September 6th, 2025 11:30pm
EDMOND – Central Oklahoma beat Pittsburg State 27-24 Saturday night to start the MIAA season with a victory.
The Bronchos led most of the game, broke a 24-24 tie with 14:50 to play in the fourth quarter, and its defense held firm the rest of the way. Pitt State had a chance to tied the game with 23 seconds remaining but missed a 30-yard field goal attempt and UCO knelt down in victory formation.
"Proud of our guys for battling and so proud of our defense," UCO head coach Adam Dorrel said. "We had to fight through a lot tonight and we found a way. Our defense was great and we needed every bit of it."
Central Oklahoma in the fourth quarter got an interception from Antwan Gilbreath, then forced punts on back-to-back possessions before holding the Gorillas to the field goal attempt in the final seconds. Central forced seven punts in the game and another field goal attempt earlier.
The UCO offense put up 396 yards of offense with 215 coming on the ground. Jaylen Cottrell had 131 yards on 10 carries, including a 66-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
UCO quarterback Jett Huff was 4-for-6 with 44 yards, but on his second incomplete pass was an interception. The play resulted in all sorts of chaos. Huff was hit when he threw and knocked out of the game. Pitt State intercepted the pass, but then fumbled the return. UCO offensive lineman Montriel Lee recovered the fumble and ran five yards into the end zone for a touchdown to make it 14-0 with 1:59 to play in the opening quarter.
Clayton Creasey played the rest of the game at quarterback and went 12-for-23 with 137 yards, including a long of 54 yards. Creasey also scrambled for a 22-yard touchdown run.
Zayden Martinez led UCO in receiving yards with 54 on the one catch from Creasey. Ashton Schumann had five catches for 52 yards.
Braden Waters led Central Oklahoma with 10 tackles and Johnny Wilson made nine stops, including three in the backfield, one of which was a sack. UCO had six tackles in the backfield, including Wilson's sack.
Central Oklahoma went ahead 7-0 on Cottrell's run, then 14-0 on Lee's fumble recovery touchdown. Joseph Kim put the Bronchos up 17-3 with 5:11 to play in the second on a 37-yard field goal. The game was 17-16 at halftime.
Creasey made it 24-16 with his 22-yard run in the third, and Kim put in the game-winner with 14:50 to play in the fourth to make it 27-24.
The win snapped a trend in the series. UCO beat Pitt for the first time since 2015 and won in Edmond for the first time since 1968 (nine meetings).
UCO is off next week and will host Washburn on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Chad Richison Stadium.