September 5, 2026-Emporia State held Pittsburg State to just 279 yards of total offense and forced three turnovers in a 21-10 win over the #10 Gorillas on Saturday night in Pittsburg, Kan.
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The teams traded three and outs to start the game before the Hornets went on a nine play, 55 yard drive to take the lead.Â
Ben Harris was four for seven for 40 yards and added a 19 yard rush on the drive before
Camden Crooks scored from one yard out to give the Hornets a 7-0 lead with 7:50 left in the first quarter.Â
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The ESU defense forced another three and out by the Gorillas, capped by a third down sack by
Gabe Booker and
Christian Westbrooks. Â The Hornets made it 14-0 on the next possession on a two yard touchdown pass from Harris to
Trenden Collins with 2:36 remaining in the half.
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Pitt State got back in the game on their next possession when Jake Wolff hit TJ Starks for 57 yards on their first play. Five plays later Syre Padilla scored from three yards out to cut the lead in half at 14-7 with 17 seconds left in the first quarter.Â
The second quarter started with four consecutive punts, the last of which saw the Gorillas down Tyler Antle's 39 yard punt at the three yard line. The Hornets answered with a 12 play, 97 yard drive capped by Crooks one yard touchdown run with 5:12 left in the half for a 21-7 lead. Emporia State's defense forced another punt and were able to run out the final 1:52 of the half to take a 21-7 lead to the locker room.
The second half started with the Hornets going 37 yards on 11 plays before they were forced to punt. The Gorillas marched 86 yards down to the ESU seven yard line to set up first and goal.Â
Holden Ziegler and Eric Stevenson stopped PSU's
Diego Cearns for a loss of three on first down and
Tyler Schultze broke up a pass on second down. On third and goal All-American
Landon Boss intercepted Wolff to end the threat. The defense for both teams took over for the rest of the quarter as they again traded punts.
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The Gorillas took over at the ESU 49 yard line with 10:51 left in the game and drove down to the Hornet three yard line.  Facing fourth and goal Wolff tried to go off tackle to the right side and was met by
Jaxon Bowles for a loss of a yard. Emporia State ran 1:32 off the clock before they had to punt back to Pitt State with 3:51 left. On third and seven with 2:44 left
Aidan Hicks picked off Wolff to give the Hornets the ball back. ESU was forced to punt with 58 seconds left and
Jordan Cartwright's 40 yard punt was muffed by Luke Coon and Divante Herrig-Britain jumped on it to give the Hornets the ball with just 50 seconds remaining. Two kneel downs later the Hornets secured their second straight win over the Gorillas in Carnie Smith Stadium.
Ben Harris went 27 of 42 for 297 yards with a touchdown while adding 46 yards on five rushes. He connected with seven different receivers, four of whom had at least 60 yards.Â
Trenden Collins had six catches for 61 yards and score,
Malik O'Atis had eight receptions for 66 yards,
Ondraye Beasley caught five passes for 71 yards and
Camden Crooks had three receptions for 71 yards. Crooks also had 50 yards on 14 rushes for 121 all-purpose yards.
Defensively
Landon Boss had seven tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception, pass break up and quarterback hit.Â
Chance Clements was credited with a team high eight tackles with one TFL while
Clem McCullough had seven tackles with 2.5 for a loss.
Gabe Booker had 1.5 sacks among his five tackles.
The Hornets will make their Welch Stadium debut on Saturday, September 12 when they play host to Michigan Tech. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
NOTES
This is the first time since 1950 and 52Â that Emporia State has won on consecutive trips to Pittsburg State.
The win was Coach
Garin Higgins 120
th at Emporia State.
Tyler Schultze had two pass break ups to give him 27 in his career and move into a tie for third place on the Emporia State career list with Jaedon Pool (2017-22)
Reminder that the east side of Welch Stadium is closed to the general public. The new ESU student section will be beyond the north end zone with the student entrance located in the northeast corner of the stadium near the Police & Safety Building. Visitor seating is now located in Section Q located in the southern most part of the west grand stand. Less than 400 reserved seat tickets remain as of Saturday night.
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