The Emporia State Hornets were outscored and held to an offensive standstill by Fort Hays on Saturday in Lewis Stadium, losing 7-34.

Senior Braxton Marstall, the Hornets starting quarterback was injured during their previous game against Pittsburg State, and was out of the starting lineup. Without Marstall, the Hornets had 223 total offensive yards during the game, while the Tigers had 583.

Fort Hays was first on the scoreboard, when quarterback Jacob Mezera connected with tight end J.J Lewis on an eight-yard pass that resulted in a touchdown during the first quarter, putting the Tigers up 0-7.

Fort Hays completed two field goals during the second quarter, putting them up 0-13.

At the start of the third quarter, the Tigers completed a three-play drive that increased their lead to 0-20, when Mezera made a 68 yard pass to wide receiver Tyler Bacon.

Fort Hays further increased their lead on their next possession. Mezera hit running back Kenneth Iheme with a 25 yard pass on a four play drive, taking a lead of 0-27.

The Hornets started their responding drive with six minutes left in the third quarter. Sophomore quarterback T’Quan Wallace completed two passes for a total of 30 yards and junior running back Landon Nault rushed 11 yards, but Fort Hays received the ball after a no gain rush by Nault. The score at the end of the third quarter was 0-27.

Fort Hays opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a two yard run by running back Charles Tignor, increasing their lead to 0-34.

With five minutes left in the game, the Hornets finally got on the scoreboard off of a seven play drive. Redshirt junior running back Kai Collins rushed for one yard and the game finished with a score of 7-34.

The Hornets will return to Welch Stadium on Saturday for the Homecoming game. They host Missouri Western, kicking off at 2 p.m.

Statistics provided by esuhornets.com.