Maybe it’s their northern roots and the constant need to end every sentence with ‘don’tyaknow.’ Maybe they felt like the Hornets needed convincing.
Over and over again on Saturday at Welch Stadium, Augustana’s players told Emporia State: “We’re not Western State.”
The Vikings didn’t shut up until they almost got shut out.
The Hornets proved that a Week-One blowout of Western State was no fluke with a 27-14 victory over Augustana. Augustana scored its 14 points in the fourth quarter after the Hornets had led 27-0 and the outcome was no longer in doubt.
“All that talking in the warmup, they just came here and started yapping their mouths,” ESU senior defensive tackle Brian Tarkington said. “And we just had to go out there and shut them up with our helmets.”
The Hornets built their lead by taking advantage of the Vikings’ mistakes, which included two first-half turnovers and 115 yards of penalties.
“We talked about it before the game. Let’s stay focused on what we need to do. Let’s not worry about what Augustana’s saying to us when they take the field,” ESU coach Garin Higgins said. “Let’s play smart football, and Augustana did hurt themselves at times and bailed us out.”
The first bail out came from AC quarterback Luke Butler. With the Vikings driving near the end of the first quarter, Butler threw a pass right into the chest of ESU defensive lineman Kaden Adams, who had dropped back in coverage. Adams intercepted the pass and set up ESU’s first scoring drive.
The Hornets’ offense had struggled to move the ball before Adams’ interception, but started to roll following the turnover. Andre Sloan El went 4-for-5 on the following drive, connecting with Danny McEvoy for the Hornets’ first touchdown.
“We couldn’t get in a rhythm and this is a rhythm offense, and then all of a sudden Kaden Adams comes up with a big play and puts us in a position to score,” Higgins said. “We didn’t play very good offensively at times today, but we played pretty good whenever we needed to.”
Augustana appeared headed to tie the game on the following drive, moving the ball all the way to the ESU 16-yard line. But then the ESU defense and penalties started to move the Vikings backwards, and they went from first and 10 on the ESU 16 to third and 60 on their own 24.
ESU struck again on another Vikings mistake on their next possession when Butler had a snap float over his head and roll 29 yards backwards. ESU defensive end A.J. Brinkman ran down the fumble and the Hornets had the ball on the AC 11-yard line. The Vikings stopped the Hornets, forcing a 30-yard field goal by Will Maxwell, but the Vikings ran into Maxwell and a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Hornets another chance.
Seville Ko delivered on the next play with a six-yard touchdown run.
“We can’t let those opportunities get wasted,” senior receiver Sean Partridge said. “As an offense when we get out there and they make a big turnover like that, we feel like we’ve got to go out there and score.”
Partridge helped give the Hornets a comfortable 21-0 lead at halftime. Partridge caught a 49-yard pass from Sloan El, the big play in a 80-yard touchdown drive just before half. Sloan El finished the drive with an eight-yard TD run with 24.8 seconds left in the second quarter.
The ESU defense ruined any chances Augustana had at a comeback in the third quarter. The Vikings opened the second half with receiver Tyler Schulte at quarterback and Schulte moved the Vikings all the way to the ESU 2-yard line. Facing fourth and two, the Vikings went for it and Katrel Larkins made the tackle to give the Hornets the ball back.
By the time Schulte found the end zone twice in the fourth quarter, the talking had subsided and Augustana had found out Emporia State was for real, don’tyaknow.
Tarkington, who is probably the Hornets’ most notorious talker, listened to his coaches and made sure the talking was one-sided... and so was the outcome.
“It woke the Shark up,” he said.
‘Tark the Shark,’ a transfer from Washington State, made several big plays in the first half, including a tackle for a loss that started the Vikings in reverse on their way to third and 60 in the second quarter. Tarkington had five tackles, four for a loss, a sack and a pass break up on a key third down in the first quarter that forced the Vikings to attempt a field goal that was missed.
After the game, the Hornets avoided the temptation of rubbing in the victory with a little trash talk. They like this underdog role, and they’ll be able to take it into next week when they open league play at nationally ranked Nebraska-Omaha.
“I still feel like we’re underestimated,” Partridge said. “We’ve been 2-0 before and people are just waiting on us when we’re going to get on our losing streak. We don’t want that again. 2-0 is nothing. We want to be undefeated down the road and make the playoffs and get to a bowl game. That’s all we think about.”
Saturday at Welch Stadium
Augustana 0 0 0 14 — 14
Emporia State 7 14 0 6 — 27
First quarter
ESU — McEvoy 5 pass from Sloan El (Maxwell kick)
Second quarter
ESU — Ko 6 run (Maxwell kick)
ESU — Sloan El 8 run (Maxwell kick)
Fourth quarter
ESU — Rampy 8 run (kick blocked)
A — Rank 13 pass from Schulte (Grossman kick)
A — Holsen 19 pass from Schulte (Grossman kick)
GAME STATISTICS
AC ESU
First downs 20 13
Rushes-yards 36-116 41-69
Comp-Att-Int 7-30-1 13-17-0
Passing yards 214 184
Total plays-yards 66-330 58-253
Fumbles lost 2-1 2-0
Penalties-yards 12-115 7-74
Punts-average 4-38.8 6-41.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — A: Huber 11-79, Clark 15-56, Schulte 5-7, Butler 4-3, Team 1-(minus 29); ESU: Ko 14-40, Sloan El 12-15, Abner 4-13, Rampy 4-7, Wieser 4-6, Smith 2-2, Team 1-(minus 14).
PASSING — A: Schulte 9-17-0 124, Butler 8-13-1 90; ESU: Sloan El 10-14-0 132, Rampy 3-3-0 52.
RECEIVING — A: Holsen 5-64, Schulte 5-61, Huber 3-29, Klumper 2-31, Ellingworth 1-16, Rank 1-13; ESU: Partridge 4-70, Sullivan 4-64, McEvoy 2-8, Abner 1-29, Smith 1-8, Ko 1-5.
Next up:
• ESU leaves Welch Stadium for the first time, welcoming Nebraska-Omaha to the MIAA in the conference opener. Nebraska-Omaha, ranked No. 7 in D-II football, won its opener on Saturday 49-21 over Nebraska-Kearney.