RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – In a game where each team's offense was methodical, hard to get off the field and putting up points, the Arkansas Tech football team made defensive stops and forced turnovers when it mattered the most in their 48-35 win over Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.
Tied at 28-all at the half with over 600 yards of combined offense, the third quarter saw things settle down somewhat as the Wonder Boys (2-3, 2-3 GAC) and Crimson Storm (1-4, 1-4 GAC) traded methodical scoring drives that ate up over 12 minutes of game clock.
The Wonder Boys were the first to get the ball in the second half after SNU won the opening coin toss and elected to receive the ball. On that drive, the Wonder Boys would rattle off 12 plays and consumed just over seven minutes of clock.
During that drive, the Wonder Boys converted a 4
th and-1 from their own 34-yardline and later converted a 3
rd-and-8 from the 50-yardline. The third-down conversion was a 35-yard pass completion from
Jack Grissom, who was making his first start as quarterback as a Wonder Boy, to
Joyrion Chase, bringing the ball all the way down to the SNU 15-yardline.
From there, the Wonder Boys ran the ball three times and got all the way down to the SNU 7-yardline before being forced to attempt a field goal following a false start on what was a 4
th-and-2 from the 7-yardline.
Jesus Zizumbo was good on the 29-yard attempt, giving the Wonder Boys a 31-28 lead with 7:52 to play in the third quarter.
SNU got the ball back and went on an 8-play, 74-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown. The drive chewed up just over five minutes of game clock and dropped the time left in the third quarter to 2:39.
On the ensuing kickoff return,
Adam Cousins burst through would-be tacklers and had a return of 36 yards to get the ball near midfield for the Wonder Boys.
The Wonder Boys then began working on scoring drive themselves to flip the lead back in their favor. This drive, which covered 58 yards on nine plays leaked into the fourth quarter and ended with a six-yard rush by
Deon Simmons with 13:28 left on the clock.
Poised to continue to trade blows in a shootout, the Wonder Boys got the ball to break their way on defense on SNU's ensuing drive.
After a modest five-yard rush on the first play of the drive, the Crimson Storm called on a wide receiver sweep run, but Kolbe Branch was unable to secure the ball on the exchange and shortly after fumbled after contact by
Ben Stegall. Tech's
Matt Arnold picked up the fumble and returned it to the SNU 25-yardline.
With momentum and a short field to play with, the Wonder Boys had eyes on building a double-digit lead should they find the endzone. Unfortunately, the drive stalled at the SNU 14-yardline and the Wonder Boys were forced to settle for another field goal attempt by Zizumbo.
This time, he was good from 31 yards to give the Wonder Boys a six-point lead, 41-35, with an even 10 minutes on the clock.
Following a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, the Crimson Storm started their next drive at their own 25-yardline.
A pair of rushes by QB Gage Porter, who was extremely difficult to stop in the running game up to that point, had it 3
rd-and-2 from the SNU 33-yardline. Here is where the game flipped for good in favor of the Wonder Boys.
On that play, Porter received the snap, faked an inside hand off, spun around and attempted to pitch the ball out to his halfback. However, Tech's
De'Veyon Smith did a great job getting up field and was virtually unblocked allowing him to get in-between and come away with the fumble recovery.
With no one around, Smith was able to take the recovery for a 25-yard house call. Following the good extra point by Zizumbo, suddenly the Wonder Boys had a 13-point lead, 48-35, with 8:21 remaining.
The game truly put away the next possession as the Wonder Boys forced the Crimson Storm to punt thanks to a holding penalty and back-to-back sacks that pushed SNU all the way back their own 30-yardline after getting into Tech territory on just two plays to start their drive.
With tbe ball back and 4:10 left on the clock, the Wonder Boys kept the ball on the ground to salt the game down before being able to get in victory formation.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a road game next week at Oklahoma Baptist. Kick-off against the Bison is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Shawnee.
