GAMENOTES - GAME 4 - PITTSBURG STATE

SBU vs. Pittsburg State gamenotes

Pittsburg State

September 18

Pittsburg, Kansas

2 p.m.

The Series
Pittsburg State - Southwest Baptist
This is the 16th meeting between the two schools and the eighth in Pittsburg, Kansas. The Gorillas have won all 15 contests with the closest contest just three years ago on November 3, 2001 when PSU pulled off a 27-20 win in Bolivar. Under Broyles direction, the Gorillas have been to the playoffs 13 out of the last 15 years and they are the winningest all-time NCAA Division II football team in 96 years of play. This will be the Bearcats third trip to Pittsburg in five years.

The Coaches
Pittsburg State - Chuck Broyles
Broyles is in his 15th year at Pittsburg State and is the winningest head coach in PSU football history with a record of 113-15-1. He is also the winningest coach in MIAA history, too. In 14 years, he has tied or won eight MIAA Championships and went to the NCAA Playoffs 12 out of the 14 seasons. In 1991, his second season at PSU, he guided the Gorillas to a NCAA Division II National Championship. He has also been national runner-up twice in 1992 and 1995.

He is a 1970 graduate of Pittsburg State where he was a NAIA all-American. He has coached at Missouri-Rolla, Miami H.S. (OK), Stockton H.S. (MO), and Bishop Carrol H.S. (KS).

Southwest Baptist - Ray Richards
Ray Richards begins his fourth year at SBU. He has led the Bearcats to a 12-21 record in three years and was 6-5 in his first season. The 2001 season was the first winning season in 10 years at SBU and because of his accomplishment he was named the MIAA “Coach of the Year."

Richards came to SBU from NCAA Division I University of Louisiana-Monroe. He spent two years there as the defensive backs coach. Prior to ULM, he was at Southeastern Oklahoma State for 10 years. He has also made one more stop at the NCAA Division I level as he was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech for one season.

Graduating from Northern Michigan in 1981, Richards helped NMU to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980.

The Teams
Pittsburg State
The Gorillas are coming into the fourth game of the season with a #4 national ranking in the AFCA poll and are #6 in the D2Football.com poll. They are also coming off of a 77-7 rout of Truman State in their first MIAA game of the 2004 season. In that game, backup quarterback Andy Majors threw for 257 yards and rushed for 127 yards in his third career start. The PSU offense had 718 yards of total offense while putting up 56 points in the first two quarters. Majors also rushed for four touchdowns and threw three tds. PSU scored on the first nine times they touched the ball and scored on every possession in the first half.

Southwest Baptist
A fourth quarter let down in the final six minutes of the game gave Missouri Western a 42-28 win over SBU. Heading into the fourth quarter, SBU and the Griffons were neck in neck. It was not until the 5:43 mark in the fourth quarter that MWSC took the lead. On the ensuing drive after MWSC go ahead score, SBU punted the ball away to the Griffons. Four plays later, MWSC hit paydirt again on a 15-yard td run with 2:34 left in the game.

SBU’s Robert Clardy threw for 158 yards while rushing for 84 yards. Nick Smart was the leading receiver with seven catches for 79 yards. Craig Edwards led the defense with 10 tackles and had one interception. Michael Pearl also had an interception.

Give Me The Ball
The SBU defense is one of the tops in the MIAA when it comes getting a turnover. They are #1 in the MIAA in the turnover margin. In three games, they have forced nine fumbles and intercepted five balls. The SBU offense has only had five turnovers in four fumbles and one interception. They are +9 in the margin while the second place team, NWMSU, is +5. SBU forces 3.00 turnovers per game.

Put That Dirty Laundry Away
Being the most disciplined team in the MIAA, SBU leads the way for being the team that is less penalized. They average just 38.7 yards per game in penalties and have had 14 on the year for 116 yards. Missouri-Rolla is behind them averaging 42.3 yards of penalties per game.

Blocking Bearcats
The offensive line is getting recognized for their blocking as they have the #2 rushing offense in the MIAA. SBU is averaging 255 yards per game rushing, which is second behind Pittsburg States 331.3 per game. The Bearcats have already gained 765 yards in rushing this season on 138 attempts. Last year, SBU rushed for 2,085 yards on 461 carries.

Missouri Connection
In the last two games, the local Ozark boys have been connecting on a lot of passes. Sophomore quarterback Robert Clardy, from Marshfield, has found his leading receiver, Nick Smart (Marionville), in a lot of tight situations. Smart has led the Bearcats in receiving the past two games and is now the leading receiver on the team. Against Western New Mexico, he had seven catches for 87 yards and then vs. Missouri Western he came away with seven catches for 79 yards. For the year, he has 17 catches for 186 yards. He needs 68 more catches to tie the single season record for receptions in a year. Current wide receiver coach Marc Green holds the record at 85 set in the 2002 season.

Tops in the MIAA
Even though he did not play much vs. Missouri Western due to an illness, Marco Kirven is still the top runner in the MIAA. He is averging 109 yards per game and is just five yards ahead of Lee Thompson of CMSU. Kirven has 327 yards on 59 carries. He now has 2,332 career rushing yards and needs 1,560 yards to tie Lester Baker’s career record for rushing yards in a career.

Don’t Come My Way
Sophomore Michael Pearl has found a home on the defensive side of the ball. Last year, he came in as a wide receiver but halfway through the season the coaches switched him over to defense. Since that move, Pearl has had four interceptions.

Now being comfortable in that position, he leads the MIAA in passes defended. He has had four pass breakups and two interceptions to come away with a total of six. Gabriel Helms from NWMSU is second with five.

What a “Force"
Sophomore Klint King has been a force lately for the SBU defense. In three games, he has forced two fumbles. This ties him for the lead in the MIAA with Moses Manga (MSSU) and Ben Harness (NWMSU).

Finds The Ball
Cory McAdams has a nose for the ball. He can smell it when it comes loose as he has recovered two fumbles in three games. With this amount, he is tied for the top of the MIAA for fumbles recovered. Three other MIAA players have also recovered two fumbles.

NFL Watch
In his final season at SBU, senior L.V. Hill is being watched by the NFL scouts. Early on in spring practice, through summer, and now two-a-days, several NFL scouts have come to see what L.V. Hill is about. L.V. is a 6’5", 300 pound, offensive tackle that use to play tight end. Last year, he moved from tight end to strong tackle in the middle of the season because of injuries on the offensive line. Since that move, he has not left and was awarded 2003 all-MIAA honorable mention at the tackle spot.

Specs on L.V. Hill
4Squat 545
4Bench 400
4Clean 300
440 5.19
4Broad 9 ft.
4Pro I 5.2

Still “Trimble" ing
Freshman Josh Trimble has made some great plays in the first three games of his collegiate career. In three games, he has had three TFLs for eight yards. He is now averaging one TFL per game and that is good enough for fourth in the MIAA.

Playmaker
In his third collegiate game, freshman JoJo Rawls scored his first collegiate touchdown. He pushed in his first touchdown from two-yards out to give SBU a 21-14 lead at the 2:37 mark in the second quarter. On that drive, starting at the Missouri Western 28-yard line, Rawls had his hand in four of the five plays.

The drive started iwht a one-yard pass to Rawls followed by two straight runs by JoJo. He went 13 yards on the second play and the 11 yards on the third play of the drive to put SBU at the three-yard line. Clardy then got one yard on a rush and JoJo finished out the drive with a two-yard td plunge.

JoJo picked up 27 of the 28 yards of that drive to give SBU the lead.

Cracking Craig
Seniro Craig Edwards had a career day for the Bearcats against Missouri Western. He led the team with 10 tackles and picked off his first career interception. He also had two TFLs for four yards. Last year, he had 39 total tackles in eight games played. He is now second on the team in tackles with 21. He had four solos and six assisted tackles in the loss vs. Missouri Western.

Don’t Dock at This “Port"er
Seeing a lot of playing time against Missouri Western, freshman Zach Porter came away with seven tackles, a career high. He had three solos and four assisted tackles with one TFL. He also had one breakup.

For the season, he is fifth on the team in tackles with 16. He has three pass breakups and two TFL.

First Collegiate Tackle
Freshman Josh Hodges picked up his first collegiate tackle in the game against Missouri Western. The defensive tackle also saw his first action in a collegiate game.

Road Woes in Kansas
Southwest Baptist has had a hard time when it has come to playing on the road in Pittsburg, Kansas. SBU is 0-7 vs. the Gorillas on their field and have only had one close game in Pittsburg. This came in 1992 when PSU just slipped by, 31-28. That was the year that the Gorillas finished as the National Runners-up in NCAA Division II football. The last time SBU was at PIttsburg was in 2002 when PSU won 48-13.

Series in Pittsburg
1990 PSU 54, SBU 17
1992 PSU 31, SBU 28
1994 PSU 26, SBU 0
1996 PSU 49, SBU 20
1997 PSU 57, SBU 0
2000 PSU 69, SBU 7
2002 PSU 48, SBU 13