PSU plasters SW Baptist

Pittsburg State played from behind for the first time in the 2012 season and that lasted all of 5 minutes, 23 seconds as the Gorillas responded with 31 unanswered points before halftime Saturday afternoon en route to a 52-9 win over Southwest Baptist at Plaster Stadium.

The Gorillas showcased their explosive, big-play, quick-score capabilities, scoring 31 points over 4:40 of the first and second quarters.

Field position made all the difference in the world on a wet, sloppy grass field plastered with rain all first half.

Pitt State fell behind 7-0, as Southwest Baptist took advantage of its superior field position early in the game and the Gorillas went three-and-out on their first drive. Return man Chris Muhammad helped set up Southwest Baptist’s first score with a 31-yard punt return down to the PSU 22 and six plays later, Derwyn Lauderdale broke a screen pass for a 8-yard touchdown and the first points of the game.

After one more punt, Pitt State tied it up on its third offensive possession, a four-play drive capped off by a John Brown 26-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Abenoja. Pitt State took advantage of 1-on-1 coverage on Brown on the edge, Abenoja put it on the spot and Brown made the catch.

“That was important to get the field position to change and get that first touchdown on the board,” Pitt State head coach Tim Beck said. “It makes you feel a lot better. When you’re down 7-0 and you’re going back-and-forth, the next thing you know it could be 10-0 or 14-0 and you feel a little concerned. It was important for us to get that first score in and then it made us feel a little better. The field position game changed a little bit after that.”

Southwest Baptist committed two costly turnovers on back-to-back possessions: Nate Dreiling intercepted a Dan Connors pass and returned it to the SBU 9; two Briceton Wilson runs later, Wilson barreled in for a 4-yard TD and Southwest Baptist said goodbye to its lead.

On the second turnover-plagued Southwest Baptist possession, PSU defensive back Graylon Sanders (Northwest Missouri transfer) recovered a fumble at the Southwest Baptist 17 and Sanders kept playing as Southwest Baptist wanted a whistle and no fumble. No whistle came and Sanders scored a 17-yard touchdown. Pitt State scored 14 points in 27 seconds late in the first quarter.

On its next offensive possession, Pitt State tried out a fake double reverse on the first play and Abenoja found a wide-open Andrew Castaneda over the deep middle for a 39-yard touchdown. Pitt State ended its 31-0 blitzkrieg first-half assault with a Connor Frazell 32-yard field goal at the 12:39 mark of the second.

Pitt State made it 52 unanswered points with touchdown runs by Wilson, Jason Spradling and Solomon Watkins in the second half.

On the day, Pitt State limited Southwest Baptist to 33 net yards on 30 carries; the Bearcats averaged 1.1 yards per carry and one of their longest gains on the ground came on a 18-yard fake punt run by John Colliver early in the contest. Southwest Baptist gained 90 and lost 57 yards rushing; quarterback Connors alone lost 25 yards during a rough day for the senior quarterback from Marina, Calif.

“They did a great job,” Beck said. “Coach Wiemers (defensive coordinator Dave Wiemers) and his staff did a great job of getting our guys prepared. Even though it was sloppy and nobody’s thrilled about playing in a game like that, our guys responded well and came out and played hard.”

Most statistical categories favored Pitt State and turnovers definitely played a major role in the game.
Southwest Baptist committed five turnovers, including four fumbles; conversely, Pitt State lost one fumble and its three quarterbacks — Abenoja, Dennis Tanner and Darrack Harger — threw no interceptions.

“We had some nice hits today,” Beck said. “We had some more physical hits today and knocked the ball loose a couple times today, which is nice to see.”

Pitt State recorded 5.0 quarterback sacks — Dreiling, Avery Adair, Dino Teague and Kyler Thompson each with 1.0 and big men Gus Toca and Taye Irvin split a sack for the second game this season.

With the game clearly under their control in the second half, the Gorillas played their reserves half of the third and the entire fourth.

“Most everybody got to play and everybody got some action,” Beck said. “It’s nice to be able to bring 60 kids. You wish you could bring more but it wasn’t that long ago we could only bring 52. It makes it nice and in a game like that, you like to get everybody on the field.”

Junior running back Watkins, still working his way back from a season-ending injury last year, saw his most action in three games this season and responded with 41 yards on 12 carries, highlighted by a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:18 remaining in the contest.

“Solomon got some nice time in,” Beck said. “It was nice to see him get in the end zone and I know he’ll continue to feel better and better and get healthier and hopefully, here in a couple weeks, we can get him back to where he’s 100 percent.”

Wilson led Pitt State on the ground with 42 yards and two scores on 11 carries.

Pitt State juniors Brown and Dreiling made some more history on Saturday.

Brown totaled 119 yards on six catches and his 119 yards give Brown 1,602 receiving yards during his Pitt State career, good for fourth-best all-time. Brown needed 100 yards on Saturday to surpass Marques Nelson (1,582 yards) and he received his necessary yardage on a sensational 38-yard catch down to the SBU 1.

Dreiling recorded five tackles and his five stops place him sixth all-time in career tackles at Pitt State. Now at 321 tackles, Dreiling passed Troy Wilson (317). Dreiling passed Wes Baker last week and Wilson this week.

Pitt State (3-0, 3-0 MIAA) hosts Lincoln next Saturday.