GAC

Reddies wake up in a foul mood

ARKADELPHIA - Before anyone forgets, East Central (Okla.) led Henderson State at one point Saturday afternoon.

It just couldn’t hold it.

Eighth-ranked Henderson State scored 42 consecutive points as it overcame a three point deficit in the second quarter on its way to a 63-31 Great American Conference victory before 4,533 at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.

“Really, they never stopped us,” Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield said. “It was ourselves stopping ourselves with the mistakes, but I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.”

The Reddies (4-0, 3-0) finished with 609 total yards while holding the Tigers to 335 yards. Henderson State quarterback Kevin Rodgers set a single-game school passing yardage record, completing 42 of 50 passes for 595 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Receiver Dustin Holland led the Reddies with 10 receptions for 126 yards, and Darius Davis had 100 yards and two scores to set the school record for career receiving touchdowns with 18.

“Our receivers, honestly, they just make it easy on me,” Rodgers said. “It’s unbelievable how great they are.”

East Central led 17-14 after one quarter, taking advantage of two Henderson State turnovers, but the second quarter belonged to the Reddies.

Rodgers hit Israel Valentin with a 32-yard scoring play for a 21-17 lead with 14:01 left, and Henderson State never trailed again. Ryan McDonald scored on a 29-yard run with 10:13 left in the half to make it 28-17, then the quick-strike Reddies put together their most time-consuming drive of the season.

The Reddies started at their 35 and went the distance in 4:41, scoring when Jaquan Cole ran 5 yards and lunged, stretching the ball across the goal line to make it 35-17 with 4:52 left.

“We play two-minute offense the entire game,” Maxfield said. “I think on all of our scoring drives this year our average time of possession has been like a 1:42, something like that. We’re pretty quick-strike, so time of possession doesn’t really play into what we do.”

Henderson scored again, quickly this time, after a shanked punt. A 41-yard completion from Rodgers to Davis made it 42-14 with 1:48 left. East Central drove to the Henderson State 37, but Reggie Dunnigan intercepted Spencer Bond at the 2 to end the threat and the Reddies ran out the clock.

“This group really wanted to run the ball, but they did a pretty nice job of throwing it tonight,” Maxfield said of East Central. “We kind of got them out of their game plan, and I think that’s always an advantage.”

Henderson State’s third-quarter points came on 2- and 1-yard touchdown runs by new short-yardage threat Keaton Stigger, a full-time linebacker. East Central scored on a 1-yard run by Bond with 1:04 left in the quarter, with the touchdown coming after an interception, one of four Henderson State turnovers on the day.

All of the turnovers led to East Central scores.

“We kind of got a little complacent and relaxed a little bit,” Maxfield said. “That’s something we need to talk about.”

East Central made it 56-31 with a 59-yard pass from Bond to David Moore in the fourth quarter, and Henderson State capped the scoring with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Justin Bradford that gave Rodgers his single-game school record.

SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 47, NW OKLAHOMA 14

Senior running back Mark Johnson had 12 carries for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns as Southern Arkansas (3-1, 3-1 Great American Conference) defeated Northwestern Oklahoma (0-4, 0-4) at Ranger Field in Alva, Okla.

Johnson scored on a 22-yard run with 4:45 left in the first quarter and on a 7-yard run with 13:58 left in the third quarter. The touchdowns allowed Johnson to set school records for most career points (228) and most career touchdowns (38).

He topped the previous touchdowns mark (37) set by receiver Nik Lewis (2000-03) and the points record (226) set by kicker Jason Williams (1998-2000).

Tyler Sykora threw a pair of touchdown passes as SAU built a 20-0 lead in the first half. He hit Paul Walker-Hall for a 28-yard touchdown and Jack Brown with a 25-yard touchdown pass.

The Muleriders used Johnson’s second touchdown and three more to build a 47-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Walker-Hall caught his second touchdown pass from Sykora, this one covering 5 yards, and backup quarterback Si Blackshire threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Tevin McDonald. Linebacker Alex Mills returned a fumble 15 yards for the Muleriders’ final touchdown.

SAU racked up 500 yards of total offense, 275 passing and 225 rushing, and the Muleriders defense held the Rangers to 230 yards of total offense (179 passing and 51 rushing).

OUACHITA BAPTIST 45, SE OKLAHOMA STATE 7

Ouachita Baptist (3-0, 3-0 Great American Conference) held Southeastern Oklahoma State (1-3, 1-3) scoreless until late in the fourth quarter as it cruised to an easy victory at A.U. Williams Field in Arkadelphia.

OBU took advantage of turnovers by Southeastern Oklahoma to turn the game into a rout. There was only a 6-yard difference in total offense, with Southeastern Oklahoma outgaining OBU 468 to 462, but the Savage Storm were done in by seven turnovers.

Southeastern Oklahoma’s first five drives in the game ended in turnovers, with three of them coming inside the OBU 20-yard line. That included an interception that OBU’s Devin Cousins returned 99 yards for a touchdown.

OBU led 24-0 going into halftime, with 21 of its points coming off Savage Storm turnovers.

The Tigers blew open the game with three touchdowns in the second quarter. In addition to Cousins’ interception return, Steven Kehner scored on a 1-yard run and De’Vontae Pope caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Benson Jordan.

Chris Rycraw scored on a 72-yard run to give OBU a 24-0 lead with 2:57 left in the third quarter, and the Tigers closed it out with two touchdowns in the final quarter. Drew White caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Kehner with 13:05 remaining, and Brandon Marks capped it with a 2-yard touchdown run with 5:38 left.

Rycraw finished with 134 yards on 14 carries. Jordan completed 14 of 19 passes for 166 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

Southeastern Oklahoma quarterback Nick Sioson completed 27 of 53 passes for 298 yards, but 4 interceptions undermined his performance. Kaymon Farmer caught 13 passes for 110 yards, and Anthony Foster had 7 catches for 109 yards.

David Wortham scored the Savage Storm’s lone touchdown on a 1-yard run with 14:23 left in the game.

SW OKLAHOMA STATE 35, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 17

Southwestern Oklahoma State (3-1, 3-1 Great American Conference) rolled up 587 yards of total offense as it defeated Arkansas-Monticello (2-2, 2-2) at Fast Lane Field in Weatherford, Okla.

The game was tied 14-14 going into halftime, but Southwestern Oklahoma took the lead on Dustin Stenta’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Teverick Boyd with 3:56 left in the third quarter and never trailed again.

Jamie McGee kicked a 38-yard field goal to pull the Boll Weevils within 21-17 with 14:50 left in the game, but Southwestern Oklahoma tacked on two more touchdowns to seal the victory.

Stenta threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Brian Robinson that made it 28-17 with 11:00 left, and Ryan Corbin’s 1-yard run capped the scoring with 4:39 left in the game.

Southwestern Oklahoma outgained UAM 233-25 in the fourth quarter.

Stenta completed 20 of 34 passes for 343 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. Corbin had 9 receptions for 158 yards, and Boyd finished with 4 receptions for 111 yards.

UAM quarterback Cody Trimble completed 17 of 25 passes for 140 yards and 2 touchdown passes, and Rod Smith led the Boll Weevils’ ground attack with 81 yards on 18 carries.

NICHOLLS STATE 44, ARKANSAS TECH 34

Tuskani Figaro threw three touchdowns, ran for 281 yards and two more scores and Nicholls State from the FCS Southland Conference beat Arkansas Tech in Thibodaux, La.

Nicholls State (3-2) led 37-27 with 7:39 left in the game but Arkansas Tech responded with a two-play scoring drive, including a Ketrich Harmon 55-yard run and a Jonathan Keener 5-yard touchdown.

Arkansas Tech (2-2) forced a threeand-out on Nicholls State’s next possession. Harmon had another long run, this time for 60 yards, but Randy Velazquez’s game-tying 39-yard field goal attempt was blocked with 1:35 left.

Two plays later, Figaro broke free for the game-clinching 88-yard touchdown.

Nicholls State led 14-0, but Arkansas Tech came back to tie it at 21-21 on a Darion Shine 57-yard interception return. On Nicholls State’s next possession, Carey Fortson caught a 10-yard touchdown with 7 seconds remaining and the Colonels led 27-21 at the half.

HARDING 63, SOUTHERN NAZARENE 21

Harding (2-1, 2-1 Great American Conference) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and was never threatened as it rolled past Southern Nazarene (0-4, 0-4) at First Security Stadium in Searcy.

Romo Westbrook and Alapeti Magalei ran for two touchdowns each as the Bisons piled up 505 yards rushing and 650 total yards while holding Southern Nazarene to 320 total yards.

Magalei finished with six carries for 77 yards and scored on runs of 26 and 23 yards, while Westbrook ran for 62 yards on six carries and scored on runs of 30 and 8 yards. Park Parish had 6 carries for a team-high 86 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown. Ty Finley gained 70 yards on his only carry, and Keenan Kellett had 5 carries for 53 yards and a 34-yard touchdown.

D’Nico Jackson Best also had 4 carries for 44 yards that included a 3-yard touchdown run.

Kellett also completed 2 for 4 passes for 60 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown pass to Donatella Luckett, and Jacob Moore completed 2 of 4 passes for 85 yards with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Alex Finley.

Southern Nazarene scored all three of its touchdowns in the third quarter, with Chris Hunter covering 1 and 4 yards for two of them.

NCAA DIVISION III HENDRIX 48, SOUTHWESTERN (TEXAS) 29

Seth Peters completed 22 of 32 passes for 244 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, Dayton Winn had 116 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, and Hendrix improved to 2-0 at Young-Wise Stadium with a victory over Southwestern (Texas) in Conway.

Peters also had 108 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The Warriors led 14-0 after one quarter before Southwestern pulled within 14-9 before halftime. It was 21-16 after the third quarter, but the Warriors used a 27-point fourth quarter to seal their second victory this season.

Hendrix outgained Southwestern 465-436.

Casey Caton caught 3 passes for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns.

SATURDAY’S GAMES Southern Arkansas 47, NW Okla. St. 14 Henderson St. 63, E. Central (Okla.) 31 Harding 63, Southern Nazarene 21 Nicholls State 44, Arkansas Tech 34 SW Okla. State 35, Ark.-Monticello 17 Ouachita Baptist 45, SE Okla. State 7 THURSDAY’S GAME All times Central Harding at Southern Arkansas, 7 p.m.

OCT. 5 Henderson State at NW Oklahoma State, 1 p.m.

Ouachita Baptist at SW Oklahoma State, 2 p.m.

Texas A&M-Commerce at SE Oklahoma State, 2 p.m.

Arkansas Tech at Ark.-Monticello, 3 p.m.

Southern Nazarene at East Central (Okla.), 4 p.m.

Sports, Pages 30 on 09/29/2013

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