Mistakes knock out Ark. Tech

Arkansas Tech had Southeastern Oklahoma State on the ropes several times during their game last week, but according to Wonder Boys Coach Kyle Shipp, errors at all the wrong times led to his team being on the opposite end of the scoreboard by game’s end.

“Just too many small mistakes,” Shipp said of Arkansas Tech’s 41-34, double-overtime loss. “We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown that [Southeastern Oklahoma State] had that hurt us. We got a safety called that ended up costing us. … That’s nine points right there. But then we had our chances on basically our last drive [of regulation] where we had the ball on the 2 1/2yard line basically. All we had to do was get to the 1 to get a first down.

“We went for it on fourth down and didn’t get the yard and a half that we needed. Then we knew they had to go 97 or 98 yards to at least tie it and go to overtime, and they did that. Then in double overtime, we have the ball, but it ended up being punched out at the 1-yard line. Things just didn’t go our way.”

The failed fourthdown attempt Shipp was referring to came with the Wonder Boys leading 34-31. The Savage Storm ended up driving the length of the field in 1:14 and got a game-tying field goal to eventually send the game into overtime. Shipp also mentioned that there were some questionable calls that didn’t do his team any favors either.

Arkansas Tech (0

1, 0-1 Great American Conference) will get a chance to make things right Saturday at home against East Central (Okla.). The Tigers held on to beat the Wonder Boys 13-10 in Ada, Okla., last season.

“They’re a really good team,” Shipp said of East Central. “Overall, I was pleased with the way we played [against Southeastern Oklahoma State], but we’re going to have to play much better this week. We’ve came a long ways, but at the same time, we’ve still got a ways to go.”

Shipp