It was a play that worked about as many times as the Pittsburg State Gorillas wanted it to: The Gorillas execute a simple lead play, with Brandon Clark creating a hole for quarterback Mark Smith.
It worked to almost perfection Saturday as Smith scored the touchdown that put the Gorillas out of range of the late-surging 24th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in PSU’s 33-21 win in the first round of the Division II playoffs at Carnie Smith Stadium.
Smith found a big opening on the lead play as Clark created the hole for a 32-yard touchdown that iced the game for the No. 10 Gorillas.
“We found a play that worked and Brandon was making big holes for me,” Smith said. “We were able to make it work.”
The touchdown capped a game that saw Smith collect 365 total offensive yards, including 212 rushing yards.
“Mark took the game over in the end and did a lot of really nice things,” said PSU head coach Chuck Broyles.
Of course, Clark did his part as well as the senior had three touchdown runs — two in the first half — to go along with his 78 yards rushing.
Clark got a bulk of his carries after senior All-MIAA running back Caleb Farabi went down after catching a screen pass from Smith late in the first half. Farabi went out of bounds and landed on the ground where he, according to Broyles, tore ligaments in his right thumb.
“A lot of guys came up to me and told me that this was my chance to show my stuff,” Clark said. “I took that to heart ... that and Caleb deserved to play another week.”
But, much like their earlier meeting this season, the Gorillas never had a comfortable margin until the end of the game.
A 27-yard screen pass from Zach Miller to Brian McNeill gave UNO their first lead of the game, 21-20, with 13:05 left in the game.
That score seemed to let McNeill atone for an earlier fumble in the second half as the Mavericks started to move into the Gorilla side of the field.
“I was a little frustrated after fumbling the ball,” McNeill said. “We executed the plays that coaches called and we were able to get it in.”
Later in the fourth quarter, after Omaha was forced to punt, a 34-yard run from Smith into Maverick territory set up Clark for his third score of the game — a 3-yard run — giving the Gorillas back the lead at 26-21 with 5:27 left in the game.
