Jaylen Varner caught three touchdowns for the second consecutive week and Billy Ross Jr. ran for a career-high 157 yards as #11 Emporia State held on for a 38-27 victory over Central Oklahoma at Welch Stadium in Emporia Saturday afternoon. Zion Jones put the Hornets in business with a big kick return to open the game for the second consecutive Saturday with a 40-yard return that led to a Caden Dodson 21-yard field goal. After stopping the Bronchos, Braden Gleason connected on a 57-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Zimmerman to make it 10-0 Hornets with just over eight minutes to play in the first quarter.
UCO used a big kick return to kickstart its own drive capping it on a 6-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Dawson Herl to tight end Oscar Hammond to cut the Hornet lead to three. Herl played every snap for Central and finished 26-for-49 with two scores and two interceptions. The Hornets answered right back with a 9-play 75-yard drive that took just over two minutes as Jaylen Varner caught a 4-yard score to make it 17-7 ESU with just over two and a half minutes to play in the first half. The two teams traded touchdowns in the second and the Hornets led 24-14 at the break capping the first half with a Bo Odom interception.
The defenses controlled the second half, but Gleason found Varner again for a 78-yard strike late in the third to make it 31-14 Hornets. Billy Ross Jr. capped E-State’s scoring with a 58-yard scamper on a 1-play scoring drive to make it 38-14 Hornets with 8:00 to play in the game. Two late touchdowns by Dawson Herl, one on the ground and one in the air, brought the Bronchos within 11, but UCO failed on the onside kick and Roderick Farmer cinched the game with an interception with just over a minute to play. Head coach Garin Higgins said this win showed toughness.
Running back Billy Ross Jr., from Oklahoma City, said this game meant something after last year’s loss, especially to the Oklahoma players on the roster.
The Hornets improve to 4-0 on the season and move to 3-0 in the MIAA. UCO falls to 1-3, 1-3 in conference play. Broncho head coach Adam Dorell, who entered the game 10-0 against Emporia State after going 9-0 as the head coach at Northwest Missouri and winning last year in his first season in Edmond, tasted defeat to the Hornets for the first time. ESU is back on the road next week at Missouri Western. Kickoff is set for 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
