Bronchos Battle No. 1 PSU Tough

9/8/2012 9:31:00 PM

Joshua Birmingham

Game Statistics

PITTSBURG, Kan. (Sept. 8) – There is no such thing as a moral victory in the eyes of Central Oklahoma head coach Nick Bobeck, but such could be the case after the Bronchos gave top-ranked Pittsburg State plenty of anxious moments in a 34-19 loss here Saturday night.

The Bronchos never backed down from the defending national champions who were playing their home opener before a crowd of 10,754, dominating the third quarter in rallying within 24-12 heading into the final period after trailing 17-0 early.

In the end, however, PSU had too much firepower.

“We came here with the intention of winning the football game and we're disappointed that didn't happen,” Bobeck said. “We played well at times on both sides of the ball, but weren't consistent enough and made some mistakes that you can't make against a team like Pitt State.

“At the same time, I think we made quite a bit of progress from our first game and our kids played extremely hard the entire game.”

UCO fell behind 17-0 early in the second quarter and was down 24-7 at halftime before dominating the third quarter in making it 24-12, but the Gorillas scored early in the fourth period to take a 31-12 lead that proved to be insurmountable.

Central limited the high-powered PSU attack to minus-17 yards in the third stanza, with the defense scoring two points on a safety when a fumble went out of the end zone while the offense managed just three points on two drives deep in Gorilla territory.

The Bronchos had one promising drive end on a failed fourth-and-one run at the PSU 20 and was forced to settle for a chip-shot field goal after another possession stalled at the two.

Adrian Nelson had a 21-yard pass to Tucker Holland and Joshua Birmingham ripped off a 19-yard run to key the second drive that reached a first-and-goal at the three before two Nelson runs and an incomplete pass netted one yard and forced the Bronchos to send Chris Robbs on for a 19-yard field goal at the 2:47 mark.

That made it 24-12 and got UCO back in the game, but PSU regained breathing room when it opened the final period with a quick-strike touchdown drive to go up 31-12 with 11:07 left to play.

The Bronchos responded, going 72 yards in seven plays to again draw within 12 points. Nelson passes of 16 and 27 yards to Daniel Morrell powered that drive before Birmingham capped it with a four-yard run on a quick pitch-out around the right side.

Robbs' PAT made it 31-19 with 7:19 remaining and the Gorillas came back with a field goal drive to go ahead 34-19 at 2:29 and finally seal the win.

The Gorillas (2-0) racked up 498 total yards (296 passing, 202 rushing) in handing UCO its second straight Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association setback to start the season.

UCO finished with 336 yards, getting 122 rushing from Birmingham in 19 attempts and 191 on 18-of-35 passing from Nelson. Safety Brad Harmon led the defense with 10 tackles, while tackle Sam Moses had eight tackles with a sack.

The Bronchos got off to a tough start and didn't make a first down in the opening quarter while managing just 12 yards in 12 plays as the Gorillas grabbed a 10-0 lead. That became 17-0 five plays into the second period before UCO finally got its offense untracked, thanks to amazing individual efforts by Birmingham and Derrick Ingram.

Birmingham ripped off a 55-yard run on the first play after the kickoff, with the junior running back breaking a tackle immediately after taking the hand off before getting down the sideline and racing down to the PSU five-yard-line.

A procedure penalty pushed the Bronchos back to the 10 and on first down from there quarterback Adrian Nelson lofted a pass to Ingram in the end zone. Two PSU defenders were there to tip the ball up as Ingram fell down, but the senior tight end managed to catch the ball while on the ground for the touchdown at the 13:02 mark.

The Gorillas pushed their lead to 24-7 late in the period and UCO threatened to cut into that with a drive that reached the PSU 25, but Nelson was intercepted at the 19 with 1:25 left.

Four passes and a reverse quickly moved the Gorillas to a first-and-goal at the UCO four in the final seconds before Brandon Williams came through with a huge defensive play, picking off an Anthony Abenoja pass at the goal line and returning it 29 yards to keep the Bronchos within 24-7 at the break.

PSU scored on its opening possession of the game to go ahead 7-0 and threatened the next two times it had the ball, but UCO's defense rose up both times to hold the Gorillas to three points.

Moses and Herbert Byrd teamed up to throw quarterback Anthony Abenoja for a two-yard loss on a fourth-and-one-play at the UCO 38-yard-line to stop one drive, with the Bronchos forcing the Gorillas to settle for a 28-yard field goal the next time after PSU had reached a first down at the Broncho 18.

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