Emporia State redshirt sophomore quarterback Braxton Marstall completed 26 of 39 passes for 481 yards and five touchdowns as the Hornets blasted #13 Minnesota-Duluth 59-26 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Football Playoffs last Saturday at Welch Stadium.
“I was seeing a lot of one-on-one coverage with no safeties over the top,” Marstall said. “I can bet ten out of ten times that our guys are going to be better than theirs, so all I have to do is just put it somewhere around them and they’ll make a play.”
The game had all the makings of a shootout in the first half as the Hornets and Bulldogs traded big plays back and forth.
Emporia State opened the scoring as Marstall found his way into the endzone on a 18-yard scamper to put the Hornets up 7-0 with 10:51 remaining in the first quarter. Duluth quarterback Drew Bauer would answer quickly, finding a wide open Jason Balts for a 38-yard score. ESU would be able to keep its lead however as the Bulldogs failed a 2-point conversion attempt.
Less than a minute later, Marstall would throw his first of four long touchdown passes, connecting with Louis Dailey, junior wide receiver, for a 45-yard strike. UMD would continue to keep pace, as Bauer answered with a touchdown pass of his own to close the gap to 14-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Marstall found junior receiver Morris Williams II for a 60-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, increasing the ESU lead to 21-13. A couple of Bulldogs cornerbacks came off the field noticeably limping after the possesion, a fact that Marstall would continue to exploit for the rest of the game.
“Coach [Higgins] had got on me all week about beating these guys with speed,” Williams said. “I stopped dancing at the line, and just tried to run past them. That’s what we all did.”
Minnesota-Duluth would again prove pesky as they returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, but recurring defensive problems began to prove difficult for the Bulldogs to overcome.
Just two plays later, Marstall found Dailey with another long touchdown pass, this time 64 yards, to give the Hornets a 28-20 advantage heading into the break.
The Emporia State defense played a significant role in the second half, as turnovers and quick three and outs forced a tired-looking and injured Bulldogs defensive unit back onto the field.
Their fatigue showed, as Marstall found receivers for touchdowns of 19 and 46 yards during a less than two-minute span in the third quarter.
The game appeared over by the beginning of the fourth quarter, but the Hornets did not let-off the gas pedal. A rushing touchdown, field goal, and 35-yard fumble return brought the margin to 59-26 with 8:55 remaining in the game. The Hornets coasted into the second round in the final minutes, grabbing their first playoff win at home since 1989 when they played in the NAIA.
“I’m just really proud of my players today,” said ESU head football coach Garin Higgins. “We came out, Minnesota-Duluth having their offense and quarterback that they do, and we were able to hold them to only twenty-six points. Offensively, we were firing on all cylinders.”
The Hornets will take on top-ranked Northwest Missouri State at 1p.m. this Saturday in Maryville, Missouri. The 11-0 Bearcats handed ESU their only loss of the season, a 41-14 defeat in week one.
“We’ve lost four games in the last two years, and three have been to them,” Higgins said. “That within itself, our guys haven’t been thinking ahead. If I know one thing though, our players have a lot of confidence right now, and we’ll be ready to play.”
