The success on the field can be easily understood from reading the newspaper. To appreciate the totality of the success Emporia State enjoyed during its season opener, though, maybe you had to be there.
Garin Higgins wanted the opener against Southwest Oklahoma State to be on a Thursday night because he thought the crowd would be bigger and the atmosphere would be better. History was on his side — ESU’s last Thursday night home game in 2004 drew 6,536 fans. The last one before that, in 2002, drew 6,122, and 7,305 packed Welch Stadium for a Thursday night in 2000.
Even given that, if you were at Welch on Thursday night, it was easy to be somewhat amazed by what you saw — especially in the student section. Fans turned out in droves and made Higgins look like an absolute genius. And — this is the real kicker — those 6,019 didn’t just show up to fill a seat and kill a Thursday night. They provided not only quantity during ESU’s 48-17 win, but also volume and vitality. They cheered as if they cared. They were involved.
“We didn’t even have to raise the crowd up,” linebacker Katrel Larkins said. “They just did it by themself.”
Those attendance figures for the last three ESU Thursday night home games might make Thursday’s turnout seem like no big deal. But don’t underestimate it. First, all three of those previous games were season openers against conference and state rival Fort Hays State, and they all came during a different era of ESU football, one in which success was a much more recent memory; the Hornets enjoyed winning seasons in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2003.
Now, you have a Hornet program that’s staggered its way through five straight losing seasons, and whose top gate total last year was 5,106. To top that mark by nearly 1,000 in a game against a lackluster opponent from the Lone Star Conference — that’s an accomplishment.
But the crowd involvement was the real eye-opener, and the Hornets fed their fans what they deserved: reasons to cheer. La’Darrian Page was borderline-spectacular in his first game as a Hornet, rushing for 153 yards on 16 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Adrian Abner added 109 yards in as many carries, and the Hornets ended up with 399 yards on the ground and 494 yards of total offense. The defense had some fine moments and held SWOSU to 221 total yards.
“I really didn’t expect a lot of people to be here,” Page said. “But our coaches were saying, ‘Everybody in the town’s excited about this new team, and we’re gonna get things done this year.’ And it turned out to be a great game, and everybody showed up and played hard.”
Thursday was a night to shelve the cynicism, however deserved, about the current state of Hornet football. Yes, there were times when the game itself just looked like one bad football team beating the tar out of an even worse football team. The Hornets’ passing game — although obviously, they didn’t need it Thursday — was all but nonexistent. And much of the crowd had cleared out by the time the final minutes were ticking away on a game that ran late. But considering the context, where the Emporia State program is right now, Thursday was nothing short of a terrific opening night for Higgins and the Hornets.
ESU still has “Something to Prove,” as its slogan goes. But the Hornets’ fans proved something on Thursday night — even as the last good Emporia State team becomes a more distant memory, they can still get crazy about Emporia State football.
“I tell you what — I looked over there on the side of our student section, I thought it was awesome,” Higgins said. “We’ve gotta get that every home game.”
What the Hornets now need to prove — among other things — is that that’s what they deserve.
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