Big guys pave way for Tech

RUSSELLVILLE — Behind a wall of blockers, Arkansas Tech University cruised from start to finish in its 48-10 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State at Thone Stadium on Saturday.

Led by senior Braden Stringer’s career-high 230 yards and 4 rushing touchdowns, the Wonder Boys rushed for 390 yards and had 535 yards of total offense.

“I’m the kind of guy who likes to kick off and play defense, but here lately, our offense has been doing a tremendous job,” Arkansas Tech Coach Raymond Monica said. “We thought this was a good time to start on offense.”

Junior Bryan Allen, who finished with 106 yards on the ground, led Arkansas Tech’s game-opening, 8-play, 72-yard drive with 34 yards. The drive was completed with a play-action fake to Allen, followed by a 3-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ty Reasnor to junior halfback Chris Eastburn, a seemingly ideal punctuation for such a tone-setting drive.

“Everybody thinks you’re going to run down at the goal line, so we faked it, bootlegged it out, and Eastburn was wide open,” Reasnor said. “Pounding the rock set that play up.”

Arkansas Tech (8-2, 8-2 Great American Conference) turned to Stringer on its second possession, and he responded with a 44-yard scoring run to complete an 87-yard drive that gave the Wonder Boys a 14-0 lead with 7:05 left in the first quarter.

Arkasas Tech sophomore D.J. Williams recovered a fumble at the Southeastern 30 on the following kickoff. Tech lost ground on three plays but scored on a 45-yard field goal by junior Eric Perez to take a 17-0 lead.

Stringer, who completed the first half with 132 yards, got 82 of it on his third carry that put Arkansas Tech’s lead at 24-0 with 13:21 left in the second quarter.

“The thing that doesn’t surprise me is if Bryan Allen has a big game or Braden Stringer has a big game,” Monica said. “They all do something special.”

Both of Stringer’s long runs went to the right side, behind freshman guard Sam Williams (6-3, 317 pounds) and sophomore tackle Cole Fritschen (6-6, 322). Tech was held to 137 rushing yards in its 38-10 victory at East Central (Okla.) last weekend, and Williams said they prepared throughout the week for an upgrade.

“We knew we messed up last week, so we knew we had to step it up,” Williams said. “We just came out here thinking we had to dominate. We worked hard all week.”

“I didn’t see this game coming, but the offensive line played great today opening up holes,” Stringer said. “It just seemed like another game when we walked out here, but after that second long one I had an idea it was going to be something special.”

Arkansas Tech’s string of success continued with its next possession when Allen’s 10-yard touchdown run completed a 12-play 73-yard drive that gave the Wonder Boys a 31-0 lead with 5:46 left in the first half.

Though it would not endure for long, momentum shifted to Southeastern Oklahoma (6-4) to end the half on sophomore Austin Skinner’s 9-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Skye Lowe cut Arkansas Tech’s lead to 31-7 with 11 seconds left in the second quarter.

A 30-yard field goal by junior Joel Carlos completed the Savage Storm’s scoring early in the third quarter.

Southeastern Oklahoma, which had lost four starters on offense since the start of the season, lost Skinner to a knee injury on its next possession.

“It’s hard to keep any kind of consistency when you just continue to move pieces around,” Southeastern Oklahoma Coach Bo Atterberry said. “You hope for better, but whether it be lack of experience or lack of reps, your probably not going to see it.”

Stringer scored on runs of 2 and 3 yards and Perez added a 36-yard field goal as Tech continued to pull away in the second half.