RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech football team has now won consecutive games as the Wonder Boys defended their home turf in thrilling and dramatic fashion on Saturday afternoon out at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field and beat visiting Oklahoma Baptist by a score of 38-35.
 
The theatrics played out over the final five minutes of the fourth quarter with Oklahoma Baptist scoring two touchdowns over a span of just over two minutes to flip a 10-point deficit into a four-point lead with 2:22 left to play.
 
Following that last score by the Bison (3-3, 3-3 GAC), the Wonder Boys (2-4, 2-4 GAC) benefited from offsetting penalties on the ensuing kickoff. On that play, Tech's Drew Wade managed to get the ball to the Tech 25-yardline but a hold occurred on the play. Fortunately, the Bison were flagged for a facemask on the same play, so the penalties off-set and Oklahoma Baptist re-kicked.
 
On the second kickoff, the Wonder Boys got a tremendous return from Wade as he carried the ball all the way to the Tech 41-yardline. That setup the Wonder Boys for what turned out to be their final offensive drive of the game.
 
To that point, the Wonder Boys' offense had been clicking and had already gained over 400 yards of total offense, which was a season-high. Now suddenly trailing by four points, they faced 59 more yards to gain in order to score a potential go-ahead touchdown.
 
Within three plays of that drive start, the Wonder Boys were inside the 10-yardline with goal-to-go. The play that put them within striking distance was a 39-yard pass from Jack Lindsey to Joyrion Chase. On the first play inside the 10-yardline, Lindsey kept the ball and gained five yards to get the ball down to the four-yardline. The Wonder Boys then brought in former prep QB-turned tight end, Jordan Edington, into the game to receive the direct snap.
 
Edington's initial try for the goalline fell two yards short to set up a 3^rd-and-2 from the 2-yardline. Edington's number was called once more, and this time, he was able to barrel his way into the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown with just 42 seconds left.
 
Now the Wonder Boys once more led, but were giving the ball back to a generally prolific offense commanded by 2019 GAC Offensive Player of the Year, Preston Haire, so Oklahoma Baptist had a puncher's chance over the final seconds of the game.
 
The first play of the drive was a 20-yard pass that brought the ball to the Oklahoma Baptist 45-yardline. Harie then came up empty on his next two passes to make it a 3^rd-and-10. The next throw was completed for a gain of 17 yards to bring the ball to the Arkansas Tech 38-yardline and also push Haire's passing total just over 300 yards to 305.
 
With time in favor of the Wonder Boys, they continued to bring pressure on Haire and forced two more incomplete passes to set up the final play of the game with just five seconds left on the clock.
 
On that play, the Wonder Boys got pressure on Haire with just linemen and forced him out of the pocket to his left. Having to adjust his body to get into position to throw, the Wonder Boys closed in on Haire and got a hit on him as he was throwing the ball up. That pressure forced Haire to severely under throw the ball and when it hit the turf, the clock had nothing but zeros; giving the Wonder Boys the thrilling victory.
 
While the final four minutes or so of action ended up dictating the final result, the game began to be decided in the few minutes across the end of the first quarter and start of the second quarter.
 
Prior to that, Oklahoma Baptist had jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. With just 22 seconds left in the first quarter, the Wonder Boys cracked the scoreboard for the first time on a 41-yard field goal by Jesus Zizumbo.
 
Following that, the Wonder Boys were able to force the Bison to punt, giving the ball back to Tech with 12:32 left in the second quarter. The very first play of the Tech drive was one of the turning points of the game as Jack Lindsey connected with freshman wideout Mason Ross for a 79-yard touchdown to suddenly pull the Wonder Boys within four points, 14-10. That pass play was the longest of the season for the Wonder Boys.
 
Oklahoma Baptist answered back with a score on their next drive, but a methodical 17-play, 86-yard touchdown drive followed by the Wonder Boys. The final play of that marathon drive was a six-yard rush by Lindsey and made the score 21-17 in favor of Oklahoma Baptist heading into the locker room.
 
After winning the coin toss and electing to receive, the Wonder Boys had to send the opening kickoff of the second half to the Bison.
 
The Wonder Boys were able to make that initial drive result in nothing for the Bison and even ended with an interception in the endzone by Darryn Cain on a 4^th-and-16 play from the ATU 33-yardline. Tech was unable to do anything with the ensuing drive and punted the ball back to Oklahoma Baptist.
 
The following drive proved to have another turning point play as on a punt attempt by the Bison, the snap was high and set the Wonder Boys up with tremendous field position at the Oklahoma Baptist 24-yardline. Two plays later, the Wonder Boys made the miscue payoff as Lindsey connected with Trey Smith for a 24-yard touchdown, giving the Wonder Boys their first lead of the game, 24-21.
 
Early in the fourth quarter, Tech pushed that lead out to 10 points on a five-yard Lindsey touchdown pass to Luke Curtis.
 
After that, the aforementioned thrilling theatrics played out.
 
Statistically, the Wonder Boys enjoyed their best overall performance on the offensive side of the ball as they totaled 469 yards of offense wtjh a season-high 382 coming in the air and 83 on the ground. Individually, Lindsey threw for 382 yards on 31-of-42 passing. He also threw for three touchdowns and added a rushing score to account for four TDs.
 
On the receiving end of Lindsey's passes were eight different receivers. Trey Smith caught the most passes with 10, but Mason Ross and Joyrion Chase had the most yards as each went over the century mark. For Smith, his 10 catches were the most in a game since September 4, 2011 when A.J. Whitmore had 11 receptions vs. Arkansas-Monticello.
 
The Wonder Boys will now look to carry the momentum even further next Saturday as they will hit the road and travel to El Dorado to take part in the annual Murphy USA Classic. The Wonder Boys' opponent in that game will be Southern Arkansas. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.