ARKADELPHIA – The 14th-ranked Ouachita Baptist University football team scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the game, which proved to be enough for what ended up as a 31-24 victory over Arkansas Tech on Saturday at home.
Tech (3-5) scored on the first drive of the game to take an early lead in what turned into a back-and-forth battle between the Wonder Boys and Tigers.
Ouachita (7-1) answered, but it wasn't until the same point of the second quarter on the first of what ended up being three rushing touchdowns for
Kendel Givens. The first was a 31-yard break free score to even things up with 9:26 remaining in the second half.
Tech responded with a field goal on its next drive to regain the lead 10-7. Ouachita then march 75 yards on 13 plays and managed the clock to take its first lead of the game on a three-yard touchdown pass from
Riley Harms to
Bo Baker with 11 seconds remaining before halftime. That score put the Tigers up 14-10 at the break.
In the second half,
Gabe Goodman got the scoring started with a 30-yard field goal on the first drive to put the Tigers up 17-10.
Tech fought back and regained the lead at 24-17 with touchdowns at the 6:20 mark of the third quarter and the 13:48 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Ouachita offense took over from there, highlighted by a pair of rushing touchdowns from Givens. His second of the game tied the game at 24-all, and was his 50th career rushing score, which set a new Ouachita record. He padded that record with another score at the 2:49 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Tigers back on top in what ended up being the final score of the contest.
Ouachita ended up with a slight advantage in total offense at 366-353, including a 235-63 lead in rushing yards.
Givens finished the game with 24 carries for 181 yards and three scores, while also catching three passes for 33 yards. Harms finished 14-for-20 through the air for 131 yards and one score.
Connor Flannigan ended with eight receptions for 81 yards.
Defensively, the Tigers had three players in double-digits in tackles with
Dawson Miller leading the way at 11.
Josiah Johnson and
Steven Weston each had 10. The Tigers came up with the only takeaway of the game when
Jax Miller picked off a pass on a tip drill for his first interception of the season and second of his career.
In addition to Givens' record-breaking performance, Tiger head coach
Todd Knight earned his 150th victory at Ouachita in Saturday's game. He is now 150-100 in his 24th season (25th year) in Arkadelphia.
The Tigers are now set for their final road trip of the regular season and the team's second Thursday night game of the year, this time in Bethany, Oklahoma against Southern Nazarene on October 26. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
