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The Pittsburg State Gorillas completed their dream season with a 35-21 win over the Wayne State Warriors in the Division II National Championship Game Saturday afternoon at Braly Municipal Stadium.
"We said all year long 'one game at a time, one play at a time' and we tried to focus on that," Pitt State head football coach Tim Beck said. "I think our kids did a pretty good job buying into that and we're just extremely proud of our players."
Special teams plays made Championship Game history.
With Pitt State trailing 14-13 and Wayne State kicker Stefan Terleckyj lining up a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter, Pitt State senior Paul Robinson blocked his second field goal of the season and redshirt freshman Aries Herrion scooped it up and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown, giving Pitt State back the lead. Herrion became the first player in National Championship Game history to return a blocked field goal for touchdown.
"There's no question that was a huge turning point in the game," Beck said. "They go from thinking they're getting three points to us getting seven."
"It was super critical because instead of going up, they get points," Wayne State head coach Paul Winters said. "We didn't block the edge the way we should have and they made a play. They did a fantastic job of making a play and that guy (Aries Herrion) returned it. That hurt us earlier in the year and it hurt us today."
Wayne State began the game with a bang, as senior returner Josh Renel became only the second player in Division II history to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the National Championship Game. Renel streaked down the sideline for a 93-yard touchdown.
"A lot of people might panic after the opening kickoff comes back for a touchdown," Beck said. "This football team has been extremely resilient all year, they never panic, and we've been able to fight back and play good on both offense and defense. Our special teams were a little shaky at times, but made a big play on the blocked field goal for a touchdown."
After that blocked field goal returned for touchdown, Wayne State went three-and-out and then Pitt State drove 72 yards in 4 minutes, 21 seconds to gain a 27-14 halftime advantage. On a second and goal from the Wayne State 6, senior quarterback Zac Dickey hit a wide-open Bristan Kelley in the end zone on a perfectly executed play-action pass.
The Pittsburg State Gorillas completed their dream season with a 35-21 win over the Wayne State Warriors in the Division II National Championship Game Saturday afternoon at Braly Municipal Stadium.
"We said all year long 'one game at a time, one play at a time' and we tried to focus on that," Pitt State head football coach Tim Beck said. "I think our kids did a pretty good job buying into that and we're just extremely proud of our players."
Special teams plays made Championship Game history.
With Pitt State trailing 14-13 and Wayne State kicker Stefan Terleckyj lining up a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter, Pitt State senior Paul Robinson blocked his second field goal of the season and redshirt freshman Aries Herrion scooped it up and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown, giving Pitt State back the lead. Herrion became the first player in National Championship Game history to return a blocked field goal for touchdown.
"There's no question that was a huge turning point in the game," Beck said. "They go from thinking they're getting three points to us getting seven."
"It was super critical because instead of going up, they get points," Wayne State head coach Paul Winters said. "We didn't block the edge the way we should have and they made a play. They did a fantastic job of making a play and that guy (Aries Herrion) returned it. That hurt us earlier in the year and it hurt us today."
Wayne State began the game with a bang, as senior returner Josh Renel became only the second player in Division II history to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the National Championship Game. Renel streaked down the sideline for a 93-yard touchdown.
"A lot of people might panic after the opening kickoff comes back for a touchdown," Beck said. "This football team has been extremely resilient all year, they never panic, and we've been able to fight back and play good on both offense and defense. Our special teams were a little shaky at times, but made a big play on the blocked field goal for a touchdown."
After that blocked field goal returned for touchdown, Wayne State went three-and-out and then Pitt State drove 72 yards in 4 minutes, 21 seconds to gain a 27-14 halftime advantage. On a second and goal from the Wayne State 6, senior quarterback Zac Dickey hit a wide-open Bristan Kelley in the end zone on a perfectly executed play-action pass.
"It was a huge score going into halftime," Dickey said. "We really needed to get some points on the board. That's a play we run every day in practice."
Pitt State's 27 points are the most in the first half of the National Championship Game since 2000.
Wayne State broke a scoreless second half with 5:11 remaining in the game, as sophomore running back Toney Davis scampered in for a 1-yard score. This run culminated a 15-play, 76-yard scoring drive eating up 6:57 and made the game a 27-21 contest.
As the Gorillas have all year long, the offense responded with a huge scoring drive — 5 plays, 75 yards over 2:33. Andrew Castaneda set up this crucial score when he caught a perfectly thrown Dickey long ball for a 53-yard gain down to the Wayne State 5. On third and goal, Jason Spradling found room on the outside and scored a 4-yard touchdown run. Pitt State went for two and got it, boosting its lead to 35-21 with 2:34 left on the clock.
"We've been able to kind of do that all year," Beck said of the 53-yard pass play. "We took a shot earlier on a fourth and short, when people thought maybe we'd just try to run and get the first down. We've kind of tried to do that at different times during the season. I'm proud of our coaches because it's an aggressive play call. You come here to go try to win it, you don't want to just hang on and hope you win it. I thought it was a really aggressive play call by Coach (Steve) Rampy and our offensive staff, then great throw by Zac and a great catch by Andrew."
On the final Wayne State possession, quarterback Mickey Mohner went for the end zone on a first down from the Pitt State 34. Mohner threw up a jump ball between his receiver Dominique Maybanks and Pitt State senior cornerback Elijah Olabode. Olabode won the battle for the ball and Pitt State intercepted Mohner for the third time.
"Pittsburg State played a great game and we turned the football over," Winters said. "We made mistakes in the kicking game and those cost you games. They're a fine football team, an excellent football team."
Both teams were plagued by turnovers in the first quarter — Dickey threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage Mohner threw interceptions on two drives (one to Robinson, one to Olabode) and lost a fumble on a bad snap exchange (recovered by Cody Moore).
Pitt State scored 10 points off turnovers — a Eric Love 15-yard touchdown run two plays after Robinson intercepted Mohner at the Wayne State 37 and a Chase McCoy 37-yard field goal after Mohner's fumble.
Wayne State closed out the first with its first sustained drive — 11 plays, 85 yards over 5:40. On a third and short at the Wayne State 24, Davis busted loose for a 40-yard run and first down at the Pitt State 36. Mohner completed his first pass to a Wayne State player, as he found Troy Burrell for a 13-yard catch. Mohner, not finding an open receiver but instead open room to run, scrambled for an 8-yard gain down to the PSU 1. On third and goal, Davis lunged for a 1-yard TD run.
Davis ran for a game-high 178 yards on a game-high 28 carries, scoring twice on 1-yard touchdown runs and averaging 6.4 yards per carry. With Renel (banged up after his kickoff return and rendered ineffective) and Burrell out of the game, Davis became the focal point of the Warriors offense. Burrell, who had 86 catches entering Saturday's game, caught only a single pass for 13 yards.
Dickey rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries and threw for 190 yards on 10 of 16 passing, balancing one touchdown with two interceptions. John Brown gained 156 all-purpose yards (99 receiving, 51 kick return, 3 rushing and 3 punt return). Love scored a touchdown on his only carry and Spradling helped seal the deal on a touchdown run similar to the one he made against Washburn in the playoffs.
On defense, Nate Dreiling made a game-high 15 tackles, including 13 assists. Defensive linemen Spencer Worthington, Joe Uzzel, J.R. Jones, Gus Toca and Cody Moore all played solid, hard-nosed football — Worthington six tackles and one sack, Uzzel six tackles, Jones five tackles, Toca five tackles and Moore four tackles and one fumble recovery.
Defensive backs Bryant Sanchez and Jason Peete made seven and six tackles, respectively. Robinson made four tackles, one interception and one important blocked kick. Olabode made three stops and two interceptions.
After missing playoff games against Northwest Missouri and Delta State, senior linebacker Luke Stringer returned to make five tackles.
Wayne State (12-4) ends its unbelievable playoff run (four consecutive road wins) one win shy of a national title.
"I'm really proud of this football team," Winters said. "They fought through a lot of adversity — they stayed together. It's a first-class group of kids. These guys are good football players and we've got a good team. By the time we made the playoffs, we were ready for it."
Wayne State free safety Jeremy Jones, who made 14 tackles and recorded one sack on Saturday, talked of the bonds that run deeper than one loss.
"Our goal was to try to win the national championship," Jones said. "Obviously, that didn't happen, but I'm not going to let this one loss taint the whole year that I spent with these guys. Either way, I'm ecstatic about what happened. Yeah, it hurts now, but six months from now nobody's going to care. The whole experience trumps this loss."
Pitt State (13-1), considered an underdog most all season, made a rapid one-year transformation from middle of the road to king of the road.
"It's got to be the fastest comeback in program history, from 6-6 to national champions," Dreiling said. "All that effort we put in finally paid off and it's a great bunch of guys."
Dickey, a Pittsburg kid who grew up watching Pitt State football and dreaming someday of being a Gorilla player, touched on his deep feelings after the game.
"As a Pittsburg kid, it's definitely in your blood," Dickey said. "To do this is very, very gratifying. Everybody on the team wanted this, it wasn't just me that wanted this. We sacrificed and gave a bunch this summer and this offseason. I think that shows the character of this team, obviously. We put a lot of critics and haters to rest today and that's the most satisfying part of it."
No. 7 GORILLAS 35, WARRIORS 21
WSU 14 0 0 7 — 21
PSU 10 17 0 8 — 35
Scoring summary
First quarter
WSU — Josh Renel 93 kickoff return (Stefan Terleckyj kick) 14:49
PSU — Eric Love 15 run (Chase McCoy kick) 13:01
PSU — Chase McCoy 37 FG 10:53
WSU — Toney Davis 1 run (Terleckyj kick) :13
Second quarter
PSU — McCoy 34 FG 10:26
PSU — Aries Herrion 80 blocked field goal return (McCoy kick) 6:35
PSU — Bristan Kelley 6 pass from Zac Dickey (McCoy kick) :15
Fourth quarter
WSU — Toney Davis 1 run (Terleckyj kick) 5:11
PSU — Jason Spradling 4 run (Andrew Castaneda pass from Zac Dickey) 2:38
Team statistics
WSU PSU
First downs 14 20
Rushing yds. 211 187
Passing 7-16-3 10-16-2
Passing yds. 59 190
Total offense 270 377
Penalties-yds. 3-35 9-85
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Punts-avg. 3-24.3 2-43.0
TOP 29:48 30:12
3rd Downs 7 of 13 4 of 11
4th Downs 1 of 1 0 of 1
Red Zone 2-3 5-5
Individual statistics
RUSHING — WSU, Toney Davis 28-178, Mickey Mohner 8-14, Josh Renel 5-10, Desmond Martin 2-9, Dominique Maybanks 1-0. PSU, Zac Dickey 16-68, Jason Spradling 14-62, Briceton Wilson 7-34, Eric Love 1-15, Jon Thomas 1-8, John Brown 2-3, Mandel Dixon 1-0, Team 3-(-3).
PASSING — WSU, Mohner 7-16-0-3-59. PSU, Dickey 10-16-1-2-190.
RECEIVING — WSU, Danny McKae 4-30, Maybanks 2-16, Troy Burrell 1-13. PSU, Brown 5-99, Bristan Kelley 2-18, Andrew Castaneda 1-53, Jason Spradling 1-13, Jon Thomas 1-7.
