The Emporia State men’s basketball team won their second straight home game to move their record to 2-2 on the year after defeating the Bethany Swedes 81-71 Monday night. ESU had four players with at least 14 points and were led by senior center Adam Holthaus who finished the night with 21 points and six rebounds. During the two game winning streak, the Hornets have scored over 80 points in both contests and won both by double digits.

The Hornets took the lead early and never really gave it up. Bethany’s only lead came less than four minutes into the game. ESU senior Michael Tyler then would score eight of ESU’s next ten points to take an early 14-12 lead that Emporia State would hold up throughout the game. ESU’s largest lead of the game reached 11, but the Swedes battled back on numerous occasions to cut it to within a basket.

“We just couldn’t finish them off,” said nine year Head Coach David Moe. “It wasn’t because of a lack of effort that we let them back in the game several times, but we just didn’t have some things bounce our way. I was pleased with the way our kids still battled though.”

Emporia State would lead 35-28 at the half despite shooting 1-16  from behind the three point line. Senior Xavier Burnette scored 13 out of his 18 points in the second as he helped keep the Hornets on top for good. Burnette was 6-8 shooting in the second half as 32 out of the 46 points scored in the second half for ESU were by Burnette, Holthaus, and senior Matt Boswell. Bethany would climb within two points and were still only down 70-65 with just under two minutes to play. ESU would go on a 9-3 run to seal the game for the Hornets.

“We really picked it up in the second half as we had to play with a short memory after missing some shots,” Burnette said. “This game is just another stepping stone on the season. We can’t lose confidence as it is early in the season, and hopefully this gives us some momentum going into conference play.”

Next up for the Hornets is opponent Southwestern on Wednesday night at White Auditorium. The game closes out a three game home stand as they travel to Division I opponent #4 Kansas State before coming back home for another three game stretch. Tip-off for Wednesday is set for 7 p.m.

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Will Hohmeier and Katie Mona each earned honorable mention All-MIAA honors last Saturday at the 2010 MIAA Cross Country Championships. The event was held at Fort Hays State in Hays, Kansas. The two runners lead Emporia State to a seventh place finish for the women’s team, as the men placed eighth.

For the women, Pittsburgh State would take home the MIAA championship with Missouri Southern and Northwest Missouri rounding out the top three teams respectfully. Mona would earn her MIAA honors after finishing 13^th with a time of 22:23 that lead the Hornets. Kathryn Davison would finish in 22:57 and place 22^nd for the Hornets. ESU had four more runners finish in the next two minutes to take home their seventh place finish.

On the men’s side, ESU finished eighth out of eight teams competing with nine runners finishing the race. Central Missouri would take home the MIAA crown on the men’s side with Missouri Southern and Northwest Missouri finishing second and third respectively. Will Hohmeier finished 16^th overall to lead the Hornets after posting a time of 25:20. Asher Delmott finished with a time of 25:42 to take the 24^th position overall, as he was one of the five Hornets to place in the top 50 runners.

Regionals for both teams are set for Nov. 20 in Warrensburg, MO.

Chris Hopkins

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The Emporia State football team closed the season with a 42-0 loss at Washburn last weekend, their fourth straight loss. ESU struggled all day to get anything going offensively and had trouble stopping Washburn quarterback Dane Simoneau as he accounted for five touchdowns against the Hornets. The loss ends the Hornets’ season at 5-6, a three game improvement from last year.

“It’s definitely a bad way to end the season,” said head coach Garin Higgins. “But take away the last two weeks, and I told this class of seniors I am proud of some of the things we accomplished this year. We just need to learn how to finish better.”

ESU would start the game off by forcing the Ichabods to a three and out on their first series. However, Emporia State would do the same, and after a short Tyler Chilson punt, Washburn got possession at the Hornet 32 yard line. It was from here that Washburn would start their scoring run.

Washburn would score three plays later on a two yard run to take an early 7-0 lead with 13:06 left in the first quarter. After a three and out by Emporia, Washburn would drive 87 yards on the Hornet’s defense that concluded with Simoneau throwing his first of four touchdowns to make it 14-0 with about five minutes in the first.

“We just couldn’t make the stops we needed to,” Higgins said.

A failed fourth and one attempt in the Washburn red zone and an interception by Sheldon Smith on the Washburn 17 yard line resulted in two more touchdowns for Washburn to take a 28-0 lead into the half.

The second half was more of the same as the ESU defense allowed a touchdown on the Ichabods first drive of the half. The 35-0 lead seemed to take a toll as the Hornets would struggle offensively much like the first half. One late touchdown in the third would seal the deal as the Ichabods handed ESU their worst loss of the season, 42-0.

“Today was rough, but these younger guys need to take something from it,” said senior defensive end Daniel Webb. “They can still build from this for next year.”

The Hornets are set to return eight starters on offense and eight on defense which includes a group of 26 seniors. ESU is scheduled to open the 2011 season at Ft. Hays State on September 3. They will play a schedule made up completely of MIAA schools next season with games against conference newcomer Lincoln and the first meeting with Southwest Baptist since 2007.

Chris Hopkins

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A heartbreaking 37-34 homecoming defeat to Truman last Saturday drops the Hornets to 5-4 on the season. The loss left the Hornets with a 4-1 home record on the year in what was also Senior Day for 12 players.

“No doubt we had our chances to win today as we left a lot on the field today,” said Head Coach Garin Higgins. “It’s very disappointing, but we still have some football left before the season is over.”

Kevin Smart scored the game’s first touchdown with 3:20 left in the first quarter. TSU responded by recovering a Tyler Eckenrode fumble at the ESU four yard line and running in for a touchdown to tie the game.

ESU retook the lead after David Harris blocked a punt that Taylor Beitler would run in for a touchdown to make the score 14-7. A three yard touchdown run with 55 seconds left in the half by Truman would tie the game at 14.

After halftime and a Truman field goal, ESU sophomore Derwin Hall scored two touchdowns in a two and a half minute span, one of which was a career long 65 yard touchdown run to help the Hornets take a 27-17 advantage.

“I was thankful to have the opportunity to show my speed today,” Hall said after the game. “It was a tough loss today, but we are going to bounce back in the face of adversity.”

Truman would cut into the Hornet lead before the end of the third quarter with a 20 yard touchdown run to make the score 27-24 at the end of three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, an unblemished home record seemed imminent after a touchdown run by Adrian Abner and an interception by Michael Luthi on the Bulldog’s following possession. However, the Hornets were unable to add to the lead before giving the ball back.

Truman would score a touchdown after driving the ball 71 yards in less than two minutes. With only about four minutes in the game, Abner would fumble at the ESU 20 yard line resulting in a TSU touchdown run with two minutes left in the game. ESU would block the PAT to keep it at 37-34, but would turn the ball over on downs to end the game.

“It’s very frustrating to end our season at home that way as we had a lot of missed opportunities,” Higgins said. “We are going to have to bounce back from this loss, and move on to next week.”

The Hornets travel Saturday to St. Joseph, MO to take on Missouri Western as they look to bounce back from the loss.

Chris Hopkins

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The Emporia State football team overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Pittsburgh State 17-14 last Saturday. Big plays on both sides of the ball in the second half led to a Zachary King field goal with 1:07 left in the game to put ESU up for good.

“I aged about five to seven years today,” said Head Coach Garin Higgins. “What a great win for these kids, especially these upperclassmen that have been in the program for a few years now. We really showed a lot of character today.”

After the worst loss of the season last week, it looked like it could be another long afternoon with the Hornets trailing 14-0. The win was the first against the Gorillas since 2003 and has ESU off to one of its best start at 5-2.

Pittsburgh State got on the board first after the Hornets were pinned deep in their own territory which led to a safety. After two quick touchdowns by PSU and a stagnant Hornet offense, ESU went into the half down 14-0.

“I told the guys that they still had an opportunity to win this game,” Higgins said during halftime. “I told the offense that we needed to have some people step up and make some big plays to get us back in the ballgame.”

The Hornets responded with two touchdown passes by Tyler Eckenrode to Shjuan Richardson and Charleston Johnson to tie the score at 14. The second occurred on a broken play in which Eckenrode eluded a pass rush, scrambled right and threw about 50 yards for the tying touchdown.

With only 2:30 left in the game, defensive back Wayne Burgess made one of the biggest plays of the day on an intercepted pass at the PSU 28-yard line. King would make his 38 yard field goal to give the Hornets the lead 17-14 with 1:07 left in the game.

“For my kick, it was a big kick that I am just glad it went through,” King said. “You have to go into the kick with the mentality that it’s just another kick.”

The special teams for the Hornets came through as Julian Dozier blocked the potential 57-yard game tying field goal.

King wasn’t as nervous when PSU kicker Jake Craig took the field, even admitting that he was yelling as loud as he could during the kick.

“I just told him he wasn’t going to make two game-winning/game-tying kicks two weeks in a row,” King said. “It was in good fun, but I am just glad we got this must-win game. This is a real confidence booster.”

ESU travels to #6 Northwest Missouri next week. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

Chris Hopkins

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Emporia State’s cross country teams got off to a running start last Friday when they hosted Newman in the ESU Intersquad/Open.

The women ran a 3200 meter race with a total of 16 runners competing, and started the season off on the right track as they had the top four finishers. Kathryn Davison, a senior from Topeka, won her first race with a time of 12:16.

“It felt great to just get out there and compete again,” Davison said. “Sydney (Oltjen) got her second wind, and I just tried to stick with her. With the four of us sticking together, I think that it really broke down our opponents.”

ESU had only six of the 16 runners, but five of them would crack the top 10 for the women.

Freshman runner Sydney Oltjen finished second with a time of 12:18 to start her collegiate career.

“I felt good all day, didn’t really know anything about Newman, and just wanted to run a good race,” Oltjen said.

Amy Feldkamp and Courtney Maddux rounded out the top five for the women’s team, finishing five seconds ahead of fifth place Taylor Carlson of Newman.

The ESU men also showed a strong debut in the 5K. Of the 29 runners, junior Asher Delmott led the way with a time of 15:45. The Hornets were able to place nine of the top 15 runners.

“I felt good the whole course, really pushed the pace, and my only thought was when I got to the final stretch was that the wind was going to be at my back the rest of the way,” Delmott said. “We really had some freshmen that stepped up today.”

Freshman Jacob Bull had a finishing time of 16:20 for his first collegiate meet, while William Hohmeier, Marcus Portofee and Skyler Delmott rounded out the top five with times of 16:24, 16:26 and 16:29 respectively.

Head Coach Dave Harris was very pleased out of what he saw out of both teams.

“This was a perfect way to start the season, with a low-key meet here at home to see where our runners are right now,” Harris said. “We have only been together about three weeks, and it is only going to get tougher, so we need to raise the intensity. This race was used as a measuring stick, and we really had people in both races step up.”

Chris Hopkins/The Bulletin

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