St. Joseph, Mo. — Tyler Mikkelson saw Missouri Western receiver Cedric Houston slow down at about the 5-yard line as he started his celebration.
Houston was about to score to put the Griffons ahead 35-0 in the third quarter, and Mikkelson sprinted to the goal line and made a desperate dive at Houston.
Houston fumbled, the Hornets recovered the ball and a sliver of hope.
As the Hornets put the first half and the disappointing losses that have started to pile up in the MIAA behind them after Mikkelson’s forced fumble, they started to resemble the team that was 3-1 not long ago. But in the end, a frantic comeback fell short as the Hornets lost their fourth straight, 28-21.
“We came out and laid an egg that first half on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball,” Sean Partridge said. “They (ESU’s defense) gave up 28 points and we didn’t score any and it’s tough to win like that.”
Emporia State certainly laid an egg in the first half — a rotten one. Missouri Western quarterback Drew Newhart sat comfortably in the pocket and picked apart the Hornets’ defense for 211 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. The Griffons came into the game with the worst rushing attack in the league, but even their running backs had success, running for 74 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
The ESU offense couldn’t move the ball against a defense that came in as by far the worst defense statistically in the MIAA. The Griffons had been giving up 423.7 total yards per game and 226.4 rushing yards. The Hornets managed only 38 rushing and 96 total yards in the first half. They were 0-for-5 on third down conversions, Sloan El threw an interception and Matt Perry had a field goal blocked on the Hornets only chance to score points in the first half.
“I don’t think we allowed the game to come to us. We were a little bit out of rhythm, and a lot of people were out of sync, including me,” Sloan El said. “It’s kind of hard when you come out that slow and you come out in the second half and try to play catch up.”
Sloan El and the Hornets had a lot of catching up to do in the second half, but they nearly closed the gap and were a couple plays away from forcing overtime. After Cameron Gee recovered Houston’s fumble, Sloan El made up for his poor first half, driving the Hornets 92 yards in 13 plays. Sloan El scored on a 1-yard run, capping a drive that he had all eight rushing yards for the Hornets and completed 6-of-9 passes.
“I told them at halftime we’ve just got to have some guys make some plays,” ESU coach Garin Higgins said. “It’s just about making a play. It’s not about their stopping us, because they weren’t stopping us. We were stopping ourselves by having guys not make plays. And we came out and made plays the second half. Dre (Sloan El) played better. If he plays well, we’re very good.”
Sloan El found his rhythm in the second half and led his offense on another long drive — 13 plays, 82 yards — to pull the Hornets to within two touchdowns, 28-14.
After the ESU defense forced the Griffons to punt, the Hornets scored again on a Sloan El 13-yard pass to Danny McEvoy with 4:12 left in the game. The touchdown throw put Sloan El at 300 yards passing for the first time in his career, but he would never get a chance to tie the game.
Missouri Western, facing 4th-and-1 at the ESU 36, called a timeout with 2:25 left in the game. The Griffons decided to keep their offense on the field instead of punting and making the Hornets drive the length of the field to tie the game. Newhart, hurried on the play, lobbed a pass to his tight end, Alvaro Prado, and Prado made a diving 2-yard catch, enabling the Griffons to run out the clock and leaving the Hornets wondering what might have been.
“That’s what we do right now is we play the hypothetical game,” Higgins said. “Eventually we want to get where we’re not playing the hypothetical game and our kids are going to get a W. They’re playing hard and I’m proud of how they played the second half. It took us a whole half to realize we’re not a bad football team.”
Saturday at Spratt Stadium
Emporia State 0 0 6 15 — 21
Missouri Western 7 21 0 0 — 28
First quarter
MWSU — Walker 1 run (Strickler kick)
Second quarter
MWSU — Houston 60 pass from Newhart (Strickler kick)
MWSU — Clausen 12 pass from Newhart (Strickler kick)
MWSU — Walker 12 run (Strickler kick)
Third quarter
ESU — Sloan El 1 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
ESU — Sloan El 1 run (Hageman pass from Sloan El)
ESU — McEvoy 13 pass from Sloan El (Perry kick)
GAME STATISTICS
ESU MWSU
First downs 22 18
Rushes-yards 28-119 34-134
Passing yards 300 297
Comp.-Att.-Int. 28-46-2 22-32-0
Total plays-yards 74-388 66-401
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 3-15 4-46
Punts-average 5-35.4 35.4
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — ESU: Sloan El 14-32, Abner 8-29, Ko 5-27, Partridge 1-0; MWSU: Hodges 15-62, Walker 9-27, Cole 5-14, Newhart 3-(minus 1), Team 2- (minus 3).
Passing — ESU: Sloan El 28-46-2 300; MWSU: Newhart 22-32-0 297.
Receiving — ESU: Partridge 7-85, Hageman 7-68, Abner 3-57, Mirocke 3-12, McEvoy 2-47, Linsey 2-12, Smith 2-11, Rampy 1-7, Sullivan 1-1; MWSU: Prado 5-37, Clausen 4-52, Sharp 2-31, Anderson 2-20, Hodges 2-15, Babcock 1-13, Mead 1-5, Cole 1-4, Walker 1-3.
olathe08 (anonymous) says...
It's ironic that we had to come from behind and try to win. As a football team, we should be running the football until it works but yet we kept on the spread offense that only works on a hurry up offense. What happens to power smash mouth football? The Offensive Coordinator should design a power running style. We have the players to do it...but the coaches just don't have any confidence with our offensive lines and running backs. Let's show these kids that we have confidence in them, I really think that they will respond in a dramatic fashion. It just seems to me that whenever we get behind by seven points, we abandon the run. We cant rely on the defense all the time.
October 23, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )