WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The #9 Ouachita Tigers saw their 12-game conference win streak come to an end Saturday evening, as the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs defeated Ouachita, 58-38 in Weatherford. It was the first regular-season loss for the Tigers since November of 2013. Quarterback Austin Warford threw for a touchdown and rushed for two more in the loss.

Turnovers put the Tigers down early in the first quarter. Ouachita's leading scorer was knocked out of the game early when, Kris Oliver took a hard hit while attempting to field a punt. The hit resulted in the second turnover for the Tigers in the quarter and sidelined Oliver for the remainder of the game.

Down 7-0, Warford led the Tigers on a 14-play 75 yard drive with a balanced play-calling attack. Warford hit Ke'Vontae Pope for a seven-yard touchdown pass to cap of the drive. Pope caught all four balls thrown his way on the drive for 47 yards.

After falling behind 14-7 early in the second quarter, a 57-yard kickoff return by Pope put the Tigers back in Bulldog territory to start their drive. Filling in for sidelined running backs Oliver and Brandon Marks, freshman Donelle Hoof broke off a 25-yard run to the SWOSU 14 yard line. Four plays later, Warford would keep it on a read-option and score from four yards out to tie the game at 14-14.

Southwestern would score touchdowns on their next three possessions on plays of 35-plus yards. Freshman kicker Cole Antley connected on a 29-yard field goal and the Tigers would enter halftime trailing 35-17.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with possession and the Tigers defense appeared to have them stopped on third down. A penalty against the Tigers extended the drive, but Ouachita was able to hold SWOSU to a field goal on their opening drive.

Another long kickoff return by Pope gave the Tigers good field position to start their drive. Leaning heavily on the run game, Ouachita gained 43 yards on the ground on the drive, capped off by Donelle Hoof's 11-yard run into the end zone.

After exchanging possessions, SWOSU scored to extend their lead to 45-24. Ouachita opened the fourth quarter with a drive that took them down to the Bulldogs 3 yard line. The Tigers would turn it over on a fourth and goal pass play and give SWOSU possession with 11 minutes left to play.

Down 52-24, Ouachita's Ke'Vontae Pope would get his second 50-plus yard kickoff return off the game and get the Tigers started on the SWOSU 39 yard line. A 15-yard reception by Trajan Doss moved the Tigers into the red zone. Warford scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to cut the SWOSU lead to 52-31.

After recovering the onside kick, Ouachita would move the ball down to the Southwestern 13 yard line. A turnover on fourth down ended the Tigers drive with 5:16 left to play.

Hoof scored his second rushing touchdown of the game with 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter for a final score of 58-38 in favor of Southwestern.

Austin Warford finished the night with 165 passing yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

Donelle Hoof rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns. He also had three receptions for 48 yards.

Ke'Vontae Pope had a season high eight catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. He added two kickoff returns of 50 plus yards, averaging 30.9 yards on seven returns.

Ricardy Joseph led the Tigers with 13 tackles.

Devanuel Flores had nine tackles and one sack.

Demetric Jennings and John Rachal each had .5 sacks.

The Tigers return to Cliff Harris Stadium next Saturday, September 24 to host the Rangers of Northwestern State University. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.