Maxfield’s message resonates with Reddies in second half

HENDERSON STATE 55, NW OKLAHOMA STATE 7

ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State moved the ball up and down the field from the get-go Saturday night at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, but the Reddies didn’t get cutthroat until the second half began.

“If you’re a good football team, if you’re a championship football team, when you get somebody down, you beat ‘em bad. You don’t let up,” Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield said.

The Reddies followed Maxfield’s orders in the second half, scoring 21 points in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter en route to a 55-7 rout of Northwestern Oklahoma State in a Great American Conference game.

Senior quarterback Adam Morse ( 19- 32 passing, 305 yards, 2 TDs) and All-GAC receiver L’liott Curry (7-127 receiving) said the Reddies got the halftime message conveyed by Maxfield.

“We weren’t taking care of the little things,” Curry said of the first half, when the Reddies gained 284 yards but led 17-7. “As dangerous as we are, as dangerous as we can be, that’s very frustrating.

“When you’ve got explosive receivers like we do, they’ve got to cover somebody, but they can’t cover everybody.”

Morse said he got the message.

“Seventeen points isn’t enough for a half,” Morse said.

The Reddies kicked off to start the third quarter, and Dedric O’Bryant intercepted a pass from NWOSU quarterback Tanner Clarkson on the third quarter’s first play.

O’Bryant’s interception gave the Reddies the ball at the Rangers 32.

Henderson scored two plays later on an 8-yard run by Duce Sproles (12-117, 1), and the rout was on.

Henderson State (2-0, 2-0 GAC) gained 623 yards — 318 rushing, 305 passing — and outscored the Rangers (0-2, 0-2 GAC) 38-0 in the final 30 minutes.

“Third quarter, we turned on the gas a little bit,” Maxfield said. “Did some things we needed to do. We got rolling there a little bit. Overall, I thought the second half was cleaner than the first half.”

Henderson made it 31-7 with 9:53 to play in the third quarter, moments after nose tackle Shaq’Ke Robinson stopped a no-huddle sneak attempt by Clarkson on fourth and 1 at the Reddies 30.

Henderson drove 70 yards in 5 plays, the touchdown coming on an 8-yard run by freshman Kris Morris.

The big play on the drive was a 58-yard catch and run by junior Xavier Malone, who caught a Morse pass on the sideline at the Reddies 30, got away from Rangers defenders, and took it all the way down to the NWOSU 12.

Malone finished 7 catches for 130 yards.

“When the defense got off the field after we scored, we felt pretty good,” Morse said.

The Reddies made it 38-7 with 5:41 to play in the third quarter, the touchdown coming on a 10-yard pass from Morse to tight end Ayden Shurley to complete a 64yard, 7-play drive over a span of 2:28.

One special teams blunder, a lost fumble by Chase Lodree on a punt return early in the first quarter, set up a Rangers touchdown — a 38-yard pass from Clarkson to Gavin Garner — that tied the score at 7-7 midway in the opening period.

“We gave them a little hope,” Maxfield said. “We’ve got to do a better job of cleaning some of that up.”

The Reddies looked like they were playing 7- on-7 during an 86- yard, 4- play drive to start the game.

“You work all week on your openers, so hopefully you can execute those,” Maxfield said.

“They gave us what we were looking for,” Morse said.

The Reddies kept moving the ball in the first half, but got bogged down at times.

“I thought he missed some throws, missed a couple reads,” Maxfield said of Morse. “Overall, he did all right. They were mixing their coverages us up. They did a good job of getting after us a couple of times in short-yardage situations.”

The second half was a different story from the opening play.

“We did what we were supposed to do,” Curry said. “Capitalizing on the little things, and we did that.”

NO. 11 OUACHITA BAPTIST 41, SOUTHERN NAZARENE 3

BETHANY, Okla. — Ouachita Baptist’s defense scored the only points the Tigers needed —on a first-quarter fumble recovery in the end zone — and the offense piled it on in the second half.

OBU (2-0, 2-0 GAC) outgained Southern Nazarene 388-35, held the ball for 39:42 of the game’s 60 minutes and outscored SNU 28-0 in the second half.

Freshman Kendel Givens ( 16- 114 rushing, 3 TDs) scored his first touchdown with 2:12 remaining in the first half to give OBU a 13-3 lead after Gabe Goodman added the extra point.

OBU’s first touchdown came on a fumble recovery in the end zone by freshman lineman Rovell Carter with 7:22 to play in the first quarter.

The touchdown came one play after the Tigers drove to the Crimson Storm’s 1-yard on their opening drive and lost a fumble.

SNU (0-2, 0-2 GAC) scored its only points after a muffed punt attempt.

SNU lost 4 yards on three plays, but Reid Ryan hit a 32-yard field goal to make it 6-3 with 7:10 to play in the half.

The Tigers scored 21 points in the third quarter, including two TD runs by Givens and a 29-yard touchdown pass to Connor Flannigan from quarterback Grant Allen.

Hunter Swoboda scored OBU’s final touchdown on a 4-yard run with 11:44 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers’ tandem of Givens and TJ Cole (21-99) rushed 37 times for 213 yards.

SE OKLAHOMA STATE 32, HARDING 31

Dalton Hatley’s 4- yard touchdown pass to Skye Lowe and a two- point conversion with 46 seconds left gave Southeastern Oklahoma State (2-0) a victory over Harding University (1-1) on Saturday at Paul Laird Field in Durant, Okla.

The Savage Storm built a 17-3 lead with 2: 56 left in the first half after a 31-yard field goal by Trey Keatts, but the Bisons fought back to tie the game at 24-24 with 11:15 in the game on Cole Chancey’s 3-yard touchdown run. Harding took a 31-24 lead with 3:45 remaining when Omar Sinclar scored on a 16-yard touchdown run before the touchdown pass and two-point conversion from Hatley to Pablo Perini won the game for Southeastern.

Harding rushed for 336 yards total, led by Taylor Bissell’s 5 carries for 100 yards and 1 touchdown. Chancey ran 19 times for 95 yards, while Preston Paden ran for 88 yards on 10 carries and Omar Sinclair rushed 12 times for 73 yards and 2 touchdowns. Paden completed 1 of 5 passes for 11 yards, with the completion going to Kage Citty.

SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 42, SW OKLAHOMA STATE 27

Southern Arkansas University ( 20) scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter Saturday to come away with a victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State at Wilkins Stadium in Magnolia.

Quarterback Hayden Mallory threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, both to Micah Small. The first pass went for 8 yards and the second for 38 yards, followed by a Jariq Scales 10-yard touchdown run with 1:13 left in the game.

Mallory finished 25 of 35 passing for 266 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was sacked once and threw an interception. Scales ran for 100 yards on 20 carries and Small had 4 catches for 70 yards and 3 touchdowns.

EAST CENTRAL (OKLA.) 13, ARKANSAS TECH 10

A fourth-quarter rally by Arkansas Tech University fell short as the Wonder Boys fell to the East Central (Okla.) Tigers at Norris Field in Ada, Okla.

It was a 6-3 game at halftime after East Central (1-1) got field goals of 27 and 28 yards from Garret Clark and Arkansas Tech (0-2) got a 26-yarder from Jesus Zizumbo. Ontario Douglas scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 12:19 left in the third quarter to push the Tigers’ lead to 13-3 before Brandon Hunter’s 3-yard touchdown run with 5:23 left in the game set the final score.

Quarterback Jack Lindsey went 11 of 24 passing for 70 yards and an interception for the Wonder Boys. Caleb Batie ran 16 times for 86 yards and Tucker Kennedy caught 3 passes for 22 yards.

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST 45, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 20

Oklahoma Baptist (1-1) scored 35 of its 45 points in the first half Saturday to defeat the University of Arkansas at Monticello (1-1) in Shawnee, Okla.

Quarterback Preston Haire threw touchdown passes of 58 and 11 yards to Keilahn Harris in the first quarter and Brandon Spencer added an 11yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to put Oklahoma Baptist ahead 21-0. Tyler Stuever had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Haire threw his third touchdown pass of the half, a 6-yarder to Seth Berry for a 35-0 halftime lead.

Demilon Brown threw a 69- yard touchdown pass to C.J. Parham and had a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for UAM. Brown added a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Brown finished 29 of 43 passing for 349 yards with 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions and 2 sacks. He also rushed 10 times for 49 yards and 2 touchdowns.