Missouri Western upsets No. 11 Emporia State
Oct. 1—Missouri Western junior kicker Cody Watson sent the biggest kick of his college career through the uprights on Saturday night when his team needed it most.
On the heels of a statement victory in which the Griffons held Fort Hays State to just seven points on their home turf the previous week, Western defeated No. 11 Emporia State 34-31 in nail-biting fashion with Watson's 41-yard field goal with 4.9 seconds. Sealing the historic win for the program.
"Before I get to kick, every kick, I just say a little prayer. God's first in my life. So I just try to make it like make or miss, it's not the end of the world," Watson said after the game. "As soon as I hit it, I just tried to keep my head down, and then I looked up and I knew it was good. and i was like, 'well, that's a relief.'"
It was a tale of two halves as Western was able to pile on the points while keeping the up-tempo offense of the Hornets at bay through the first 30 minutes of play. The Griffons took the first punch from Emporia State on its opening drive with a TD pass from Braden Gleason to Jaylen Varner. Western was able to respond by scoring on four of the five possessions in the first half to jump to a comfortable 24-6 lead.
In the second half, Emporia State's offense began to roll. The Hornets would score the first two touchdowns of the second half with one late in the third quarter and one early in the fourth quarter, both of which came courtesy of Billy Ross Jr.
With the score 24-21, Western began to match the punches delivered by Emporia. Seth Cromwell was leading the MIAA in rushing touchdowns with six before Saturday's game. Cromwell notched his seventh rushing touchdown early in the second quarter, but it was his eighth rush TD of the season that made the most noise.
With the ball spotted at their own 49-yard line, the Griffons put the ball in the hands of their star redshirt freshman back. Cromwell was able to hit the second level with a burst of speed and broke three tackles before beasting his way to the end zone to give Western a 10-point lead at the midway point of the fourth quarter.
Head coach Tyler Fenwick spoke wonders of Cromwell's play that gave the Griffs a little bit more breathing room.
"That was amazing. That was a physical run," Fenwick said. "I've seen him do it before, not in an actual game, but I've seen him do it in practice."
Emporia would add 10 more points to put the Griffs in a position to go win the game on the last possession. A very good kick return by Jalen Lampley set the Griffs up at their own 47 yard line and allowed the offense to drive 27 yards and set up Watson to make the go-ahead kick.
Western at 4-1 will look to carry their momentum into a road contest on Oct. 7 against Washburn in order to extend their win streak to five.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter @NPNowMeikel.
