school record of 747 set against Southwest Baptist in 2013.
Gleason's 512 yards of total offense moved him past Fort Hays State's Jacob Mezera (508 vs PSUÂ eighth in MIAA history for a single game.
Gleason's 482 passing yards moved him past Emporia State's Braxton Marstall (481 vs UMD in 2016) for ninth on the MIAA single game passing list.
Gleason has 10,736 career passing yards and moved past MWSU's Drew Newhart (10,691 yards from 2007-10) for third on the MIAA career list.
Gleason now has 103 career passing touchdowns to pass WU's Dane Simoneau (102 from2008-11) for second on the MIAA career list.
Thomas five rushing touchdowns are the most by a Hornet since Brian Shay had a school record seven against Missouri S&T in 1997.
With his two touchdown receptions Kahmann has 15 on the season and moved into a tie with Ray Ray Davis (1015) and Bruce Cerone (1968) for second on the ESU single season list.
