RUSSELLVILLE - One of the chain crew members predicted "whoever has the ball last is going to win this one."
His prediction missed by 3 yards.
Arkansas Tech junior quarterback Justin Ray was ruled out of bounds at the 3-yard line on the game's final play as Southern Arkansas held on for a a 56-49 victory against the Wonder Boys at Buerkle Field on Saturday.
Ray completed four passes for 40 yards and ran twice for 22 yards on Arkansas Tech's final drive. The Wonder Boys started at their 20 with 1:14 left in the game and drove to the SAU 12 before Ray's final run.
"In my mind, they couldn't stop us," Ray said. "We just came up short at the end, man. I had no doubt in my mind we were going down there to tie it up."
For the game, Ray passed for 320 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Senior fullback Tony McDonald scored the winning touchdown for SAU (3-6, 2-5 Gulf South Conference) on an 8-yard run with 1:14 left.
"We're just thankful we were able to execute," McDonald said. "The offensive line did a great job blocking, and we were able to outscore them."
McDonald watched from the sideline as Ray tried to rally the Wonder Boys (5-4, 3-4).
"He's a great quarterback," McDonald said. "I take my hat off to him. He's a heck of a competitor. He laid it all out on the line."
"I don't know how many yards [Ray] ran for, but it seemed like about 1,500," Southern Arkansas Coach Steve Quinn said. "He breaks your defense down. He's hard to defend. He's just a great player.
"And he almost won it for them,or tied it for them, on fourth down there."
Ray split time at quarterback last season with Cole Barthel and started at wide receiver this season until Barthel's season ended with a knee injury in Arkansas Tech's fifth game. Ray was moved to quarterback.
"I thought he played outstanding," Mullins said. "I thought the offensive line and the tailbacks did a great job of providing protection for him. At times when he had to scramble, he made a lot of yards."
Ray passed for Arkansas Tech's first three touchdowns Saturday, on throws of 6 and 45 yards to junior receiver Tracey Stiger and 26 yards to senior Herb Grigsby. Ray's 2-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left in the first gave the WonderBoys a 28-21 lead.
But Southern Arkansas' option offense, run by senior quarterback Josh SanFilippo, showed big-play potential from the start, and never more than on its last possession of the first half.
SanFilippo started the drive with a 27-yard pass to senior running back Steven Ashley, putting Southern Arkansas at Arkansas Tech's 39 with 22 seconds left.
A 14-yard pass to senior receiver Mario Coleman, a personal foul called against Arkansas Tech and an 11-yard pass to sophomore receiver Michael Chatman put Southern Arkansas at Arkansas Tech's 1 with one second left.
Sports, Pages 41 on 10/28/2007