Reddies win
Henderson State’s Temo Martinez kicked a 40-yard, game-winning field goal with five seconds left Saturday afternoon in the Reddies’ 20-17 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State.
HENDERSON STATE 20, SE OKLAHOMA STATE 17
ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State’s Temo Martinez — with an emotional assist from his father — kicked a 40yard game-winning field goal with five seconds left Saturday afternoon at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.
Martinez’s kick, after a Southeastern Oklahoma State timeout to ice him, gave the Reddies a weird and wild 20-17 victory over the Savage Storm in a Great American Conference game that included 8 turnovers (4 by each team), 17 punts, and 476 yards of offense.
The game-winning field goal created a dramatic finish, but it wasn’t the prettiest of kicks, barely clearing the 10-foot high crossbar.
Martinez said he was not sure he could have kicked the field goal at all if not for a familiar sound he heard — his father, Manuel Martinez, somewhere in the crowd of 5,025, whistling to get his attention — while waiting for the play to start after the Savage Storm timeout.
“I was just really nervous,” said Martinez, a 19-year-old freshman from Dardanelle. “I looked up in the stands and I heard somebody whistling. I said, ‘I think it’s my dad,’ you know. So I looked at him and he stood up, and he waved. … After I saw him, I said, ‘I got this.’ He accomplished what I needed.”
Martinez, who kicked a career long 49-yard field goal to pull the Reddies within 14-3 in the second quarter, twice gave the Reddies what they needed on a day when they were held without a first down in the first quarter, had 68 total yards at halftime, and were 2-of-12 passing for minus-5 yards after three quarters.
They ended up with 72 total passing yards, 40 of those coming in the game’s final 24 seconds.
Martinez’s 49-yard field goal with 8:50 to play in the first half came after Malik Brown intercepted a Rollin Kinsaul pass as the Savage Storm were driving in Reddies territory and leading 14-0.
Brown’s interception, the first of four by Reddies defenders, gave Henderson State the ball at the SOSU 21. The Reddies, like they did for most of the first half, lost ground back to the 32 before Martinez trimmed it to 14-3.
“It was backwards, upwards, downwards, all-aroundwards,” Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield said. “But we hung in there.”
The Savage Storm led 14-0 early and the Reddies rallied to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter.
Southeastern Oklahoma State (5-3, 5-3 GAC) tied the game 17-17 on Joel Carlos’ 42yard field goal with 3:32 to play after the Savage Storm recovered a muffed punt at the Reddies 38.
The Reddies (5-3, 5-3) were moving past midfield when quarterback Kodi Whittaker was ruled to have fumbled after advancing to the Savage Storm 37 with 2:15 to play.
The Savage Storm couldn’t move the ball, and Carlos’ 22yard punt gave the Reddies possession at their 41 with :24 left to play.
Whittaker, who replaced starter Richard Stammetti (2-10 passing, minus-5 yards) in the first half, found Chase Lodree in single coverage down the right sideline, and Lodree made a diving catch at the SOSU 19 with 17 seconds to play.
Logan Moragne lost 4 yards on first down as the Reddies put the ball in the middle of the field to set up Martinez’s kick.
Holder Julio Cervantes said the snap, hold and the sound of the kick were all solid.
“I knew he had a lot of leg behind it,” Cervantes said.
Martinez said he wasn’t so sure.
“I just kicked it as hard as I could,” he said. “It was more of a line drive than anything. It tipped off one of their helmets. I don’t know how it went in, honestly.”
Martinez’s kick wasn’t textbook, but the celebration afterward was.
Martinez was hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates at midfield after the team met with Maxfield, and all Martinez could do was smile.
“I thought of my parents, and all my teammates,” Martinez said. “I just felt really good, you know.”
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 48, EAST CENTRAL (OKLA.) 9
Barrett Renner threw for 242 yards and four touchdowns and the Muleriders bounced back from a loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State with a victory over the Tigers at Wilkins Stadium in Magnolia.
Holding a 6-3 lead after the first half, SAU (7-1, 7-1 GAC) put Saturday’s game away by outscoring East Central 21-0 in the third quarter. Held to 169 yards in the first half, the Muleriders finished with a 504-206 advantage in total offense.
Renner was 19 of 26, tossing 3 touchdowns passes to Karonce Higgins for 51, 52 and 4 yards. Renner also threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Lorenzo Alexander.
East Central (2-6, 2-6) was held to 76 yards passing and Trinity Benson — the Tigers’ leading rusher — ran for 82 yards on 8 carries.
HARDING 38, NW OKLAHOMA STATE 7
Quarterback Preston Paden ran for three touchdowns as the Bisons rolled over the Rangers at First Security Field in Searcy.
Harding (6-2, 6-2 GAC) compiled 409 total yards — 334 on the ground — while holding Northwestern Oklahoma State to 245 yards and 11 first downs. The Bisons converted 21 first downs and controlled the clock for 36:58.
The Bisons led 17-0 at the half and 31-0 entering the final quarter. Northwestern Oklahoma State (3-5) did not score until Kentrez Bell recovered a Rangers fumble in the end zone with 5:18 remaining.
Paden ran 18 times for 37 yards and also completed 6 of 8 passes for 75 yards. Taylor Bissell ran for a game-high 82 yards on only three carries.
SW OKLAHOMA STATE 35, ARKANSAS TECH 14
The Bulldogs scored the game’s first 28 points and limited the Wonder Boys to 189 yards in the first three quarters at Thone Stadium in Russellville.
Arkansas Tech (2-6) suffered its fourth consecutive loss, while Southwestern Oklahoma State (3-5) snapped a threegame losing skid with the victory.
Southwestern Oklahoma State quarterback Casey Freeman completed 10 of 15 passes for 218 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Kedron Banks led the Bulldogs in rushing with 86 yards on 16 carries.
Arkansas Tech quarterback Manny Harris finished by completing 26 of 49 passes for 270 yards. Harris threw scoring passes of 23 yards to Drew Wade and 11 yards to Andrew Carter in the fourth quarter, but he also was intercepted twice, including a 57yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Clay Wilkerson with 1:02 remaining.
ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 45, OKLAHOMA BAPTIST 37
Cole Sears threw four touchdown passes as the Boll Weevils won a shootout with the Bison at Convoy Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium in Monticello.
Sears completed 21 of 38 passes for 412 yards in a game that featured a combined 1,154 yards of total offense.
Jimel London’s 56-yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:40 remaining gave UAM a 45-30 lead.
UAM (3-5, 3-5 GAC) never trailed although Oklahoma Baptist did tie the contest at 14-14 with 5:01 left in the second quarter. The Boll Weevils grabbed a 21-14 advantage at halftime when Sears hit Deontario Brown for a 20-yard scoring pass with 26 seconds left.
Oklahoma Baptist (2-6) outgained UAM 593-561 but suffered its sixth consecutive loss, all to teams from Arkansas.