ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Riding a three-game winning streak heading into a road game at No. 14-ranked Ouachita Baptist, the Arkansas Tech football team rose to the challenge and narrowly pulled off a stellar upset of the Tigers. A late fourth-quarter touchdown by Ouachita, however, broke a 24-all tie with just under three minutes left in regulation and proved to be the difference in the outcome.
Despite the final result, the Wonder Boys had a lot to hang their hats on in their performance against the Tigers, namely the success in the passing game and their overall success defensively.
On defense, the Wonder Boys limited the generally potent Ouachita offense to below-average outcomes in total offense and points. Coming into the game, the Tigers were averaging 411.0 yards of total offense per game and 39.4 points per game. On Saturday against the Wonder Boys, Ouachita was held to 366 yards of total offense and 31 points. The total offense was the third-lowest of the season for Ouachita and their points tied for the second-lowest.
For the Wonder Boys, their 290 passing yards were the second-most this season. Senior quarterback
Taye Gatewood accounted for all of the passing yards to set a new career-high.
The success in the passing game also showed up in situational efficiency as the Wonder Boys were able to keep drives alive with key pass completions. On Saturday, Tech was 8-of-17 on third down and a perfect 4-of-4 on fourth down. That helped them control the ball and have a higher time of possession than the Tigers.
The Wonder Boys were also efficient in their scoring when they had the ball as they were 3-of-3 in scoring when in the Red Zone (inside the Ouachita 20-yardline).
All of what prevailed in the game showed up from the outset for the Wonder Boys.
On their very first possession after receiving the opening kick-off, the Wonder Boys methodically engineered an 11-play touchdown drive that consumed the first five and a half minutes of the game clock. In that drive alone, the Wonder Boys converted three third-down attempts with two coming as big gains in the passing game. The first was a 26-yard strike to
Jordan Edington and the second a 31-yard connection with
Matthew Rivera.
The third of the third-down conversion was a three-yard rush up the middle by Edington. He later punched it in from a yard out for the touchdown, giving him his 17
th career rushing TD. Later in the game, Edington would add another rushing score, pushing his career total to 18.
After Tech's initial drive, the two teams traded three-and-out stops defensively. The last of those gave the ball back to Ouachita at their own 32-yardline with 2:57 left to play in the first quarter. The quarter would end with an incompletion on third down as the Tigers were held scoreless in the first quarter for the second time this season.
Early in the second quarter, the Tigers got the break they were desperately searching for with an interception that gave them possession near midfield. Not long after, the Tigers converted the takeaway into points to tie the score at 7-all.
The Wonder Boys responded on their ensuing drive and once more converted some key third-down tries as they pushed the ball all the way down to the Ouachita five-yardline. At that spot and 3
rd-and-1, the Wonder Boys ran a wildcat play, but the Tigers were able to snuff it out and forced a loss of a yard. Tech then opted for the points on 4
th-and-2 and
Austin Hosier made good on the subsequent 24-yard field goal.
With just over four minutes to go in the first half, the Tigers got the ball back and effectively used up nearly all of that time before scoring a go-ahead touchdown with just six seconds left. That sent the game to halftime with Ouachita leading, 14-10.
Winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, the Tigers would receive the second-half kickoff and were looking to go up by two scores. The Wonder Boys defense, however, would make a stand and forced the Tigers to attempt a 30-yard field goal. The kick was true and through, bumping the Tigers' lead out to seven points, 17-10.
Yet again, the Wonder Boys had the return shot in their arsenal, and thanks to a major fourth-down conversion, were able to tie the game up at 17-all on a 21-yard TD reception by
Caleb Tanis that came on the very next play. The big conversion that allowed for the Tanis TD was a 14-yard pass from Gatewood to running back
Deuce Wise as he flared out from the backfield.
The Tech defense then forced the Tigers to make their fourth punt of the game.
The ensuing Tech possession carried over from the third quarter to the fourth quarter with the Wonder Boys on the doorsteps of Ouachita's land of milk and honey.
Starting the fourth quarter with 1
st-and-goal at the Ouachita 3-yardline, the Wonder Boys would hand the ball to Edington three-straight times before he cashed in his aforementioned second rushing touchdown of the game to give Tech the lead once more, 24-17.
Ouachita responded with an 11-play touchdown drive to tie the score with just over nine minutes left to go in the fourth quarter. The Tigers' defense then forced a timely three-and-out to get the ball back just over two minutes later.
On that ensuing drive, the Tigers had a couple of big passing plays to help them down the field. The biggest of those came on 3
rd-and-8 from the Tech 40-yardline as the Tigers connected for a 29-yard completion. Two plays later, the Tigers punched in the go-ahead touchdown leaving 2:49 on the clock.
Needing a touchdown to pull even with Ouachita, the Wonder Boys faced quite a bit of adversity on the drive, but rose to the occasion each time. Twice they faced fourth down, and each time converted. Both were big plays in the air as Gatewood connected with
Jordan Jackson for 26 yards on 4
th-and-2 from the Tech 34-yardline and later for 14 yards to Edington on a 4
th-and-11 from the Ouachita 41-yardline.
Those conversions gave life to the Wonder Boys, but time was starting to become the real enemy.
Eventually, the Wonder Boys got the ball down to the Ouachita 22-yardline with just nine seconds left on the game clock. Gatewood then threw a ball down the middle of the field and near the endzone for what looked like might have been a great catch by tight end
Dayton Keller, but it was ruled incomplete on the field. The Wonder Boys would challenge, but the call was confirmed.
Now with just 3.2 seconds left on the clock, the Wonder Boys had one final attempt at the endzone, but the Hail Mary attempt would be batted down by the Ouachita defense, allowing the Tigers to escape with the win.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for their final road game of the season as they will travel to Ada, Oklahoma next Saturday for 2 p.m. kick-off against East Central.
