The Missouri Southern football team scored first, but couldn't overcome a 17-10 halftime deficit and fell 38-20 tonight to Emporia State at Fred G. Hughes Stadium inside the Robert W. Plaster Sports Complex.
The Lions (0-1, 0-1 MIAA) scored first when Brock Renkennailed a 40-yard field goal on the team's opening drive. Southern had started the drive after Ricky Green picked off a pass from ESU (1-0, 1-0 MIAA) quarterback Brent Wilson on the Hornets' first possession.
ESU answered right back and scored on a Wilson touchdown pass to Justin Brown for 16 yards and both teams traded possessions with the score 7-3, Emporia after the first.
Wilson hit Kavaski Ervin for a 19-yard score to start the second quarter and put the Hornets up 14-7, but the Lions answered back when Ty'Quan Hayes scampered into the endzone for an eight-yard score to cut the ESU lead to four (14-10) with 3:50 to go in the half.
The Lions had a huge defensive stand at the end of the half when they stopped a goal line threat from the Hornets that forced ESU to settle for a 19-yard Austin Morton field goal to end the half and put ESU up 17-10 at the break.
The Hornets forced a Lions' punt on their opening drive of the second half and Mitchell Foote returned the kick 88 yards to put ESU up 24-10.
Southern scored on its next possession when TJ Fleeton, who had been inserted at the quarterback slot, rushed for 11 yards and then Will Gregory broke off a 61-yard rush for pay dirt, making the score 24-17, ESU.
The Hornets added a score on an 18-yard pass from Wilson to Foote in the third and another on a ten-yard run from Antonio Brown. Southern added another field goal from Renken, this time from 32 yards to make the final tally 38-20.
The Lions rushed for 224 yards on the night and completed 14 passes for 137 in the air. Time of possession was even, but what hurt Southern was ESU going 12-for-17 on third down conversions.
Will Gregory rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown while Fleeton and Hayes had 44 and 25 yards, respectively. Hayes added a score.
Renken went 2-2 in field goals and 2-2 in extra points, whileStetson Broce averaged 40 yards a punt and had three inside the 20.
Defensively, the night belonged to a pair of Lions' defensive backs as Kyjuan Tate led the team with 17 tackles, two for a loss and a half a sack. Ricky Green had six stops and two interceptions for a loss of seven, while Justin Tomlinson had 12 tackles. The Lions had four sacks as a team with David Smith and Chris Goss III picking up solo sacks. Tate, Laynce Snaders, Chris Williams and Terez Norman had a half a sack each.
The Lions will be back in action next Thursday when Southern travels to fifth-ranked Northwest Missouri for a 7 pm tilt inside Bearcat Stadium.
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