WEATHERFORD, Okla. – It was not easy and at times it was not pretty, but the Arkansas Tech football team made the plays on offense when they needed them the most in the fourth quarter. In doing so, Tech put themselves in position to leave Weatherford with their second-straight win of the season as they beat Southwestern Oklahoma, 9-7, on a last-second field goal by
Austin Hosier.
The walk-off heroics by Hosier on Saturday night continued a unique trend in the series between Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma that has now seen the total margin of victory over the last four games be a miniscule five points. In the three meetings prior to tonight, the Wonder Boys beat SWOSU by just a single point in each game.
The first of these most-recent razor-thin games came in 2019 in Weatherford when Tech beat SWOSU 36-35. In that game Tech overcame a 15-point second half deficit with the go-ahead points coming on a 28-yard field goal by
Jesus Zizumbo with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter.
The next two games were also decided by the record-setting right leg of Zizumbo as he kicked the game-winning field goal with just eight seconds left in the 2021 game in Weatherford and with time expiring in 2022 at home.
On Saturday, the Wonder Boys were hopeful early on to buck the trend of close games with the Bulldogs as
Ben Stegall intercepted a pass on the very first play from scrimmage. The pick was the second in as many games for Stegall as he accounts for all of Tech's turnovers forced through the air.
Unfortunately, that early takeaway would not result in points for Tech as their initial drive of the game stalled at the SWOSU 29-yardline, forcing the Wonder Boys to attempt a 46-yard field goal. The try was no good, keeping the score scoreless.
After the Wonder Boys defense forced a quick three-and-out, the SWOSU defense came up with a big play as they recovered a fumble deep in Tech territory at the ATU 14-yardline. Three plays later, the Bulldogs capitalized on the short field and connected for a 12-yard touchdown pass to go up 7-0.
Early in the second quarter, the Wonder Boys' offense had a second scoring opportunity as they matriculated the ball all the way down to the SWOSU 7-yardline on 13 plays before having to settle for a second field goal try, this time from 24 yards away. The second attempt for three points was also no good, leaving the score 7-0 in favor of SWOSU.
Neither team would be able to sustain a drive the remainder of the half and the score remained 7-0, SWOSU at the break.
The defensive struggle continued in the third quarter as Tech and SWOSU combined for just 64 yards of total offense, five punts and a turnover in the period.
The tide, however, began to shift in favor of the Wonder Boys in the fourth quarter. After having the final play of the third quarter start this particular drive, the Wonder Boys were able to methodically move the ball down the field and breakthrough for their first points of the game on a one-yard plunge by
Jordan Edington.
That drive, which encompassed 65 yards on 13 plays, also chewed up just over seven minutes of the game clock as there were just 7:58 left in regulation following the score. It also featured three critical third-down conversions by the Tech offense.
Despite the touchdown, the score was not tied just yet as the usually academic extra-point attempt was still pending. SWOSU managed to keep it that way as they blocked the PAT. On the block, the Bulldogs recovered and were off to the races looking to turn the block into two points on the other end.
Thoughts of that were eventually brought to the turf as the Wonder Boys'
Aaron Winn made a game-saving tackle from behind to keep it a one-point game, 7-6.
Now with just under eight minutes left in regulation, the Wonder Boys needed their defense, which had been remarkable all night long, to make another stop to give the ball back to the offense.
The likelihood of that stop took a slight hit on the second play of SWOSU's ensuing drive as they connected for their longest play from scrimmage all night – 18 yards – for a first down. Fortunately, that was just a minor delay in getting the ball back as the defense forced SWOSU to punt three plays later.
Now with the ball back and 4:18 on the clock, the Wonder Boys were poised to drain as much clock as possible in search of any kind of points that would give them the lead.
Those hopes looked grim early in the drive as the Wonder Boys faced a 4
th-and-8 from their own 24-yardline. Undeterred by the uphill climb it was for the offense throughout the night, quarterback
Taye Gatewood delivered his most clutch pass of the season by connecting with
Matthew Rivera for a 22-yard completion to convert the fourth-down chance.
After the play was challenged by SWOSU and the call standing on the field, the Wonder Boys had a new shot of life and felt destined to accomplish what they needed to in order to pick up the win.
And that's exactly what happened two plays later as Gatewood completed another big pass, this time a 36-yard connection with
Jordan Jackson. After all was said and done on the play to Jackson, the ball was at the SWOSU 10-yardline with the clock dwindling in favor of Tech.
Over the next three plays, the Wonder Boys would get the ball down to the SWOSU 2-yardline and faced a 4
th-and-goal from the 2-yardline. Wanting to burn as much time as possible before calling their final timeout to set up the potential game-winning kick, the Wonder Boys let the clock tick away to just three seconds left.
As unfortunate as the kicking game had gone earlier in the game for the Wonder Boys with two missed field goals and a blocked extra point, the fourth time was the absolute charm as
Austin Hosier drilled the ball through the uprights to give Tech the heart-pounding walk-off win.
The Wonder Boys, who are now riding a two-game winning streak, look to keep the momentum rolling into next Saturday as they return home to face Arkansas-Monticello. Kick-off for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
