Ouachita GameNotes
Oklahoma Baptist Game Notes
GAC Weekly Report

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – For the second consecutive week the No. 5/6 Ouachita football team will be hitting the road, this week the Tigers will battle Oklahoma Baptist at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

This will be the ninth meeting All-Time between the two institutions, with Ouachita (6-0, 6-0) holding a commanding 5-2-1 advantage in the series. Ouachita has outscored the Bison 195-96 over the history of the series. The Tigers are currently riding a four game winning streak in the series dating back to the 1940 season. How long has it been since Oklahoma Baptist (2-4, 2-4 GAC) won a game in the series? Let's just say Lou Gehrig had just retired from baseball and The Wizard of OZ was making its debut in movie theatres across the nation.  

Last season the Tigers defeated the Bison 52-14 at home in front of a raucous crowd. The Ouachita offense set a school record 632 yards of total offense in the blowout win. The win also marked the largest win differential in series history at 38 points. Ouachita starting quarterback Austin Warford only threw three incomplete passes, in route to a 199 yard passing total. Warford also rushed for 75 yards in the contest, giving the senior quarterback 274 total yards in the game. Kris Oliver (Arkadelphia, Ark.) led the team with 121 rushing yards and Allie Freeman (Little Rock, Ark.) made five catches for 110 yards.

Ouachita is coming off an exciting 7-3 victory over No. 24 Harding last weekend. The Tigers defense held strong on a fourth down attempt as the Harding quarterback threw the ball out of the endzone with 22 seconds remaining in the contest. The win gave the Ouachita their 65^th victory of the decade, surpassing the teams of the 1970s as the winningest decade in school history. The Ouachita defense is now the number one scoring defense in the nation, allowing just 9.2 points per contest.

The defense will be tested against an Oklahoma Baptist (2-4, 2-4 GAC) squad looking to break a four game losing streak. Oklahoma Baptist fell to Henderson State 56-21, with the Reddies doing the most damage in the middle quarters of the football game. The Bison offense has scored 66 points in the last two games, mainly behind the arm of Haire Preston. Preston is averaging 279.2 passing yards a game and has already thrown 14 touchdowns this season.

The Ouachita secondary looks as though they will be up for the challenge. Keandre Evans (Junction City, Ark.) and the rest of the secondary have accumulated a league leading 11 interceptions and 28 pass breakups. Add that to a stout front seven led by Airric Parker (San Diego, Calif.), Jon Johnson (Haskell, Ark.), Dameyun McDonald (Helena, Ark.) and Ernest Reed (El Dorado, Ark.) and the Tigers should be able to stop the Bison's passing offense.

This season the Tigers offense has outscored opponents 175-55, with the bulk of the points coming the first half. Ouachita has outscored opponents 103-20 in the first half this season and 42-22 in the final quarter of play.

Ouachita's offense is led predominately by a potent rushing attack, the Tigers currently rank 12th in the nation with 254 yards per game. Oliver leads the team with 456 yards rushing yards and is second on the team with six rushing touchdowns. Shun'cee Thomas (Bossier City, La.) is second on the team with 390 rushing yards, followed by Brayden Brazeal (England, Ark.) and Brockton Brown (Sheridan, Ark.). Brown currently leads the team in touchdowns scored with seven on the season. When the Tigers are not running the ball they have looked to Brazeal as the primary quarterback. Brazeal has completed 61 percent of passes this season for 625 yards. The redshirt freshman has just one touchdown on the season, but has yet to throw an interception. Allie Freeman (Little Rock, Ark.) leads the receiving core with 27 receptions for 299 yards.

The Tigers have also dominated on special teams this season. Cole Antley (Atlanta, Ga.) has connected on seven-of-eight field goals this season, with a season high 45 yards. On kickoffs this season Antley is averaging 63.4 yards per kick and has 10 touchbacks on the season. Punter Jake Ford (Australia) has had a stellar year so far averaging 41.8 yards per kick. The Australian has had three punts go at least 50 yards, while placing a dozen kicks inside the 20 and has forced 10 returns to be fair caught.

If the Bison win on Saturday, they will have not only broken a four game losing streak but they will have won three games in a season there most since moving to the Division II level. If the Tigers win on Saturday, it will be their 11^th consecutive winning season and will place them one game closer to repeating as Great American Conference Champions.

Coverage of the game will begin at noon on the Tiger Sports Network. Links to the game can be found at obutigers.com or follow the official social media accounts for Ouachita Athletics. As always a recap and box score of the game can be found on obutigers.com following the game.