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PITTSBURG, Kan. – The Northeastern State football team opened the 2013 campaign with a 45-6 setback to No. 21 Pittsburg State University Saturday night at Carnie Smith Stadium.
The RiverHawks (0-1, 0-1 MIAA) dropped the season opener for the ninth time in the last 11 years, and they fell to the Gorillas (1-0, 1-0) in the first game of the season for the second-straight year.
Sophomore quarterback
Thor Long replaced senior
Johnny Deaton, who was injured in the second quarter. Long recorded his first-career completion and touchdown for NSU. He finished the game 6-of-16 passing for 103 yards. He also had five carries for 14 yards and a score.
Junior running back
Joel Rockmore ended the game with 99 yards rushing on 19 carries. NSU's leading receiver was sophomore
Jordan Robinson, who finished with two catches for 69 yards.
Senior linebacker
Langston Jones led all defenders with 12 tackles and a forced fumble, as he outplayed preseason All-American Nate Dreiling on the other side of the ball, who only tallied nine stops.
The Gorillas outgained the RiverHawks 582-244, winning the passing battle 228-127 and the rushing battle 354-117. The rushing yards were the most allowed by NSU since giving up 458 rushing yards to Harding on Oct. 15, 2011.
Pittsburg State scored six touchdowns and one field goal in its first nine possessions, turning the ball over on downs the other two.
PSU got on the board on its first possession when Steven Sullivan capped off a seven-play, 74-yard drive with a four-yard carry. Quarterback Anthony Abenoja would take over from there, connecting with Gavin Lutman for two-straight scores and finding Luke Rampy for a third 31 seconds before halftime.
The second half wasn't any better for the RiverHawks, as the first play for the Gorillas resulted in an 80-yard TD run by Jeff Seybold. Connor Frazell added a 43-yard field, and Abenoja scored his fourth TD of the game on a 17-yard carry early in the fourth to put Pitt State on top 45-0.
Northeastern State was able to avoid being shutout, as Long scored on a QB sneak with 9:51 to play in the contest. Both teams would run the clock down from there.
The attendance for the game was 10,374 fans, which was the most to watch Northeastern State since the Sept. 3, 2011 contest at UTSA (56,743).
The RiverHawks will now prepare for their home opener at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 14 in the MIAA TV Game of the Week against Missouri Southern State.
SCORING SUMMARY
|
Qtr. |
Time |
Team |
Play |
Score |
|
1 |
11:28 |
PSU |
Steven Sullivan 4 rush (Connor Frazell kick) |
7-0 |
|
|
3:30 |
PSU |
Anthony Abenoja 18 pass to Gavin Lutman (Frazell kick) |
14-0 |
|
2 |
7:49 |
PSU |
Abenoja 28 pass to Lutman (Frazell kick) |
21-0 |
|
|
0:31 |
PSU |
Abenoja 23 pass to Luke Rampy (Frazell kick) |
28-0 |
|
3 |
12:32 |
PSU |
Jeff Seybold 80 run (Frazell kick) |
35-0 |
|
|
5:46 |
PSU |
Frazell 43 FG |
38-0 |
|
4 |
13:17 |
PSU |
Abenoja 17 run (Frazell kick) |
45-0 |
|
|
9:51 |
NSU |
Thor Long 1 run (rush failed) |
45-6 |
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH KENNY EVANS
Opening Statement…
“This wasn't the type of game we imagined we would see. I don't think this is an indication of the type of team we have. Pitt State hit some plays on us early, and we never were able to recover. We were never able to get anything going offensively. We have to make some adjustments and simplify things on defense. These are the types of things you are only able to find out when you're playing different type of competition. I know the score wasn't pretty, but there were some positive things that I saw tonight that we can build on. This is an offensive league, and we just didn't have any offense tonight. We feel like we have some guys that can do some things, but we weren't able to get the ball in their hands enough.”
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-
