By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

And, none concerned McCain or Obama in any way.

Head coaches Bart Tatum of Missouri Southern and Garin Higgins of Emporia State faced several football decisions in the second half of the Lions’ 19-18 victory on Saturday afternoon in Emporia, Kan.

“Do I go for 2, do I not. Do you punt,” Tatum said with a laugh. “There really were (many decisions).”

The Lions, down 15-7 at halftime, pulled within 15-13 on Toderick Hunt's two-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. The Lions converted twice on fourth down-and-short during the 12-play, 62-yard drive.

After the score, one school of thought is to go ahead and kick the almost automatic extra point — although ESU missed one in the first half — because there are 23 minutes left in the game, and another score at some point is necessary to win.

The Lions went for the two points and the tie, but Adam Hinspeter's pass went incomplete.

“Our defense was playing great,” Tatum said. “If we don’t score (later in the game after making the 2-point conversion), we have overtime. In my mind, that’s what I was thinking. Plus, everybody who I trust down on the sideline was saying go for 2. It was my initial inclination, so I went with my gut.”

Hunt, who rushed for 133 yards, scored his third touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter, making it 19-15. The decision to go for 2 — and a six-point lead — was automatic this time, but the pass again fell incomplete.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Hornets reached the Missouri Southern 2, and in a matter of seconds, both sidelines had decisions to make.

The Lions’ Justin Cowper broke up Emporia State's third-down pass in the end zone. The Hornets were flagged for an illegal formation, and the officials assumed the Lions would accept the penalty. But as one official began to step off the five-yard penalty, the Lion coaches notified the crew they wanted to decline the penalty, setting up fourth down.

“We just wanted to make (Emporia State) make the decision,” Tatum said. “We were confident in our ability to hold them on fourth-and-2. We felt like one shot, do or die, from the 2 was better than two shots from the 7.”

The Hornets’ decision: go for the touchdown and the lead or kick a field goal. They gained at least two yards on seven of the nine plays on the drive, but with more than 10 minutes remaining, Higgins sent Matt Perry in to kick his fourth field goal.