Second-shot FG wins it for OBU
OUACHITA BAPTIST 31, HENDERSON STATE 28
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist senior strong safety Hayden Lassiter was adamant about Gabe Goodman’s ability to kick a 53-yard field goal in the final minute of the 94th Battle of the Ravine on Saturday at Cliff Harris Stadium.
Yes, Goodman had clanked a 45-yard attempt off the right upright before halftime, and yes, Goodman came up well short when he half-heartedly kicked the ball after Henderson State called timeout to ice him late in the fourth quarter with the game tied 28-28 and the ball at the Reddies’ 36.
Lassiter said he did not care what Goodman’s first kick looked like, and he protested when Coach Todd Knight signaled to put the offense back on the field.
“Hayden Lassiter, our holder, comes in and says, ‘Coach, he can make this kick,” Knight said. “I said, ‘We just came up short.
“He said, ‘Coach, I’m telling you, it was the hold. There wasn’t good execution right there. He’s going to go and make the kick. I guarantee he’ll make the kick.”
So Knight changed his mind, and he was glad he did.
Goodman, a sophomore from Arkadelphia, kicked that 53-yard field goal with 57 seconds remaining to give OBU a 31-28 lead, and the Tigers held on to defeat their cross-town rivals for the fifth consecutive time in front of 9,458 fans.
The victory pushed OBU (9-2, 9-2 GAC) into a second-place tie with Henderson (9-2, 9-2) in the Great American Conference.
Harding (10-1, 10-1) clinched the outright title with a 31-0 win over Arkansas Tech earlier in the day and is in line to earn a home game today when the NCAA Division II playoff bracket is announced.
Harding entered the day as the No. 2 team in Region 3, while Henderson was No. 6, Southeastern Oklahoma State, which lost to East Central (Okla.) on Saturday, was No. 8 and OBU was No. 10.
The top 7 teams from each of Division II’s 4 regions make the field.
OBU’s victory puts the Tigers back in the playoff discussion, but it will have to leap frog No. 9 Washburn, a 9-2 team from the Mid-American Athletic Association.
Nobody on the OBU sideline was thinking playoffs when Goodman trotted back onto the field after Knight changed his mind.
Goodman said he was confident that he would make good on his second chance, and said the only reason he kicked the ball after Reddies Coach Scott Maxfield called the timeout to ice him was to get in an extra swing of the leg.
“It’s always good get a swing at the ball,” Goodman said. “It’s kind of a mental thing. … I said I’ve got it. I feel good.”
And what was Goodman thinking about?
“Really, this is going to sound corny, but I was thinking about the seniors,” Goodman said. “All of those guys support me. I love ‘em. I just went and kicked the ball.”
Henderson State, which played from behind all afternoon, got the ball at its 35 after a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff return and had two timeouts to stage a possible game-tying or game-winning drive.
The Reddies picked up 9 yards on third down when quarterback Adam Morse (2536 passing, 265 yards 2 TDs) scrambled to the Henderson State 44.
Morse rolled to his right on fourth down, but the ball fell out of the reach of Xavier Malone (6-99), and OBU celebrated the victory.
Maxfield said his team has been on the other side of things in close games three times previously — winning 27-24 on the road at Southeastern Oklahoma (8-3, 8-3 GAC), 41-38 in overtime at Arkansas Tech and last week in a 36-34 win at Oklahoma Baptist.
The Reddies won that game on a 43-yard field goal as time expired.
“We’ve been on both ends of those,” Maxfield said. ”We’ve probably rolled the dice too many times.”
Henderson, which trailed 14-0 after one quarter before tying it 14-14 at halftime, never could get the lead and couldn’t stop the Tigers, who were 9 of 13 on third-down conversions.
“That was one of the biggest things,” Maxfield said. “Third down was our nemesis. They broke some of their tendencies. We got them to third down, we just couldn’t do anything about it.”
Maxfield said he felt good about the Reddies’ ability to overcome a 14-0 first-quarter deficit, but said it was important for Henderson to stop OBU on its first possession of the second half.
“We needed to get a stop,” Maxfield said. “We needed to get the lead,and we didn’t do that. We just let them drive the field. That gave them back a little juice, and we were playing catch-up from there on out.
“We had a chance to stop them, and they went 40-50 yards there to get the field goal.”
It was a field goal OBU almost didn’t kick, not only because of Goodman’s previous try but because Knight said Goodman has hardly kicked in practice while nursing a sore calf for the past six weeks.
Lassiter said he pleaded with Knight to give Goodman a second chance.
“Coach, he’s about to make this kick,” Lassiter said. “So he sent us out there.
“I told the ref, ‘This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?
“He said, ‘Yep, beautiful day.’
“Gabe said, ‘It’s a beautiful day for OBU to win, too.’ “
Goodman said kicking the game-winning field goal in the Battle of the Ravine is something he has dreamed about since he was a kid.
“In high school, I’d think, ‘Last second, The Battle of the Ravine.’
“Then we’re kind of in that situation,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to see how it plays out. It’s an amazing feeling.” HARDING 31, ARKANSAS TECH 0
RUSSELLVILLE — Fifth-year senior fullback Cole Chancey rushed for 210 yards on 28 carries, with 181 of those yards coming in the second half, and Harding clinched its second outright Great American Conference championship with a victory over Arkansas Tech at Thone Stadium.
Harding (10-1, 10-1 GAC) awaits its first-round matchup today when the NCAA Division II playoff bracket is released.
Harding has been No. 2 in all three of the Super Region 3 rankings released to date.
The Bisons, who led 7-0 at halftime, scored on each of their first four possessions of the second half.
Chancey scored three touchdowns to finish the regular season with 23 to break Harding’s single-season mark of 21, previously set by Park Parish in 2016.
Harding, Division II’s top-ranked rushing team, finished with 377 yards on the ground and 436 total yards.
Arkansas Tech (4-7, 4-7) was held 203 yards of offense. ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 73, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 37
MAGNOLIA — Sophomore quarterback Demilon Brown passed for five touchdowns and rushed for another to lead the Boll Weevils (5-6, 5-6 GAC) to a resounding victory over Southern Arkansas (4-7, 4-7) at Wilkins Stadium.
Brown completed 25 of 36 passes for 463 yards and rushed for another 62 yards to post a season-high 525 yards of total offense.
Brown threw touchdown passes to CJ Parham (6-188,1), LaCedric Smith (5-107, 1), De’Andre Washington (6-89, 2) and Chris Smith (3-19.1).
UAM led 21-17 at halftime, and outscored the Muleriders 31-0 in the third quarter to take a 52-17 lead.
SAU senior quarterback Hayden Mallory (19-34, 292 yards, 3 TDs) threw one interception.
Freshman Jariq Scales, the GAC’s second-leading rusher, rushed 37 times for 171 yards for SAU.
Junior Micah Small led the Muleriders receivers with 10 catches for 162 yards and 2 touchdowns.