|
|
|
PITTSBURG —
The Pittsburg State Gorillas returned to the winner’s circle Saturday afternoon with a deceptively dominating 20-6 road win over Truman State.
Deceptive in that Pitt State missed chances in the red zone for more points and dominating in that Pitt State rushed for 382 yards on 64 carries, devoured 39 minutes, 51 seconds off the clock in the fastest game of the year for the Gorillas (2 hours, 23 minutes) and limited Truman to only a pair of first-half field goals.
For the first time in 2012, two Pitt State ball carriers gained over 100 yards in the same game, senior running backs Briceton Wilson and Jason Spradling. Pitt State absolutely punished a smaller Truman defensive front.
Wilson ran for 115 yards and two scores on a season-high 31 carries and change-of-pace Spradling gained 113 yards on 17 carries, his big run a 41-yard time-killer late in the game. This is Spradling’s second 100-yard rushing performance this season.
Nate Dreiling celebrated his 22nd birthday with eight tackles, a bone-crushing and tone-setting sack of a Truman quarterback, a historical milestone and, most importantly, a Pitt State win. Historical milestone: Dreiling surpassed Andrew Poling in career tackles and now ranks No. 5 on the PSU all-time tackles chart.
Trey Derryberry (PSU junior wide receiver) on Twitter: “All I want for your birthday is a Win, 22 tackles, maybe a INT, and for us to see Snoop Dogg again tonight. Happy Birthday bro.”
Dreiling on Twitter: “No Snoop Dogg, but we did get a win and had a great time with the team so it was a pretty successful bday.”
Freshman defensive back Marquise Cushon showed multi-faceted promise Saturday with a 54-yard run on a little Gorilla skullduggery, a quarterback sack on the first play from scrimmage, and a fumble recovery.
In a losing effort, Truman senior defensive back Richie Schumacher (Crystal Lake, Ill.) recorded a career-high 21 tackles. Schumacher’s 94 tackles after nine games this season give him 338 for his career.
During a weekend of mild unrest on the Division II pigskin landscape, the Gorillas advanced four spots from 22 to 18 in the AFCA poll released Monday and leapfrogged traditional conference foes Emporia State and Washburn after the Hornets and the ‘Bods lost respective home games to Missouri Western (57-28) and Northwest Missouri (56-6).
Emporia State stands on top of the conference at 8-1 (.889 winning percentage), followed by Missouri Western 7-1, Northwest Missouri 7-1, Washburn 7-2, Pitt State 6-2, Lindenwood 5-3, Central Missouri 5-4, Missouri Southern 4-4, Fort Hays State 3-5, Truman State 3-5, Central Oklahoma 2-6, Northeastern State 2-6, Nebraska-Kearney 2-7, Lincoln 1-8 and Southwest Baptist 1-8. Northwest leads the conference with a seven-game winning streak (since an early loss to Central Missouri); Northeastern State and Nebraska-Kearney have two-game winning streaks. Truman, Missouri Southern and Central Missouri are on skids, Truman three straight losses, Southern and Central both two straight. Oh, the Fort Hays State Tigers have won three straight, including a nonconference win over the Hardrockers (no doubt one of the best school names in college sports) of the South Dakota School of Mines.
The Pittsburg State Gorillas returned to the winner’s circle Saturday afternoon with a deceptively dominating 20-6 road win over Truman State.
Deceptive in that Pitt State missed chances in the red zone for more points and dominating in that Pitt State rushed for 382 yards on 64 carries, devoured 39 minutes, 51 seconds off the clock in the fastest game of the year for the Gorillas (2 hours, 23 minutes) and limited Truman to only a pair of first-half field goals.
For the first time in 2012, two Pitt State ball carriers gained over 100 yards in the same game, senior running backs Briceton Wilson and Jason Spradling. Pitt State absolutely punished a smaller Truman defensive front.
Wilson ran for 115 yards and two scores on a season-high 31 carries and change-of-pace Spradling gained 113 yards on 17 carries, his big run a 41-yard time-killer late in the game. This is Spradling’s second 100-yard rushing performance this season.
Nate Dreiling celebrated his 22nd birthday with eight tackles, a bone-crushing and tone-setting sack of a Truman quarterback, a historical milestone and, most importantly, a Pitt State win. Historical milestone: Dreiling surpassed Andrew Poling in career tackles and now ranks No. 5 on the PSU all-time tackles chart.
Trey Derryberry (PSU junior wide receiver) on Twitter: “All I want for your birthday is a Win, 22 tackles, maybe a INT, and for us to see Snoop Dogg again tonight. Happy Birthday bro.”
Dreiling on Twitter: “No Snoop Dogg, but we did get a win and had a great time with the team so it was a pretty successful bday.”
Freshman defensive back Marquise Cushon showed multi-faceted promise Saturday with a 54-yard run on a little Gorilla skullduggery, a quarterback sack on the first play from scrimmage, and a fumble recovery.
In a losing effort, Truman senior defensive back Richie Schumacher (Crystal Lake, Ill.) recorded a career-high 21 tackles. Schumacher’s 94 tackles after nine games this season give him 338 for his career.
During a weekend of mild unrest on the Division II pigskin landscape, the Gorillas advanced four spots from 22 to 18 in the AFCA poll released Monday and leapfrogged traditional conference foes Emporia State and Washburn after the Hornets and the ‘Bods lost respective home games to Missouri Western (57-28) and Northwest Missouri (56-6).
Emporia State stands on top of the conference at 8-1 (.889 winning percentage), followed by Missouri Western 7-1, Northwest Missouri 7-1, Washburn 7-2, Pitt State 6-2, Lindenwood 5-3, Central Missouri 5-4, Missouri Southern 4-4, Fort Hays State 3-5, Truman State 3-5, Central Oklahoma 2-6, Northeastern State 2-6, Nebraska-Kearney 2-7, Lincoln 1-8 and Southwest Baptist 1-8. Northwest leads the conference with a seven-game winning streak (since an early loss to Central Missouri); Northeastern State and Nebraska-Kearney have two-game winning streaks. Truman, Missouri Southern and Central Missouri are on skids, Truman three straight losses, Southern and Central both two straight. Oh, the Fort Hays State Tigers have won three straight, including a nonconference win over the Hardrockers (no doubt one of the best school names in college sports) of the South Dakota School of Mines.
In the Central region, seven teams rank higher in the AFCA poll: Northwest Missouri No. 4, Minnesota State-Mankato 6, Henderson State (Ark.) 8, Minnesota-Duluth 9, Missouri Western 11, Harding (Ark.) 16 and Sioux Falls (S.D.) 17. Emporia State and Washburn are currently ranked 20th and 25th, respectively.
Around the nation, East Stroudsburg (Pa.) redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Soltes had a field day Saturday against LIU Post. Soltes finished with 666 yards of total offense, 535 passing on 26-for-42 and 131 rushing on 12 carries. His 666-yard total is the most by any freshman player in any division and one of the 10 best single-game performances in college football history. The Warriors generated 828 yards of total offense during their 45-37 win.
Single-game total offense record: Houston quarterback David Klinger, 732 vs. Arizona State (Dec. 2, 1990). NCAA-II record: Eastern New Mexico quarterback J.J. Harp, 681 vs. Southeastern Oklahoma (Sept. 12, 2009).
Concordia-St. Paul sophomore kicker Tom Obarski booted a 59-yard field goal (longest kick this season in NCAA-II) against Augustana (S.D.), breaking his own school record of 56 from his freshman season.
Pitt State junior receiver John Brown leads the nation with 214.4 all-purpose yards per game, his 1,715 yards after eight games coming on 815 receiving, 416 punt return, 366 kick return and 118 rushing. Brown ranks 12th in punt returns and 15th in receiving yards.
Missouri Western senior running back Michael Hill ranks third in NCAA-II with 158.8 yards per game, totaling 1,429 yards and 11 TDs on 200 carries, averaging 7.2 yards per carry.
Emporia State senior wide receiver Shjuan Richardson ranks 11th in receptions per game (7.8) and third in receiving yards per game (123.44). Richardson leads the MIAA with 70 receptions for 1,111 yards and 10 TDs.
Pitt State (6-2) closes out its 10-game regular season against Lindenwood and Missouri Southern.
