Week Five Game Notes - Randy Savage Edition

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys football team will face one of the tallest challenges of the 2018 season this coming Saturday, when the Wonder Boys travel to Arkadelphia for a matchup with nationally seventh-ranked Ouachita Baptist.

Kickoff from Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia is set for noon. Live audio, video, and statistics is available at www.arkansastechsports.com.

The Wonder Boys staged a fierce rally to overcome an early deficit in a rain-soaked contest with Southern Nazarene last weekend, winning 24-10 and pulling their record to 2-2 on the season. 

The Tigers have been, in a word, dominant. OBU enters Saturday's game with a perfect 4-0 record and has outscored opponents 144-45 through those four games, and 83-8 in home games. The Tigers are coming off a 42-0 shutout win over East Central, and have a pair of blowout wins to go alongside a season-opening 29-21 escape of Alva and a 32-16 win over Southeastern Oklahoma that saw the Savage Storm lead into the fourth quarter before OBU scored 18 unanswered points to pick up the win.

The OBU trio of Kris Oliver, Shun'cee Thomas, and Brockton Brown average 279 yards per game on the ground - third nationally and second in the GAC. The play of Brayden Brazeal under center has nicely complimented OBU's running game, as he has completed 65 percent of his passes this season without throwing an interception. Defensively, OBU has given up just 129 yards on the ground and 153 yards in the air per game. 

For the Wonder Boys, quarterback Carter Burcham has settled in as the starter at quarterback and has led the Wonder Boys to a pair of wins the last two weeks. Bryan Allen returned to form with his 175-yard performance last week and is fourth all-time in both the Arkansas Tech and GAC record books for career rushing yardage, sitting 563 yards behind Larry Brown (1968-71) for first all-time at Tech and 413 yards behind Southeastern Oklahoma's Devlon Wortham for first all-time in the GAC. 

Allen would need to average 80.6 yards per game down the stretch to break the Tech record and just over 59 yards per game to break the GAC record. 

Defensively, KJ Reid has notched a team-best 51 tackles through four games, while Cua' Rose and Andrew Craig have also proven to be potent.