Fort Hays State continued its solid play on the road this year, holding off Emporia State for a 24-21 win on Saturday (Oct. 18) in Emporia. It was the first win for the Tigers in Emporia since 2000 as the Hornets had won the last six meetings on their home field. FHSU moved to 4-3 overall, 4-3 in the MIAA, while ESU dropped to 3-4 overall, 3-4 in the MIAA.

The Tigers used a pair of quick-strike touchdown passes early in the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead. Treveon Albert connected with Zack Gaughan for 52 yards to make it 7-0 at the 10:28 mark, and then he found Ed Williams on a 42-yard connection to make it a 14-point spread at the 9:16 mark. Both happened on the first play of each drive, the first after an ESU punt and the second after Ed Brown recorded an interception and returned it 24 yards.

Late in the first quarter, the Tigers widened their lead to 21-0 on a 5-yard Edward Smith touchdown run with 55 seconds on the clock. That capped a 7-play, 44-yard drive. The Tiger offense finished with 195 yards of total offense in the first quarter, carving up the Hornet defense, but it would not continue the remainder of the game.

The Tiger defense stood tall over and over again in the first half, especially the second quarter. After stopping the Hornets on 4th-and-2 at the FHSU 20-yardline in the first quarter, the Tigers stopped the Hornets four more times inside the FHSU 30-yardline in the second quarter to keep them off the board before halftime. On the first ESU drive of the quarter, Daniel Lindsey forced a fumble at the FHSU 10-yardline and Micheal Jordan recovered it. On the second Hornet drive, Johnny Hubbard III dropped Antonio Brown for no gain on 4th-and-1 at the Tiger 22-yardline. On the third drive, Joita Te'i hurried the ESU quarterback into an incomplete pass on 4th-and-9 from the FHSU 24-yardline. On the final ESU drive of the quarter, Nathan Lindsey intercepted a pass in the endzone and returned it 22 yards to preserve the 21-0 lead for FHSU at halftime. That would be the first of two big interceptions for Lindsey on the day.

The Hornets finally scored with a 20-yard field goal on their first drive of the third quarter. The Tigers moved the ball fairly well on their first drive of the second half, but a penalty led to the Tigers having to attempt a 47 yard field goal, which was just short off the leg of Drew O'Brien.

Emporia State capitalized on the missed opportunity by FHSU and drove the ball down the field once again, reaching the endzone with a 17-yard Kai Callins run to make it 21-10 with 2:36 to go in the third quarter. The Hornets looked to really seize momentum when they recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but the Tiger defense made the stop when it needed to once again, blocking a 39-yard field goal attempt with 55 seconds to go in the third quarter.

The Hornets continued to apply pressure when Seth Culp intercepted Albert at the FHSU 34-yardline and returned it to the 19. However, the defense was up to the challenge once again in the short-field situation. ESU could only put a field goal on the board from 32 yards with 11:40 to go in the game, making it 21-13.

The Tigers finally ended their scoring drought since the first quarter by countering with a Drew O'Brien field goal from 40 yards with 8:18 remaining, pushing the lead back to 11 at 24-13.

After a good kickoff return, the Hornets marched the ball down the field again and Braxton Marstall found Justin Brown for a 10-yard touchdown pass. The pair also connected on a 2-point conversion, trimming the Tiger lead to three at 24-21 with 5:27 to play.

Fort Hays State had to punt the ball away to the Hornets with 2:28 remaining, but Nathan Lindsey immediately crushed the comeback hopes of the Hornets by intercepting a Marstall pass at the ESU 28-yardline and returned it to the 22. A nine-yard run by Kenneth Iheme on 2nd-and-8 gave the Tigers a first down and the ability to run out the clock.

Albert finished with 235 passing yards, completing 14-of-29 attempts with two touchdown and two interceptions. Gaughan led the receiving effort with four catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. Williams also had four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown. Edward Smith led the Tiger ground game with 70 yards on 16 attempts with one touchdown.

Nathan Lindsey added three tackles to his two interceptions in the game. Justin McPhail had a team-best 15 tackles, followed by Brock Long with 12. Ed Brown added six tackles with his interception.

Callins led ESU in rushing with 101 yards on 24 attempts. Starting quarterback Ty Reasnor had 128 passing yards prior to going out of the game with an injury, then Marstall threw for 115. Kavaski Ervin had a team-high 93 receiving yards on eight catches. Lyndell Johnson led the defensive effort with nine tackles, while Seth Culp had five tackles with two interceptions.

The Tigers take on the defending national champion Northwest Missouri State next week in Hays on Saturday (Oct. 25) at 2 pm. The Bearcats have held the No. 1 ranking in the nation all season, but will likely drop from that spot after a loss at home to No. 17 Pittsburg State on Saturday.