TOPEKA, Kan.-- For only the second time in 115 meetings, 60 minutes was not enough to decide the game and for the second time the Washburn Ichabods came up short falling 34-31 in overtime to Emporia State in Yager Stadium. Washburn (4-5, 4-5 MIAA) will return to action next Saturday at Pittsburg State.

In the extra frame, the Hornets (5-4, 5-4 MIAA) won the coin toss and elected to be on defense first. Washburn converted a third and 15 from the ESU 30 to the Hornet 4-yard line after a 26-yard completion from Mitch Schurig to Jace Williams. Three carries by Will Evans moved the ball to the Hornet one, but a false start pushed it back to the six on a fourth down and forced Washburn to line up for a 23-yard field goal which Perry Schmiedeler hit to put the Ichabods up 31-28.

On the Hornets first play from scrimmage, they gained 17 yards on a rush up the middle and Braxton Marstall hit Justin Brown on an 8-yard touchdown pass for the game-ending touchdown and the 34-31 win. It was ESU's Brown who blocked a potential game-winning field goal by the Ichabods on the final play of regulation which sent the contest to the overtime period.

The Hornets scored the only points of the first quarter on a Marstall to Jordan Reed touchdown pass with 6:10 to play. The Ichabods tied it on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Schurig to James Brania-Hopp for the first of three touchdown catches by Brania-Hopp en route to a career-high 217 receiving yards on eight catches. His receiving total was tied for the fifth-best on the Ichabod single-game chart becoming only on of six Ichabods to have at least 200 receiving yards in a game. It also moved his season total to 992 yards looking to become the first Ichabod since DaJuan Beard to go over 1,000 yards in a season when Beard recorded 1,029 in 2011.

ESU would go up on the ensuing drive with 11:52 to play in the first half before Brania-Hopp caught his second touchdown catch of the day on an 18-yard grab tying the score at 14-14. Washburn took the lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Schurig to Marcus Meier with 2:53 to play in the first half staking the Ichabods to a 21-14 lead, but the Hornets returned serve with a score of their own to tie the game before the halftime horn sounded.

The Hornets took a 28-21 lead with 2:31 to go in the third quarter for the only points of the frame and on the second play of the fourth quarter, Brania-Hopp pulled down his third touchdown of the day wrapping up a 65-yard drive with 14:51 to play finishing the scoring before the overtime period.

Schurig finished with 397 yards passing a four scores completing 25 of 43 passes hitting nine different receivers on the afternoon. Will Hamilton had four catches for 66 yards. The 397 passing yards was a career high for Schurig and seventh on the Ichabod single-game chart.

On the ground, Curtis Whitten had seven carries for 31 yards and Schmiedeler converted a fake punt for a 31-yard gain setting up a score for the Ichabods.

Austin Tillman had 12 tackles to lead the Ichabod defense. Josh Wright, Corey Ballentine and Brooks Peavler each had six tackles with Ballentine adding an interception. Grant Bruner and Kevin Neal, Jr. also had interceptions for the Ichabod defense.

Washburn outgained the Hornets 526 to 524 and the teams combined for 1050 of total offense in the game. ESU ran 90 plays in the game compared to 81 for Washburn. On the ground, ESU outgained the Ichabods 151 to 129 and through the air the Ichabods had a 397 to 373 lead.