ARKADELPHIA — With less than three minutes left and his quarterback lying on the grass with an apparent shoulder injury, Ouachita Baptist Coach Todd Knight couldn’t help but think the bad breaks finally had gotten to his team.
The Tigers were already playing without nine starters because of injury, including eight who were injured against Arkansas Tech on Saturday, and their backup plan to sophomore quarterback Benson Jordan was a sophomore wide receiver.
But Ty Towers either handed off to Chris Rycraw or kept it himself for seven plays to set up a 31-yard field goal by Jason Fowler. Then the Tigers turned the Wonder Boys away at midfield after four plays netted minus-2 yards and the NCAA Division II No. 13 Ouachita Baptist escaped A.U. Williams Field with a 31-24 victory.
“We were playing guys that had never been on the field,” Knight said. “And we survived. I don’t know how. I still don’t know how.”
Along with the injuries — two offensive linemen, two safeties, a defensive tackle, a linebacker, a wide receiver and a quarterback all went down Saturday — Ouachita Baptist (3-0, 1-0 Great American Conference) gave Arkansas Tech (1-3, 0-2) ample opportunity with four turnovers to steal a victory and avoid having its losing streak reach three games.
But a Ouachita Baptist defense that entered having allowed 110 yards per game, tops in Division II, made sure three of the turnovers didn’t yield any points.
“Missed opportunities,” Arkansas Tech Coach Steve Mullins said of his team’s inability to create more than one score off the four turnovers.
The only time the Wonder Boys took advantage was after Andreveus Brandon’s interception of a Jordan pass early in the third quarter. A 40-yard pass from Tanner Marsh to Darrell Freeman cut the lead to 21-10.
The three fumbles Arkansas Tech recovered turned into two punts and the Wonder Boys being stopped short of the goal line on fourth-andgoal from the 1.
Down 14-3, Arkansas Tech recovered a Brett Reece fumble at its 43 and Marsh drove the Wonder Boys to a first-and-goal from the OBU 4. Three runs got the Wonder Boys to the 1, but on fourth down, Marsh couldn’t score on a draw from the Shotgun.
Then, Jordan, who was 22 of 30 passing for 219 yards before getting hurt, drove the Tigers 99 yards in 3:23. He completed 9 of 11 passes for 95 yards on the drive and Rycraw ran in from the 1 as Ouachita Baptist went up 21-3 with 14 seconds left in the half.
Mullins said he wasn’t concerned at halftime with what a sudden change in events did to his team’s psyche — he was too busy berating the offense for not scoring when it had the chance and the defense for giving up the long drive.
“I was too angry to be afraid,” Mullins said. “It was equal opportunity at halftime. The offense has got to punch that in and all of a sudden it’s 14-10.”
But the Wonder Boys couldn’t, and though they got within 21-17 on Freeman’s touchdown and 28-24 on Marsh’s 44-yard run in the fourth quarter, their failure to capitalize cost them a chance at the upset.
Knight said afterward he wasn’t sure of the severity of Jordan’s injury, but Jordan listened to Knight’s postgame speech on the field with his right arm in a sling.
“I don’t know yet,” Knight said. “I hope he’s OK.”
If he’s not, Knight knows at least that Towers can gain a few yards if needed. Towers, who took 15 snaps at quarterback in a victory at Stillman two weeks ago, gained 13 yards on his five carries on the final drive, and Rycraw, who finished with 130 yards and 2 touchdowns, gained 14 after Jordan went down.
Most important, neither committed another turnover that would have given Arkansas Tech another shot at an upset.
“It was just, keep the clock running and get first downs,” Towers said of his directions. “Injuries have really hurt us this year ... but I think all the guys have trust in each other to get the job done.”
HENDERSON STATE 56, SE OKLAHOMA STATE 20
ARKADELPHIA — Kevin Rodgers completed 15 of 28 passes for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns as Henderson State (4-0, 2-0) handled Southeastern Oklahoma State (1-2, 0-2) at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.
Rodgers threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Elliot Hebert in the second quarter and completed a 75-yard scoring pass to Darius Davis in the third quarter. Hebert finished with 100 yards receiving on two receptions.
The Reddies, who had a season-low 348 yards, led 29-0 at halftime.
Southeastern Oklahoma State totaled 573 yards of offense. Jercolby Bradley led the Savage Storm with 94 yards on 24 carries and 2 touchdowns and finished 24 of 35 passing for 211 yards and threw 1 interception.
HARDING 42, SOUTHERN NAZARENE 13
BETHANY, Okla. — D’Nico Jackson-Best ran for 103 yards on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns and Harding (3-0) routed Southern Nazarene (0-4) in a nonconference game at SNU Football Stadium.
Jackson-Best scored on runs of 11 and 5 yards for the Bisons, who have won three consecutive road games to open the season and are 3-0 for the first time since 2004.
Harding rushed for 441 yards, its fifthhighest total in program history, on a school-record 79 rushing attempts and scored 5 touchdowns on the ground.
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 35, SW OKLAHOMA STATE 34
MAGNOLIA — Sophomore defensive back Demario Thomas’ 56-yard fumble recovery return late in the fourth quarter set up Southern Arkansas’ winning touchdown with quarterback Tyler Sykora passing 9 yards to fullback Carlos Brown to lift the Muleriders (3-0, 2-0) over Southwestern Oklahoma State (1-2, 1-1). Sykora completed 24 of 36 passes for 281 yards and 5 touchdowns and threw 1 interception.
EAST CENTRAL (OKLA.) 31, ARK.-MONTICELLO 17
ADA, Okla. — Titus Mobley rushed for 130 yards and one touchdown to lead East Central (Okla.) past Arkansas-Monticello. Trailing 20-17, the Boll Weevils (1-3, 0-2) had a chance to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Damon Wicker’s pass was intercepted, which set up the Tigers’ offense at the UAM 20. The Tigers went up 26-17 three plays later on a 10-yard run by Mobley, but missed the extra-point attempt. A high punt snap forced UAM’s Reagan Wise to kick the ball out of the end zone to extend East Central’s lead to 28-17. The Tigers added a 34-yard field goal from Brian Gonzalez with 3:12 left.
Sports, Pages 38 on 09/23/2012