BY MAKENNA ALLEN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It\u2019s a happy homecoming for Tiger Football fans as the team returns from Edmond, Ok. with a winning record for the first time this season. The Tigers now stand 3-2 after defeating the University of Central Oklahoma 35-7 last Saturday. It is with mounting confidence that the team prepares to face their next opponent: the Emporia State University Hornets.
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This weekend\u2019s game at Lewis Field Stadium comes with all of the traditional homecoming festivities. The fun and games are of no concern for Tiger football players, however. Every game is about stepping up and playing hard for the victory. There\u2019s no room to spare if the Tigers plan to head to the playoffs this season.
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Though the Homecoming 2019 game is just another step in the direction of that goal, head coach, Chris Brown, suggests that the matchup against the Hornets will not be an easy one.
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Stats:<\/strong> Emporia currently sits 2-3 for the season. However, Brown feels that the record is not necessarily a reflection of the team\u2019s play. \u201cThey\u2019re a good football team,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey could be sitting here easily at 4-1.\u201d Unfortunately for the Hornets, last week\u2019s 34-23 loss to Northwest Missouri State pushed the team farther from that record. Despite the ultimate loss, Emporia put up a fight against the 5-0 Northwest. In fact, the Hornets took an early lead over the Bearcats. Though they were not able to hang on to that lead, Emporia managed to hold their opponent to 18-points and 200-yards below their season averages. This success is perhaps a testament to the strength of the Hornets defense. Indeed, this portion of the team holds the majority of the returners for the 2019 season. They also play a form of coverage that is Brown\u2019s primary concern. \u201cI think that\u2019s probably what they rely on most, is their defense,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think they\u2019re banking on their defense keeping them in the game and hopefully their offense can make some plays and get up on you.\u201d Accordingly, quarterback, Chance Fuller, and his offense are preparing for something new. \u201cThey do a lot of different stuff that we really haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cThey do a lot of different coverages and move around a lot and they\u2019re always in the right place. They always do their job.\u201d A strong defense isn\u2019t the only asset for Emporia. Some of the team\u2019s other strengths lie in it\u2019s individual players. Key Players:<\/strong> This week, the Tigers must keep an eye on the Hornet\u2019s quarterback, Dalton Cowan. During the game against Northwest Missouri, Cowan passed for 156-yards. Though this figure is far less than Fuller\u2019s 310-yards and five touchdown passes against UCO, Cowan proved his mobility as he rushed 13 times for 24-yards. For Brown, this ability is something that the defense needs to note. \u201cWe just need to get to him and make sure we secure the tackle, take a great angle,\u201d Brown said. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s the same thing we did last week. Don\u2019t let them get out, keep them in the pocket, keep them contained and make them throw under pressure. If we can do that, stress them a little bit, I think our secondary can have a good day.\u201d Cowan isn\u2019t the only integral piece of the Hornet\u2019s offense. The team also looks to wide receivers, Cole Schumacher and Will Amos, to put points on the board. Last week, Schumacher had five receptions and a touchdown while Amos had five catches and 40-yards of his own. Overall, Brown recognizes that the key to the game this weekend will be the patience of his Tiger players. \u201cThey don\u2019t give up the big play,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to make you earn everything. It\u2019s just our guys being patient and understanding that we\u2019re going to have to earn everything that we get this week.\u201d Where to Watch:<\/strong> It may be difficult for Tiger fans to maintain their own patience amid the atmosphere of Homecoming 2019. However, it is this excitement that Fuller believes helps to drive the team. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome just walking out and seeing all of the people and they\u2019re so loud,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun and it definitely helps us.\u201d So come out to Lewis Field Stadium to help build the Tiger confidence while having some fun at homecoming. Tailgating begins at 5:00 p.m. and kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.. BY MAKENNA ALLEN It\u2019s a happy homecoming for Tiger Football fans as the team returns from Edmond, Ok. with a winning record for the first… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":49208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3387,7349],"tags":[208,12069,98,13211,13210,9062,7827,69,604,106,432,186,12003,8743,1979,526,103,2046,290,13212],"class_list":["post-49207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sports","category-sports","tag-central-oklahoma","tag-chance-fuller","tag-chris-brown","tag-cole-schumacher","tag-dalton-cowan","tag-emporia","tag-emporia-state-university","tag-fhsu","tag-fhsu-athletics","tag-fort-hays-state-university","tag-homecoming","tag-lewis-field-stadium","tag-makenna-allen","tag-northwest-missouri","tag-tiger-athletics","tag-tiger-football","tag-tiger-media-network","tag-tigermedia","tag-tmn","tag-will-amos"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/B95A8357.jpg?fit=4526%2C3017&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49209,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49207\/revisions\/49209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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