Photo by Adam Vogler
Emporia State's Sean Partridge (21) celebrates as he scores a touchdown during ESU's 42-0 shutout of Western State Saturday, Aug. 30.
Freshmen orientation isn’t supposed to go this smoothly.
With 19 freshmen listed on the Hornets’ two-deep who were all expected to play Saturday, Garin Higgins was as nervous as he’d ever been before a football game.
Well, Higgins’ baby Hornets sure know how to ease a coach’s nerves. Emporia State dominated its opener against Western State, winning 42-0, the first step in forgetting a 3-8 season that included a 62-0 loss to Pittsburg State in the finale.
“It takes a lot of the pressure off,” junior linebacker Katrel Larkins said. “There’s been a lot of talk saying we’ve got a lot of youngsters. I think we came out here and made a point with all our youngsters. It doesn’t matter how old, we play fast and we play hard.”
The Hornets wasted no time souring the Mountaineers trip to Emporia. In last season’s opener, ESU needed to tip away a pass in the final minute to secure a 7-3 victory over Western State. The Hornets had 412 yards of offense that day, but once they got to the red zone the offense stalled more than a old, rusty Ford pickup.
On their opening drive Saturday, the Hornets traveled 78 yards in nine plays and didn’t bother with the red zone, as senior receiver Sean Partridge took a reverse 29 yards for a touchdown.
“I knew it was going to be open as soon as he called it,” Partridge said. “I was trying to beg him to call it... Once I saw all that green grass, I knew what to do.”
The Hornets worked in wide-open spaces all day. On all six touchdowns, they didn’t have to break tackles, they just ran away from the Mountaineers. They had touchdown runs of 29, 12, 21 and 33 yards; a 71-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Mirocke and an 82-yard punt return by freshman Brian Murphy, which broke a school record.
“Offensively, we’re going to put the ball in guys’ hands and let them make plays out in space, make a guy miss,” Higgins said. “It’s not like we have to block all 11 guys. We had to do that last year. Now we’ve got some guys that will make a guy miss and have a chance to go score a touchdown.”
The man in charge of getting the ball to the playmakers was Andre Sloan El. The junior quarterback operated at ease, completing 14-of-17 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. He also added a rushing touchdown and ran for a game-high 62 yards.
“With a year under Coach Higgins’ offense, I definitely feel comfortable just gelling with the receivers and the offensive linemen blocking as well as they did,” Sloan El said.
Sloan El had the fortune of working with a big lead, thanks to the Hornet defense’s first shutout since 2000. The Mountaineers’ offense passed the 50-yard line only once and that drive ended on the ESU 44. Emporia State’s defense was so dominant that Western State didn’t even want the ball. On its opening drive of the fourth quarter, Western State punted on third down.
While Western State played with little confidence, the Hornets had a swagger unseen in 2007, enabled by the scoreboard, their speed and the freshmen.
“The young people help us out because they weren’t here when we got all those losses,” Partridge said. “And once you see them go out there and play like they did tonight, the sky’s the limit for us.”
Saturday at Welch Stadium
Emporia State 42, Western State 0
Western State 0 0 0 0 — 0
Emporia State 7 14 7 14 — 42
First quarter
ESU — Partridge 29 run (Maxwell kick), 11:04.
Second quarter
ESU — Sloan El 12 run (Maxwell kick), 9:29.
ESU — Smith 21 run (Maxwell kick), 4:28.
Third quarter
ESU — Mirocke 71 pass from Sloan El (Maxwell kick), 8:10.
Fourth quarter
ESU — Ko 33 run (Maxwell kick), 11:01. Drive: 4-62, 1:18.
ESU — Murphy 82 punt return (Maxwell kick), 6:05.
Attendance — 4,907.
GAME STATISTICS
WSC ESU
First downs 8 24
Rushes-yards 28-76 45-247
Comp-att-int 15-28-2 17-24-0
Passing yards 93 200
Total plays-yards 66-149 69-447
Fumbles-lost 3-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 8-73 6-60
Punts-average 10-45.8 6-38.8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — WSC: Acrey 9-56, Ayers 7-27, Smith 4-13, Pender 1-minus-2. ESU: Sloan El 10-62, Ko 8-54, Abner 10-41, Smith 3-6.
Passing — WSC: Gorham 5-13-1, 37 yards; Merrill 7-10-0, 43. ESU: Sloan El 14-17-0, 185; Rampy 3-6-0, 15; Smith 0-1-0, 0.
Receiving — WSC: Suttorp 10-67, Aguilar 3-19, Robertson 1-6, Johnson 1-1. ESU: Smith 5-31, McEvoy 3-39, Abner 2-11, Coursen 2-11.
PUNTING — WSC: Harris 8-44.6, Merrill 1-41.0. ESU: Torres 6-38.8.
Time — 2:28. Att — 4,907.
Records — WSC (0-1); ESU (1-0).
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