Battle Splits Games

LINCOLN — The Northwest Arkansas Battle (3-5, 3-2) got back on the winning track with a 9-0 shutout of the Kansas Cougars (3-3, 3-2) on Saturday at Lincoln.

In a battle of defense, the game remained scoreless until 8:32 was left in the fourth quarter when Jason Campbell connected on a 31-yard field goal to give the Battle a 3-0 lead. On the Cougars ensuing drive, defensive end Josh Anderson sacked the Kansas quarterback on fourth down to force a turnover on downs and runningback Joey Johnson punched it in from the one yard line with 2:15 left in the game to put the Battle up 9-0.

Josh Anderson led the defense with nine tackles, a fumble recovery, and three sacks. Defensive back Jason Campbell, chasing the semipro interception record of 110, picked off the Cougars twice increasing his career interception count to 102 in his ninth season. The all time interception record in semipro is currently held by Mark Arcure, who played 16 seasons with the Scranton, Pa., Eagles as reported by semiprofootball.org.

The win moves the Battle into the number four seed in the CFL and they will host the North Oklahoma Ruffnecks (4-4, 2-3) in the first round of the CFL playoffs on Saturday at the old Lincoln High School football field at 6 p.m. ENID, OKLA. — The Northwest Arkansas Battle dropped a 416 decision to the Enid Enforcers on May 4 at Enid, Okla.

Jason Campbell recorded his 100th career interception and Cecil Moore returned an interception 73 yards for the Battle’s only score of the game.

Stacey Rubin, Josh Anderson and Torery Garrison combined for 17 tackles to lead the Battle defense. Dorian Hendrix led all receivers with five catches for 50 yards. Tieler Driscoll completed 10 of 26 passes for 116 yards but threw four interceptions on the night with three returned for touchdowns.

The Battle hosted the Kansas Cougars ( 2-2) in league play on Saturday at Lincoln.

As the CFL has six teams, all teams qualify for the playoffs and the Battle are fighting for seeding position. The Cougars defeated the North Oklahoma Ruffnecks 8-6 on May 3.

While the Battle has been sidelined with injuries this season, head coach Stacey Rubin feels the team has a good opportunity to win the final two games of the season. A win over Kansas on Saturday and against the North Oklahoma Ruffnecks (3-4) on May 18 at home and the Battle could find themselves hosting a playoff game on June 1.

The top two seeds in the CFL have first round byes for the playoffs while the third seed hosts number six and the fourth seed will host number five.

For more information on the Battle, visit them at www. nwabattle.com.