By Ryan Atkinson
Globe Sports Writer
PITTSBURG, Kan. —
Pittsburg State’s passing game was all but nonexistent. The running game, while effective, was far from spectacular.
Luckily for the Gorillas, the defense saved the day.
Pitt State scored on two of its first three possessions, but didn’t find the end zone the rest of the afternoon and leaned on its defense in a 14-3 win over the Chadron State Eagles at Carnie Smith Stadium.
“The offensive guys waited at the door (of the locker room) for the defense to come in, because it was their game,” PSU quarterback Zac Dickey said. “When you hold a team to three points, you can’t ask for anything more from the defense. They played outstanding.”
Pitt State held the Eagles to 256 yards of offense, including just 30 yards on 20 rushing attempts — an average of 1.5 yards per carry. Chadron State’s longest play from scrimmage was a 25-yard pass from Jonn McLain to Jeremy Sondrup late in the third quarter.
“One big key is our ability to stop the run,” Pitt State senior safety Alex Kuhlman said. “If offenses can’t (run) the ball, it takes out a whole dimension ... but along with stopping the run, we didn’t give up any big plays, which was huge.”
The Eagles ventured into Gorilla territory on just six of their 13 possessions. The only time they got inside the Pitt State 30 was in the second quarter, when they drove to the 29 and settled for a 46-yard Michael Ziola field goal.
“There’s no question our defense had a great day,” Pitt State’s Tim Beck said after his first home game as head coach. “We just gave up that long field goal and other than that, we didn’t do a lot wrong. We kept them contained and did fairly well with their short game ... I was proud of our defense.”
The Gorillas started the game on fire. Jon Thomas returned the opening kickoff 48 yards to the Chadron State 45. Terrance Isaac ran for 8 and 3 yards on back-to-back plays before Solomon Watkins broke loose for a 34-yard touchdown, giving PSU a 7-0 lead just 56 seconds into the game.
Two possessions later, the Gorillas drove 44 yards in six plays, scoring on Dickey’s 13 yard option keeper to go up 14-0.
But Pitt State didn’t score again, finishing the afternoon by punting six times, turning it over on downs twice and throwing an interception.
“I just think we got lax,” Dickey said. “I think we kind of thought we were going to run the table with these guys and we eased up. Obviously, that’s the wrong attitude ... they drove 14 hours, they didn’t just come to hand the game over to us. They were going to fight ... and we didn’t take that seriously.”
Pitt State finished with 356 yards of offense — 213 on the ground and 143 passing. Isaac rushed 19 times for 118 yards while Dickey rushed for 47 and had for 123 on 9-of-20 passing. Jeff Smith was 3-for-6 for 20 yards.
“Defensively, I’m happy as hell,” Chadron State coach Bill O’Boyle said. “We had a couple mental breakdowns early and that’s what hurt us. Our guys got a little worked up on those first two drives and made some mistakes.”
McLain was 27-of-46 for 226 yards for the Eagles. Sondrup caught six of those passes for 62 yards. Dominic Morris led Chadron in rushing with 16 yards on seven carries.
