KEARNEY— When Pittsburg State will get off the bus Thursday night time, the Gorillas will resemble fire-breathing dragons.
Because the formation of the MIAA, the Gorillas haven’t been pushed round by anybody on the soccer subject. However the College of Nebraska at Kearney has given them a bit shove, profitable the final two head-to-head video games, each performed in Pittsburg, Kan.
Thursday’s sport involves UNK’s Ron and Carol Cope Stadium the place Pittsburg State has loved loads of success. The Lopers haven’t crushed the Gorillas in Kearney since 1982, when each groups performed within the Central States Intercollegiate Convention.
Pittsburg tuned up for this week’s sport by beating Central Missouri 21-10 whereas UNK took care of enterprise in its season opener with Missouri Southern, 24-7.
“They’re massive. Their offensive line would be the greatest we’ll see,” UNK coach Josh Lynn stated of the Gorillas.
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And so they’re skilled. All 5 offensive linemen are veterans from an efficient offense from a 12 months in the past. That offense additionally returns a operating again that Lynn stated is hard to convey down.
However in opposition to the Mules, quarterback Chad Dodson Jr. supplied the highlights. Dodson Jr., handed for 387 yards and touchdowns of 27, 53 and 71 yards.
It’s the kind of offense Lynn stated the Lopers must include and drive them to drive lengthy distance.
“Keep away from the short strike,” he stated.
Defensively, the Gorillas have velocity to burn. The Gorillas held Central Missouri to 212 yards of whole offense..
In the meantime, UNK rolled up 375 yards on Missouri Southern however didn’t get factors on three lengthy drives into Lion nation — two that resulted in missed subject objectives and one, on the finish of the half, the place the clock ran out when quarterback TJ Davis was stopped on the 1-yard line.
“We’ve acquired loads to work on,” Lynn stated. “I believe the massive takeaways have been… we had three or 4 distinction possibilities to get factors on the board and we didn’’t do it.
“We put up yardage but it surely doesn’t do any good until you place up factors. We now have to complete drives, we’ve got to place factors on the board.”
Nearly all of the Lopers’ factors went on the board within the fourth quarter. Zane Schwang, the fourth operating again to hold the ball, completed with 76 yards, all within the second half. Davis ran for 131 yards and Damien Cearns gained 59 yards.
Schwang’s peformance, which included a 32-yard landing run validated what Lynn has stated about having a deep operating again room.
“You get to that time you form of go together with the man who had the new hand and he had the new hand. Zane had the contemporary legs on the finish and thank goodness he did,” Lynn stated.
Whereas the operating sport carried out, the passing sport floundered. Davis accomplished simply 3 of 10 passes for 44 yards. He additionally threw an interception that led to the Lions’ solely landing.
“We had some safety flaws up entrance which led to a bit little bit of stress on TJ and TJ form of quick[armed a couple of things,” Lynn said. “We had receivers running down the field and we didn’t hit them. We have to clean up the passing game and when we get a chance to hit a big play, we need to do it.”
On the other side of the ball, “I still think the defense played great, absolutely great, but I think we can tackle better. We missed some tackles in there,” Lynn said.
Lynn was particularly pleased with the play of the defensive line where 10 players rotated in and out.
“The transfers’ we’ve added really helped,” he said.