SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The honeymoon is over.
The new and improved Emporia State Hornets, with their new star running back, La’Darrian Page, and their new formation, the pistol, strutted into Augustana on Saturday afternoon ready to take their show on the road.
Turns out, the Hornets are still a work in progress.
Augustana outplayed Emporia State in every phase of the game in a 32-21 win, sending the Hornets back to Emporia with some glaring flaws that need to be addressed.
The most troubling casualty was Andre Sloan El and Emporia State’s passing game. After Page raced to a 68-yard touchdown run on Emporia State’s second offensive play, Augustana’s defense crowded the line of scrimmage, and Sloan El failed to keep them honest.
The senior quarterback struggled with accuracy and decision-making, throwing two interceptions and completing just 8-of-21 passes for 130 yards.
“That’s not the type of production that we need from him,” ESU coach Garin Higgins said. “We had some guys that we felt like were open in the second half and we didn’t make the throw. He just didn’t play very well.”
Higgins’ patience with Sloan El wore thin by the fourth quarter, and he took his senior quarterback out in favor of backup Zach Rampy. Rampy played two possessions — resulting in a three-and-out and a fumble. Rampy’s fumble — on a handoff exchange to Adrian Abner at the ESU 11 — set up Augustana’s final touchdown that put the game out of reach.
Third-stringer Tyler Eckenrode, a redshirt freshman, showed inexperience and some promise finishing the game, throwing an interception but also leading the Hornets on a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
Sloan El didn’t show much of anything. He hadn’t really done much in ESU’s Week One blowout win, but the Hornets didn’t need their passing game in the opener, thanks to 399 rushing yards.
The game plan on Saturday was to continue to feature a healthy dose of Page. But after his 68-yard touchdown — a play that started up the middle before Page bounced to the outside — the Vikings were able to limit Page to short runs and keep him between the tackles.
Higgins turned to his passing game to try to get the offense going, and Sloan El just couldn’t come through. This was especially evident on third down, on which the Hornets converted just 2-of-16 tries.
“It was tough for us to get a first down, especially in the first half,” Sloan El said. “We tried to get a groove going and started to run the two-minute offense there in the second half, and we got a little groove going there, but other than that, it was tough for us to get in a rhythm.”
Still, Sloan El and the Hornets had their chances to score via big plays that developed perfectly.
On one play in the third quarter, with the Augustana safeties creeping up toward the line of scrimmage, Shjaun Richardson was three steps ahead of the cornerback on a slant down the middle. A good throw would have led to a touchdown, but Sloan El threw behind Richardson and incomplete.
Early in the fourth quarter, with Emporia State trailing 26-13 — still within reach — Danny McEvoy ran a stop-and-go along the left sideline and the cornerback slipped. All Sloan El had to do was float the ball anywhere near McEvoy and the Hornets would have been within one score. Sloan El overthrew McEvoy by five yards.
“They missed some opportunities, but overall I’m not mad at them, not worried about their play,” said McEvoy of his quarterbacks. “They’re going to bring it next weekend.”
Augustana’s quarterback, Luke Butler, was able to make the throws that Sloan El couldn’t and threw two touchdown passes to help the Vikings jump out to a 26-6 lead.
The Hornets struggled to stop the Vikings’ top playmaker, Tyler Schulte, who caught both of Butler’s TD passes and ran for the Vikings’ other two touchdowns.
“We knew that he was one of their only playmakers. They just schemed real well to get him opportunities,” safety Chris Poston said. “We’ve got to do better, because there’s a lot better athletes in the MIAA. We’ve got to be able to lock down on guys like him.”
After the first half, the Hornet defense held the Vikings in check. The Hornets created two turnovers — a Poston interception and Julian Dozier forced fumble —and Augustana’s only second-half touchdown came when Rampy gave them the ball deep in ESU territory.
“I thought they played outstanding the second half,” Higgins said. “They gave us all the opportunities that we needed to put points on the board. We just didn’t capitalize on it.”
It was a long and frustrating day offensively, so much so that Higgins was shocked when he was handed the stat sheet after the game and it had Emporia State with 304 total yards.
“It seemed like that was the hardest 304 I’ve ever gotten in my life,” said Higgins, who later would find out the stats crew made an error and Emporia State actually had 274 yards.
Page finished with 96 yards on 14 carries and left the game in the third quarter with a bruise on his shin. He said he should be OK to play next week.
With the blueprint for how to slow Page and the Hornet offense out there now, Higgins will have to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out a way to get the passing game working by next Saturday’s MIAA opener against Central Missouri.
McEvoy, for one, believes it’s strictly up to him and his teammates.
“I’m kind of tired of this team having potential, everyone saying we have potential,” McEvoy said. “It’s time to bring it and show people what we can do.”
Saturday at Augustana
Augustana 32, Emporia State 21
Emporia State 6 0 0 15 — 21
Augustana 6 14 6 6 — 32
First quarter
ESU — Page 68 run (kick blocked)
AUG — Shculte 3 run (kick blocked)
Second quarter
AUG — Schulte 12 pass from Butler (Hanson kick)
AUG — Schulte 15 pass from Butler (Hanson kick)
Third quarter
AUG — Hanson 42 field goal
AUG — Hanson 27 field goal
Fourth quarter
ESU — Sloan El 11 run (Maxwell kick)
AUG — Schulte 11 run (Hanson blocked)
ESU — Mirocke 1 pass from Eckenrode (Coursen pass from Eckenrode)
GAME STATISTICS
ESU AUG
First downs 12 19
Rushes-yards 33-90 45-133
Passing yards 184 167
Comp.-Att.-Int. 14-34-3 18-35-1
Total plays-yards 67-274 80-300
Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-1
Penalties-yards 5-35 2-15
Punts-average 8-40.4 9-33.7
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — ESU: Page 14-96, Sloan El 7-8, Abner 4-1, Smart 2-1, Woods 4-(minus 8), Rampy 1-(minus 8); AUG: Clark 18-57, Schulte 5-40, Diamond 7-32, Hanson 1-5, Mahone 3-3, Butler 9-(minus 1).
Passing — Butler 18-33-1 167, Schulte 0-2-0 0; ESU: Sloan El 8-21-2 130, Eckenrode 5-11-1 49, Rampy 1-2 5.
Receiving — ESU: McEvoy 5-100, Coursen 2-33, Schiltz 1-23, Richardson 1-13, Abner 1-6, Smart 1-5, Murphy 1-2, Mirocke 1-1, Woods 1-1; AUG: Clark 7-56, Schulte 4-36, Ellingworth 3-28, Klumper 2-18, Diamond 1-17, Mahone 1-10.
Att. — 6,067.