Emporia State football makes a statement win in season home opener

EMPORIA (KSNT) – Emporia State football opened their season with a win against first time opponent Minot State in Welch Stadium. The Hornets defeated the Beavers 27-7, giving up their only points in the game in the fourth quarter.

Emporia State head football coach Garin Higgins gets with 114th win at the helm for the Hornets. He’s two wins away from tying the school record for wins with Fran Welch.

“I thought defensively we played consistent for four quarters,” Higgins said. Offensively we started off with a great start with a 14-play drive. I wish we would have played a little bit better in the second half, but there’s a lot of things that we can correct, and we still got a long ways to go.”

Junior transfer quarterback Ben Harris helped get the Hornets on the board early with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kingsley Bennett. In Harris first start for the Hornets, he went 37 of 52 for 292 yards, with two touchdowns.

“I thought he did a great job of commanding the offense,” Higgins said.

Caden Dodson helped extend the Hornets lead to 10 with 45 seconds left to go in the first quarter with a 26-yard field goal. Then with 4:55 left to go in the half Diego Cearns would score from 23 yards out to give Emporia State a 17-point lead. Followed by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Malik O’Atis to make it 24-0 at the half.

In the second half, Landon Ross forced a fumble with a recovery from Carlos Strong. Another field goal by Dodson makes the score 27-0.

The Beavers scored on a two-yard rushing touchdown with 12:00 to go in the game.

The Hornets open the season with a 27-7 win. They head to San Angelo, Texas where they will face off against Angelo State in Sept. 6 at 6:00 p.m.

For more local sports, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.