Reddies falter again in fourth quarter
ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State led with less than a minute to play on Saturday, but Southwestern Oklahoma State produced a one minute, 80-yard touchdown drive to take the lead with 28 seconds left to defeat the Reddies, 35-31, at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium and Ruggles Field.
The Reddies (1-3) led for the majority of the contest, but found themselves trailing at the 12:02 mark of the fourth quarter after a 21yard touchdown pass from the Bulldogs (2-2) gave them their first lead of the night, 28-24.
Henderson responded with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that took 6:30
off of the clock and was capped by a six-yard touchdown pass from Richard Stammetti to Doug Johnson. The score helped Henderson retake the lead, 31-28, with 5:32 left.
Southwestern’s next drive stalled when they failed to convert on fourth-and-seven at the Henderson 42-yard line. With a chance to put the game away, the Reddies could not muster anything on offense. Three-straight handoffs took 1:07 off of the clock and the Reddies were forced to punt the ball back to the Bulldogs with 1:28 to go in the game.
After taking over on their own 20-yard line, the Bulldogs needed just one minute and seven plays to find the end zone on a 15-yard touchdown strike from Casey Freeman to J.R. Omigie. The score helped Southwestern seize a 35-31 advantage with 28 seconds to play.
Needing a touchdown with little time remaining, the Henderson offense was able to move the ball down to the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line with two seconds left. Stammetti’s final throw to the end zone was broken up before it could reach Johnson’s hands and Southwestern held on for the win.
Stammetti finished 34-for-55 passing for 365 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. John Murray went over 100 yards receiving for the second straight game and caught nine passes for 135 yards and a touchdown, while Ben Johnson caught 11 passes for 126 yards and a score of his own.
Cobra Jones led the Reddies on the ground with 76 rushing yards on 13 carries. Bowen Sweeney had a game-high 10 tackles on the defensive side of the ball, which included two tackles for loss.
Omigie led the Bulldogs with eight catches for 219 yards and a score and averaged more than 27 yards per catch.
Henderson scored on the game’s first play when Stammetti hit Murray for a 52-yard touchdown, then punched it in on the next drive as well on a one-yard Logan Moragne run to jump out to a 14-0 lead.
Southwestern scored late in the first quarter and early in the second to tie the game at 14-14, but the Reddies got an 18-yard scoring catch from Johnson and a 22-yard Temo Martinez field goal to lead 24-14 at the half. The Bulldogs outscored Henderson, 21-7, in the game’s final 30 minutes.
Henderson held a 24-17 lead the previous week in the fourth quarter against Northwestern Oklahoma State (1-3). The Rangers outscored the Reddies, 13-0, in the final quarter for a 30-24 win.
The Reddies are scheduled to play on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Bethany, Okla., against Southern Nazarene (1-3).