ARKADELPHIA – The third-ranked Ouachita Baptist University football team suffered its first loss of the 2024 season with an 18-17 setback to Southern Nazarene University on Thursday at home on Halloween night.

The Tiger defense looked good early, forcing a three-and-out on SNU's first possession. However, Ouachita gave it right back to the Crimson Storm on its first offensive play on a sack fumble. The Ouachita defense again stood its ground and only gave up a field goal after SNU started on the Ouachita 24-yard line.

Ouachita responded with a 12-play, 71-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Kendel Givens to take the 7-3 lead with 3:23 remaining in the first quarter.

The defense forced a punt on the next SNU drive and then had an interception midway through the second quarter. However, those defensive stops did not lead to points as the Tigers only scored on a 25-yard field goal by Dax Jaggers.

After a failed fourth down conversion by Ouachita, SNU managed a 40-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half to put the Tigers up 10-6 at the break.

Bo Baker gave the Tigers a spark to start the second half with a 71-yard return to set up his team with first-and-10 at the SNU 23-yard line. Five plays later, Carter McElhany scored on an 11-yard touchdown run on a sweep to put his team up 17-3.

SNU shut down the Ouachita offense from there with two interceptions, two fourth down stops, and two punts the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Storm managed two more field goals to pull to within five early in the fourth quarter. SNU's game-winning drive started at its own 28-yard line with 2:32 remaining in regulation, finishing with an 11-yard screen pass for a touchdown with 24 seconds on the clock. Ouachita's Josiah Johnson intercepted the two-point conversion attempt and had a chance to return the length of the field to put Ouachita back on top, but he was ultimately stopped at midfield.

Down one, Ouachita managed to get into field goal position, but an offensive pass interference negated the gain and forced a hail-mary pass attempt at the buzzer, which was unsuccessful to allow SNU to pull off the win.

Kendel Givens finished the night with 20 carries for 123 yards, his second 100-yard game of the season and 14th of his career.

Jax Miller had a game-high 14 tackles.

The Tigers look to rebound next Saturday, November 9 on the road against Oklahoma Baptist. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. in Shawnee.