ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers' football team (2-1) fell Saturday night in Great American Conference action to the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm (3-0) by a final score of 41-35.
The Tigers trailed 31-14 at half time, but a valiant second-half effort led the Tigers back into the game. The Tigers fell just short of victory, however, as they were unable to score and take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
"In the first half, both offensively and defensively, we didn't play our best football," said Ouachita head football coach Todd Knight. "I thought in the second half, we did some good stuff on both sides of the ball. We've got to eliminate penalties, and we've got to play the full game. We probably won the second half, but that didn't matter."
"it was more of playing a little harder and not having some really bad penalties, that was the difference in the second half," Knight continued. "If we came out and played a whole game, I think we can beat them."
Ouachita had no trouble moving the football offensively. The Tigers had a balanced attack, throwing the football for 223 yards and rushing the ball for 157. Senior quarterback Austin Warford led the Tigers with 316 yards of total offense. Warford ran the ball for 101 yards and one touchdown, while throwing for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore wide receiver Allie Freeman led the Tigers in receiving with 10 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Junior running back Kris Oliver returned for his first full game of action since his week one injury. Oliver carried the ball eight times for 30 yards.
Offensively, the main issue for Ouachita was turnovers. Oliver fumbled the football in the first half which swung the momentum of the game, and Warford threw a second-half interception which was returned for a touchdown. Both plays played a large role in Southeastern's victory.
"When you have a really good team, you're on the plus side of the turnover ratio," Knight said. "You don't win statistically when you're minus two. Take away those two, it's probably a different game. You've got to hang onto the ball."
The Tigers' defense had a more troublesome time than did the offense, allowing Southeastern 423 total yards in the game. The Tigers allowed 241 passing yards and 182 rushing yards. Most of the yards Ouachita allowed came in the first half, as Southeastern had 308 total yards at halftime. Senior linebacker Elijah Jones led the Tigers with 11 tackles in the first half, while freshman defensive back Hayden Lassiter and sophomore linebacker Jon Johnson had eight tackles each. Johnson also was effective in pass defense with two pass breakups.
The first half of the football game began with a back-and-forth battle between the two teams. Ouachita opened scoring on the first drive of the game when quarterback Austin Warford capped off a seven-play, 61-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown through the left side of the offensive line. Southeastern responded to Ouachita's opening touchdown with a long, 13-play drive which ended with a four-yard touchdown scramble from their quarterback Rollin Kinsaul.
The two teams went on to trade long touchdown strikes on their next two possessions. Ouachita struck first with a 57-yard touchdown pass from Warford to Allie Freeman, and Southeastern proceeded to throw a 79-yard touchdown pass from Kinsaul to Ryan Ronces on the first play of their next drive.
On his touchdown reception, Ronces broke through a few would-be Ouachita tacklers and seemed to take the wind out of the Tigers' sails. Ouachita fumbled the ball on their next possession, and the Storm dominated for the rest of the half. First, running back Kenneth Burks broke multiple tackles on his way to a 24-yard touchdown run with just over 13 minutes remaining in the second quarter, and Kinsaul scrambled from nine yards out for his second touchdown of the game not long after. Joel Carlos capped the first-half scoring for the Storm with a 35-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the half. Southeastern led 31-14 at the break.
Ouachita opened the second half of the game with more momentum than they finished the first. The Tigers forced Southeastern to punt for the first time on the first drive of the half, and then went on a 14-play, 73-yard drive which was dominated by the run game. Junior wide receiver Drew Harris finished the drive by diving into the end zone on a two-yard wildcat run.
The Savage Storm drove into the red zone on their next offensive possession, but Ouachita's defense was able to stop them from scoring and forced a 20-yard field goal. Momentum seemed the be on the Tigers' side heading into their next drive, but that quickly changed as Southeastern's Jacob Harper intercepted Warford's pass and returned it for a touchdown as time expired in the third quarter.
All hope seemed lost for the Tigers as they entered the fourth quarter down by a score of 41-21, but things quickly changed as Ouachita completed a pass-heavy four-play, 52-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Warford to Freeman. The Ouachita defense then forced Southeastern to a three-and-out, and Ouachita's Freeman returned a punt all the way to the 35-yard line to give Ouachita excellent field position to start their next drive. The ensuing drive lasted for seven plays and was capped off when Harris danced into the end zone once again from the wildcat. The score cut the Savage Storm lead to just six with 10:17 remaining in the game.
Despite a valiant effort, the Tigers were unable to put together a substantive possession in the final 10 minutes and complete their comeback. Ouachita's hopes ended when Warford's fourth down heave to Lamar Haynes fell to the ground with 1:58 remaining. Southeastern took a knee on their next three plays to end the game with a final score of 41-35.
Ouachita will look to bounce back as they travel to Ada, Okla., next Saturday, September 23 to face East Central Oklahoma in GAC action. Kick off will be at 6 p.m.
