EMPORIA, Kan. – The Northeastern State football team lost 55-14 to Emporia State Saturday afternoon at Welch Stadium.
 
The RiverHawks dropped to 0-4 on the year, while the Hornets improved to 4-0.
 
NSU was led by junior quarterback Kevin Pantastico, who was 16-for-26 passing for 197 yards. Redshirt freshman Blayne Armstrong played the majority of the second half and was 7 of 12 for 106 yards and his first-career TD. The duo combined for 303 yards passing, which marked the first time since last year's meeting with ESU that the RiverHawks threw for 300 yards in a single game.
 
Senior wide receiver Garrett Powell registered seven catches for 106 yards. He reached triple digits for the third time in his career and the second time this season. Senior linebacker Irving Steele led the defense with 13 tackles. He has reached double-digit stops in three of four games this year.
 
Emporia State scored touchdowns on each of its four possessions. The first ended when Landon Nault finished a 78-yard drive with a one-yard rush. Brent Wilson then connected with Morris Williams II for two more first-quarter touchdowns as the Hornets jumped out to a 21-0 lead. Wilson found Anthony Buffalomeat on the first play of the second quarter and then threw a TD pass to Jordan Jackson six minutes later to give the home team the 35-0 advantage.
 
Northeastern State cracked the scoreboard at the 3:28 mark of the second quarter when Pantastico plunged in from one yard out to cap a 12-play, 65-yard drive.
 
Wilson threw his fifth TD pass with 14 seconds remaining in the first half to put his team ahead 42-7 at intermission.
 
The Hornets added 13 second-half points, and the RiverHawks scored on Powell's 39-yard TD reception to reach the final score of 55-14.
 
NSU is now set to return home for a 1 p.m. meeting Oct. 3 with No. 3 Northwest Missouri State.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

Qtr.	Time	Team	Play	Score
1	12:54	ESU	Landon Nault 1 run (Austin Morton kick)	7-0
	8:05	ESU	Morris Williams 7 pass from Brent Wilson (Morton kick)	14-0
	1:34	ESU	Williams 80 pass from Wilson (Morton kick)	21-0
2	14:55	ESU	Anthony Buffalomeat 5 pass from Wilson (Morton kick)	28-0
	8:29	ESU	Jordan Jackson 21 pass from Wilson (Morton kick)	35-0
	3:28	NSU	Kevin Pantastico 1 run (Eddie Garcia kick)	35-7
	0:14	ESU	Mitchell Foote 5 pass from Wilson (Morton kick)	42-7
3	12:21	ESU	Ty Reasnor 4 run (Morton kick)	49-7
	2:21	ESU	Morton 26 FG	52-7
	0:32	NSU	Garrett Powell 39 pass from Blayne Armstrong (Garcia kick)	52-14
4	11:20	ESU	Morton 39 FG	55-14

 
GAME NOTES

• Northeastern State fell to 7-5-1 all-time against Emporia State.
• Senior running back Joel Rockmore made his team-leading 28th career start. He has also played in 35 career games.
• Kevin Pantastico registered his second rushing TD of the season in the second quarter. He has now rushed for a score in back-to-back games.
• Northeastern State had a season-high four drives that lasted 10 plays or more.
• NSU was 11-for-17 on third downs in the contest, which marked the most conversions and highest third-down conversion percentage (.647) since NSU joined the NCAA in 1996.
• The RiverHawks dominated time of possession, 34:05-25:55.
• Senior wide receiver Garrett Powell had seven receptions for 106 yards and a touchdown. He reached the 100-yard plateau for the second time this season and for the third time in his career. He also registered his first TD of the season and the sixth of his career.
• Emporia State's 55 points were the most conceded by NSU since Central Missouri scored 56 last season (Oct. 25).
• Northeastern State finished with 303 passing yards, marking the most in a single game by the RiverHawks since last year's double OT loss to these same Hornets (Sept. 27, 2014).
• Senior linebacker Irving Steele finished with 13 tackles, marking the third time this season he reached double-digit stops.
• Northeastern State started a new offensive line that included: Dakota Ritchie (LT), Brian West (LG), Brian Hobbs (C), Lance Cox (RG), and Tyler Easter (RT). All but Ritchie, who was making his first start of the year, have started every game this season.
• Saturday's contest marked the first time in 2015 that Northeastern State did not allow a 100-yard rusher. The game also snapped a five-game streak of NSU allowing 100-yard rushers dating back to last season.
• Morris Williams II had 147 yards receiving for Emporia State. The last time an opposing receiver reached 100 yards was against Fort Hays State last season (Sept. 13, 2014).
• ESU quarterback Brent Wilson finished with five TD passes (all in the first half). The last time an opposing QB threw for five TD's was Wilson two years ago (Sept. 28, 2013).
• Wilson was held to 285 yards passing, which was his lowest total of the season.

 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH ROB ROBINSON
Opening statement…
"(Emporia State) is a great football team. They showed up a lot better on game day than they did on film. When their quarterback gets hot, he's impressive. Their receivers were making catches. We had some very good coverage, and we had some busted coverage, but they were making the catch whether we were on them or not. Once (Brent Wilson) gets going, they've got some explosiveness."

On the positives on defense…
"At times we were doing some good things. We just have that same mental aspect we're fighting through of when something bad happens we say 'here we go again'. We have to get out of that mentality, face adversity, come out and turn it around."

On his thoughts about the offensive performance…
"We were doing what we wanted on offense. We just had a fumble here and an interception on the goal line there. We're still shooting ourselves in the foot on drives and getting in second-and-long situations because we messed up on first downs. We've got to get that cleaned up because in this league you can't get negative plays on a drive. It just makes you one-sided and anytime a defense in this league has you into a one-sided game they're going to win."

On the most successful third-down percentage in school history…
"We did some good things, but what killed us was our running game in the first half. We had 16 yards rushing in the first half and that can't happen. We've got to be minimum 80 to 90 yards in the first half to be able to compete. Our pass game was working. We were at about 60 percent and we were good on third downs."

On playing Northwest Missouri State next week…
"Welcome to the MIAA. Another 0-3 team (Central Oklahoma) took them down to the wire this week just like we did to Missouri Western last week. You've just always got to be ready to play. That's what we're going to do tomorrow. We're not even going to watch this film. We're going all in (on NWMSU). We have a shot to knock off the big dog so we have to put in the extra time, so that's what we are going to do."
 
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