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PITTSBURG —
Despite not playing a full game Saturday night against Lincoln, Pittsburg State players Briceton Wilson (offense), Gus Toca (defense) and John Brown (special teams) were all considered for MIAA Player of the Week honors in their respective individual categories.
Wilson gained 69 yards and scored three touchdowns (1, 8, 3 yards) on seven carries, averaging 9.9 yards per carry and one TD every 2.33 carries. Over his last two games, Wilson has rushed for 111 yards and five TDs on 18 carries. He leads Pitt State with 225 rushing yards and six TDs after four games, averaging 6.6 yards per carry and 56.3 yards per game.
“We feel pretty good (about the running game),” Wilson said. “That’s why it was real important to get something established (early on). We think the o-line came out with the mindframe that we’re going to be physical and we’re going to get the push upfront.”
Toca led the aggressive Gorilla defense with 3.0 quarterback sacks Saturday night and one of his sacks forced a fumble, recovered by Taye Irvin and leading to a PSU touchdown. The Gorillas recorded 8.0 sacks against Lincoln and have feasted on their last two opponents, recording 5.0 sacks the previous week against Southwest Baptist for a total of 13.0 in two weeks.
“We’ve been working hard, the whole d-line, in our take-offs and hands,” Toca said on Saturday night. “It paid off.”
Toca leads Pitt State with 4.0 sacks and sophomore defensive end Avery Adair ranks second with 3.5. The defense swarmed the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist and the Blue Tigers of Lincoln back-to-back weeks, making life uncomfortable for quarterbacks like Dan Connors (Southwest Baptist) and Lincoln signal-callers Jacob Morris and Lewis Larson.
“We feel like the pressure has made a big difference,” Adair said. “That’s something we wanted to improve coming out of Week 1. Combine that with the coverage and it’s allowed us to get a lot of sacks. The quarterbacks have not been able to find guys down the field and we’ve been having a good rush from all four guys.”
Brown electrified a sold-out Carnie Smith Stadium with a 68-yard punt return for touchdown early in the second quarter. This play by the nation’s all-purpose yardage leader gave Pitt State a 42-3 lead with 12 minutes, 23 seconds remaining before halftime. This was Brown’s first special teams TD of the season.
Just a look at the numbers in the first half paints the picture of what happened Saturday night during a 59-17 rout.
Pitt State offense: its first eight carries went for either a first down or a touchdown and its first completed pass went for a touchdown.
Despite not playing a full game Saturday night against Lincoln, Pittsburg State players Briceton Wilson (offense), Gus Toca (defense) and John Brown (special teams) were all considered for MIAA Player of the Week honors in their respective individual categories.
Wilson gained 69 yards and scored three touchdowns (1, 8, 3 yards) on seven carries, averaging 9.9 yards per carry and one TD every 2.33 carries. Over his last two games, Wilson has rushed for 111 yards and five TDs on 18 carries. He leads Pitt State with 225 rushing yards and six TDs after four games, averaging 6.6 yards per carry and 56.3 yards per game.
“We feel pretty good (about the running game),” Wilson said. “That’s why it was real important to get something established (early on). We think the o-line came out with the mindframe that we’re going to be physical and we’re going to get the push upfront.”
Toca led the aggressive Gorilla defense with 3.0 quarterback sacks Saturday night and one of his sacks forced a fumble, recovered by Taye Irvin and leading to a PSU touchdown. The Gorillas recorded 8.0 sacks against Lincoln and have feasted on their last two opponents, recording 5.0 sacks the previous week against Southwest Baptist for a total of 13.0 in two weeks.
“We’ve been working hard, the whole d-line, in our take-offs and hands,” Toca said on Saturday night. “It paid off.”
Toca leads Pitt State with 4.0 sacks and sophomore defensive end Avery Adair ranks second with 3.5. The defense swarmed the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist and the Blue Tigers of Lincoln back-to-back weeks, making life uncomfortable for quarterbacks like Dan Connors (Southwest Baptist) and Lincoln signal-callers Jacob Morris and Lewis Larson.
“We feel like the pressure has made a big difference,” Adair said. “That’s something we wanted to improve coming out of Week 1. Combine that with the coverage and it’s allowed us to get a lot of sacks. The quarterbacks have not been able to find guys down the field and we’ve been having a good rush from all four guys.”
Brown electrified a sold-out Carnie Smith Stadium with a 68-yard punt return for touchdown early in the second quarter. This play by the nation’s all-purpose yardage leader gave Pitt State a 42-3 lead with 12 minutes, 23 seconds remaining before halftime. This was Brown’s first special teams TD of the season.
Just a look at the numbers in the first half paints the picture of what happened Saturday night during a 59-17 rout.
Pitt State offense: its first eight carries went for either a first down or a touchdown and its first completed pass went for a touchdown.
Here’s the first 11 offensive plays of the game for Pitt State: Anthony Abenoja 12-yard run (FD), Wilson 11-yard run (FD), Wilson 40-yard run (FD), Wilson 1-yard TD run, incomplete pass to Luke Rampy, Trezz Tillman 26-yard run (FD), Wilson 8-yard TD run, Bradley Argabright 12-yard run (FD), Tillman 8-yard TD run, Jason Spradling 4-yard run and Luke Rampy 37-yard TD pass from Abenoja.
Breakdown: 159 total yards, 122 rushing yards, 37 passing yards, 14.5 yards per play, 13.6 yards per carry, 37.0 yards per completion, five first downs and four touchdowns. The 37-yard TD pass ended the first quarter with Pitt State ahead 35-3.
Abenoja, Dennis Tanner and Darrack Harger combined to go 12 of 16 passing for 202 yards, one TD and no interceptions, a 75 percent completion rate. The three quarterbacks completed passes to nine different receivers and seasonal receiving leaders Brown and Andrew Castaneda were not among them, since no passes were attempted to either receiver Saturday.
On the season, 16 different Gorilla receivers (Brown, Castaneda, Gavin Lutman, Brady Letchworth, Argabright, Rampy, Spradling, Tillman, Jeff Seybold, Levi Kuntzsch, Solomon Watkins, Herman Ming, Austin Daniel, Daniel Rank, Wilson and Stephen Poston) have combined for 79 receptions, 1,169 yards and seven TDs. Rank, Ming and Daniel registered their first career receptions Saturday night.
Meanwhile, for Lincoln in the first half Saturday night, two long passes generated 123 yards of total offense. On their 44 other first-half plays, however, the Blue Tigers totaled 56 yards; Pitt State especially clamped down on the run — Lincoln gained -7 yards on 24 carries in the first half — and turned Lincoln into an one-dimensional offense. The long pass plays seem to be the natural byproduct of an aggressive, swarming defense.
“They did a nice job of running some vertical seam routes,” Pitt State head coach Tim Beck said. “We take some chances on defense. We get after it a little bit and play some man coverage here and there. They had some nice athletes. . . . We’re just to the point, Coach Wiemers (defensive coordinator Dave Wiemers) keeps saying it seems like that we have to give up a big play a half. We recover from it well and played well from there.”
Pitt State enters its bye week 4-0, one of only three undefeated teams left in the 15-member Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, along with Emporia State and Missouri Western. Missouri Southern and Washburn fell from the ranks of the unbeaten Saturday, and Central Oklahoma and Southwest Baptist logged their first conference wins. Fort Hays State, Lincoln, Nebraska-Kearney and Northeastern State remain winless.
