Tigers, Wonder Boys win, share GAC top spot at 7-2
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist remained tied for first in the Great American Conference with Saturday’s
55-21 win over visiting Arkansas-Monticello.
Senior quarterback Austin Warford accounted for five touchdowns as the Tigers improved to 7-2 with two games left. Warford, from Malvern, had touchdown runs of 10, 4 and 12 yards and threw TD passes of 48 and 3 yards to Allie Freeman.
Drew Harris ran 46 yards and Airric Parker returned a fumble six yards for fourth-quarter touchdowns. Besides kicking six extra points, Cole Antley had field goals of 35 and 29 yards.
Warford completed 10 of 15 pases for 156 yards, his 48-yard strike to Freeman and Antley’s extra point making it 7-7 late in the first quarter. Warford ran 10 yards for a 14-7 lead, and Antley’s
29-yard field goal as the half ended made it 20-14.
UA-Monticello, hoping to beat OBU for the second year in a row, pulled within 17-14 on Cole Sears’ second TD pass of the half to Jalen Tolliver, covering 65 yards. It was 7-0 after Tolliver and Sears connected for 19 yards with 2:14 off the clock.
OBU plays Southern Arkansas next week at Magnolia before ending the season Nov. 11 at home with the Battle of the Ravine against Henderson State.
SAU-Henderson State
ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State scored 22 points in a wild fourth quarter and beat Southern Arkansas 36-30 Saturday at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, the Reddies’ first home victory of the year.
Both Henderson quarterbacks accounted for fourth-quarter touchdowns, Andrew Black going over from two yards out with 11:40 left and Evan Lassister passing 30 yards to Ben Johnson with 2:03 remaining.
SAU led 30-21 on Darren Crawford’s
8-yard interception return with 13:05 left, but Melvin Walters’ 66-yard kickoff return to the Mulerider 27 set up Black’s touchdown run.
Henderson held on downs at its
29 and Lassiter punted SAU back to its four. The return punt only went
19 yards to the Mulerider 30, and the Reddies scored in two plays, Lassiter passing to AJ Smith for a two-point conversion.
SAU moved to its 40 before Brandon Quinterro forced a fumble from Barrett Renner that the Reddie senior defensive tackle recovered.
SAU dropped to 6-3 while Henderson improved to 5-4. The Reddies go to Arkansas-Monticello for a 3 p.m. game Saturday before facing Ouachita.
Ark. Tech-East Central
ADA, Okla. — Lake Hamilton product Chris Eastburn scored Arkansas Tech’s first touchdown as the Wonder Boys stayed tied for first in the GAC with Saturday’s 38-10 road win over East Central.
Ty Reasnor found Eastburn with a 15-yard pass after only 4:21 of clock time, Eric Perez kicking it to 7-0. Reasnor later had touchdown passes of nine yards to Jakcob Dean and 18 yards to J.V. Davis, then ran 12 yards for the Wonder Boys’ final TD.
Bryan Allen ran 27 yards for a Tech touchdown and Perez kicked a 43-yard field goal.
The Wonder Boys finish the regular season with home games Saturday against Southeastern Oklahoma and Nov. 11 against Harding, both starting at 2 p.m. at Thone Stadium in Russellville. Tech (7-2) has won three in a row since back-to-back losses to Ouachita (35-31) and UA-Monticello (46-45).
Harding-SE Oklahoma
DURANT, Okla. — Harding gained almost 600 yards and held an opponent without a touchdown for the thirdstraight game, knocking Southeastern Oklahoma out of a first-place tie in the GAC with a 42-3 rout at Paul Laird Stadium.
The Bisons (6-3) set season highs with 42 minutes 30 seconds of possession, 591 total yards, 30 first downs and nine of 12 conversions on third downs. Southeastern (6-3), losing its third straight, totaled only 226 yards and seven first downs, converting just three of 13 third downs.
Terrence Dingle scored Harding’s first two touchdowns on one-yard runs and passed 60 yards to Grant Kimberlin for a 28-0 lead in the second quarter. Brandon Gates ran for two touchdowns and Matt Fuller for another.
Harding has won seven straight from Southeastern. The Bisons play East Central at 2 p.m. Saturday on Senior Day at First Security Stadium in Searcy.