RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – A fortuitous bounce off the football on the first play from scrimmage did not go the way of Arkansas Tech and ended up being an unfortunate sign of things to come for Tech on Saturday night against top-10 ranked Ouachita.
That play was a short pass out to the left that was caught but quickly a fumble was forced by Tech's
Jordan Furtch. The misfortune for the Wonder Boys came in the ball squirting up field and being recovered in stride by the receiver who initially fumbled the ball. He then carried the ball down to the ATU 24-yardline to put Ouachita on the doorsteps of the first score of the game.
Two plays later, the unbeaten Tigers (3-0, 3-0 GAC) cashed in the opportunity and took a quick 7-0 lead.
The Wonder Boys (1-2, 1-2 GAC) would bounce back after that initial blow and put together a methodical 11-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 4:20 of game clock. That drive ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from
Taye Gatewood to
Joyrion Chase and knotted the score at seven-all.
Ouachita quickly answered back two plays into their second drive and scored on a short speed sweep pass that went 61 yards.
Tech's next drive stalled right at midfield and the Wonder Boys punted the ball to Ouachita down by a touchdown. The Tigers would engineer another quick scoring drive and after grabbing a two-score lead, took off from there.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Wonder Boys would score their second and final touchdown of the game on a 22-yard rush by
Devontae Dean.
The Wonder Boys will look to bounce back next week on the road where they will travel to Monticello to take on Arkansas-Monticello. Kick-off against the Boll Weevils is scheduled for 6 p.m.
