Mo. Western lays a Homecoming hurting

One nationally-ranked team answered the bell Saturday at Brandenburg Field/Carnie Smith Stadium and it was not the No. 7-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas on their Homecoming against No. 16 Missouri Western.

The Pitt State defense gave up one first down on the first Western drive (Michael Hill 15 yards on the first play from scrimmage) but held strong and forced a punt.

The Pitt State offense drove the field like an efficient, fast machine during its first drive — 87 yards in 11 plays with Anthony Abenoja completing 7 of 9 passes for 81 yards and one TD, a 6-yard pass to John Brown.

After that scoring drive, however, Pitt State ran 30 more offensive plays on its next seven first-half drives, barring a knee at the end of the first half, without scoring a single point.

Meanwhile, Western scored 42 unanswered first-half points and 56 unanswered overall en route to a shocking 63-14 win over Pitt State in front of a stadium-record 11,910 fans.

“We’ve got to take a good look at everything and we have to go back to the drawing board,” Pitt State head coach Tim Beck said. “We’ve got a problem and we’ve got to go fix it.”

“It was a flashback of (Washburn, 55-3 loss in 2009),” Pitt State linebacker Nate Dreiling said. “Their momentum picked up and we just couldn’t weather the storm. Hats off to them.”

Dreiling said the Gorillas felt devastated by the loss and Beck said that he questioned the effort of the players at times during the second quarter, a quarter where Western alone scored half of its 56 unanswered points. Western led 42-7 at halftime.

“We addressed it at halftime,” Beck said. “As bad as it was at halftime, it’s not over. Things can change in a hurry.”

Western quarterback Travis Partridge cut the Pitt State defense apart like a diabolical surgeon with a 295 quarterback rating in the first half — 205 yards, four TDs and no interceptions on 8-13 passing. The Griffons averaged 25.6 yards per catch and 38.5 yards per touchdown catch.

Three of the four TD receptions went for longer than 30 yards: Hill 48 yards, Derek Libby 64 yards and Brandon Wright 35 yards.

The single play that may have been the most devastating was the 55-yard interception return for touchdown by outstanding Western defensive end David Bass, who caught a deflected pass and rumbled for six, all 6-foot-5, 275 pounds of him, giving Western a 21-7 lead.

Bass proved to be a one-man wrecking crew: five tackles, 2.5 sacks, one pass breakup and one interception.

Partridge completed his fourth TD pass of the first half on a 7-yarder to tight end Reggie Jordan.

Western scored its final TD of the first half with a drive that showcased a lack of effort by Pitt State: 59 yards in 4 plays and 56 seconds, highlighted by runs of 33 yards by Raphael Spencer and 22 yards by Hill. Hill would go in from 2 yards out.

Hill, once the nation’s leading rusher, added 5-yard and 10-yard TDs in the third quarter as Western collected 14 of its 56 unanswered in the third.

Pitt State finally stopped the bleeding with a Trezz Tillman 2-yard TD run at the 11:08 mark in the fourth.

Brown caught a career-high 13 passes for 153 yards and one TD. His 13 catches break the single-game record of 11 set by Mike Powell against Colorado State Pueblo in Oct. 28, 1972, a 25-3 loss. Brown moves into second place in career receptions, his 113 only 10 behind Ronnie West. The nation’s leading all-purpose yardage leader this season gained 248 (153 receiving, 31 kick return, 52 punt return) on Saturday.

Hill led Western with 116 yards and three TDs on 17 carries (averaging 6.8 yards per carry) and two catches for 64 yards and one TD. Hill totaled 180 yards and four TDs on 19 touches, averaging 9.5 yards per touch.

The 49-point loss Saturday will go down in history: worst Homecoming loss, worst loss to Western, worst loss of the Tim Beck Era, fourth-worst loss of the modern era (since 1936), worst loss since 2009 (Washburn 55-3), worst home loss since Oct. 31, 1914 (63-0 to Tulsa; Woodrow Wilson was U.S. President) and 10th worst loss in school history (all-time worst 107-0 to the College of Emporia in 1910). The previous worst Homecoming loss was 36-17 to Nebraska-Kearney (1979). Western defeated Pitt State 61-14 in 1983.

Since leading 7-0 at halftime against Northwest Missouri last week, the Gorillas have been outscored 94-28 their last six quarters.

Pitt State (5-2, 5-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) faces a daunting road test next Saturday against Truman State. Western (7-1, 6-1) plays a Thursday night road game against undefeated Emporia State (8-0, 8-0), the lone remaining undefeated team in the MIAA.