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The Pittsburg State football team bounced back after a loss to Nebraska Kearney, dominating the Riverhawks of Northeastern State 48-13 on Sept. 18.
Coming back from the loss was the focus when it came to preparing for Northeastern State. Coming off a loss is a time to rally together and move forward.
“I thought our guys did a great job throughout the course of the week in practice and played, at times, a really good game of football,” Head Coach Brian Wright said.
After a hot start, scoring two touchdowns in the first five and a half minutes, the Gorillas didn’t look back.
The Riverhawks gave it a good fight throughout the first half, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Gorillas. After allowing two straight touchdowns, the Riverhawks scored one of their own and brought the score to 13-6. The Gorillas went on a tear, and scored the next thirty-five points, their largest lead being 48-6.
Getting off to a hot start is always a main goal for any football team, and it really set the Gorillas up for success.
“I thought that was key,” Coach Wright said. “Our defense did a good job stopping them the first two drives and offensively we put touchdowns on the scoreboard on both of those first two drives.”
After a fast start in first quarter for the Gorillas, the Riverhawks came out in the second quarter with a mindset to take their time and march down the field. This resulted in a ten-minute scoring drive that brought the score to 13-6.
In the first half, the time of possession easily favored the Riverhawks, but the score was still in favor of the Gorillas. Pitt State never trailed in the game.
With Bryce Murphy returning to action, Jalen Martin, and other experienced players in their lineup, the Gorillas feel they have a lot of depth and talent in their receiving core and look to use that to their advantage going forward.
“I mean, I wouldn’t want to try and cover them,” sophomore quarterback Mak Sexton said. “Our depth is getting deeper with Bryce coming back and going up big on Saturday was good to get some of the other players some experience out there. We have such diverse receivers, we got a big guy, we got skill, we got speed, whatever we want to do in our offense, we have a receiver to set them up for it.”
Throughout the three games the Gorillas have played, they have eight touchdowns through the air, and look to add to that number due to their versatility and depth at the receiver position.
Pitt State now has a 2-1 record and looks to put some more wins together to have yet another successful season. The Gorillas will take on the Emporia State University Hornets on Sept. 25 at Carnie Smith Stadium, which also is part of Family Day Weekend here on campus. Students can get a free ticket at the ticket office with their student ID.