Griffons shift focus to Washburn
By Jacob Meikel
Missouri Western football is putting the bad taste of a tough loss from over the weekend in the past, but taking away the positives of a well-fought battle for the future.
The Griffons found themselves on the doorstep of an upset in Emporia, Kansas, this past weekend by pushing No. 13 Emporia State into overtime. Western had its opportunity to win in the first overtime, but fell short 30-27. The down mood following the loss was something that had carried over into the team meetings on Sunday according to head coach Tyler Fenwick, but also the physical exhaustion of a lengthy game carried over.
“Defense plays 102 snaps, and it’s 90 degrees out, and the offense plays 82 snaps, and it’s just a lot of back-and-forth and emotionally draining,” Fenwick said. “We kind of altered some things [Sunday] to make sure that we can just recover and get our minds right so that we can have good practices this week.”
The Griffon defense put forth its best effort to keep the pressure on the offense of Emporia State in order to give the team its best chance to win on Saturday. Emporia quarterback Gunnar Gundy, who attempted 74 passes on Saturday, was sacked four times by the Griffon defense. Junior defensive lineman for Western Grant Finley recorded a team-high two sacks on the day. Finley echoed the same testament as Fenwick on Monday when asked about the grind of a lengthy football game over the weekend.
“It’s tough,” Finley said. “Legs are feeling heavy, people are breathing heavy, but we practiced for that all week. They were tired too. It wasn’t like it was just us getting beat down. We were bringing it to them quite a lot too.”
On 4th and 1 in the first overtime and trailing by three against the Hornets, Western opted to go for it on fourth down rather than attempting a field goal to tie and extend the game. Junior running back Jayden Williams slipped out of the backfield on the play, freeing himself up for quarterback Kody Kirk to loft it over defenders to where Williams could catch the ball for the game-winning score, but Williams couldn’t haul in the pass. As heartbreaking of a moment that was for the junior, Fenwick still feels the trust in Williams to come up big when the team may need him most in the future.
“I would put him in that situation again and we will put him in those situations,” Fenwick said about Williams.
Western will turn its focus to Washburn, as the Ichabods will make the trip to St. Joseph this Saturday for a contest with the Griffons. Washburn is still looking for its first win of the season.
