MONTICELLO — Rico Keller made his first career start a memorable one.
Arkansas Tech’s redshirt freshman quarterback rushed 22 times for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 58-yard dash in the third quarter, to help Arkansas Tech beat Arkansas-Monticello 30-25 on Saturday night.
Keller, who didn’t start the Wonder Boys’ first three games because of an unspecified injury, outdueled UAM’s Scott Buisson, who completed 18 of 35 passes for 267 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, to break former Central Arkansas quarterback Nathan Brown’s all-Arkansas record for total offense in a career.
Keller also completed 10 of 26 passes for 78 yards with 1 interception. But he did most of his damage on the ground, as he also had a 33-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Keller’s longest scoring run came with 12:27 left in the third quarter and gave Arkansas Tech (2-2, 1-1 Gulf South Conference) a 30-14 lead over the Boll Weevils (2-2, 1-1), which proved critical after UAM scored the game’s final 11 points.
On the Wonder Boys’ next possession, Carlton Johnson intercepted Keller and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown and Scott Buisson’s two-point pass to Steven Porter made it 30-22. A Taylor Pontius 21-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter madeit 30-25 and Buisson moved the Boll Weevils inside the Arkansas Tech 20 in the final minute before a Michael Chapman interception sealed the victory.
The Boll Weevils struggled rushing as Nakita Myles gained 39 yards on 11 carries and Buisson carried nine times for minus-18 yards. The Boll Weevils had 12 yards on 25 rushes.
DELTA STATE 41, HENDERSON STATE 37
CLEVELAND, Miss. - Trevar Deed’s 3-yard touchdown run with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter lifted Delta State to a victory over Henderson State on Saturday night.
Deed ran 25 times for 155 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Statesmen (3-1, 2-0 Gulf South). Delta State totaled 522 yards, including 341 yards rushing, while the Reddies had 466 yards.
Nick Hardesty completed 21 of 36 passes for 211 yards. Josh Sipho had five catches for 76 yards. Terrance Jackson ran 23 times for 105 yards.
Henderson State (2-2, 1-1) led 7-0 early thanks to George Hall’s 2-yard touchdown run just more than three minutes into the game, a score that was set up by a Jeremy Rodenburg interception.
Delta State then scored touchdowns on its next three possessions, and twice missed two-point conversions, to take a 19-7 lead midway through the second quarter before a barrage of scoring to end the half.
The Reddies scored three touchdowns in the final six minutes, the last of which was a Hardesty pass to Josh Sipho from 26 yards out to give thema 28-26 lead at halftime, and another score on their first third-quarter drive made it 34-26 after Eric Torres’ extra point was blocked.
Henderson State scored just three more points as Delta State scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the victory.
OUACHITA BAPTIST 37, HARDING 34
ARKADELPHIA - Ouachita Baptist scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to erase a 13-point deficit and earn its first Gulf South Conference victory of the season at A.U. Williams Field.
Harding (1-2, 0-2 Gulf South) took a 28-15 lead into the fourth quarter following Josh Powell’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Kurt Adams.
But Eli Cranor threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Nico Hobbs and Ricky Brown ran for two more scores, including the game-winner from 6 yards out with 1:02 left.
Cranor completed 24 of 40 passes for 319 yards with 2 touchdowns. Brett Reece caught six passes for 153 yards for the Tigers (3-1, 1-1), but the secondbest rushing offense in the league was held to 147 yards on 36 rushes.
Harding led 21-6 early in the second quarter after Powell connected with Tyler O’Quin from 41 yards out, which came three minutes after Powell passed to Adams from 45 yards out.
Powell, who had thrown for just 95 yards combined in Harding’s first two games, completed 9 of 14 passes for 254 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Jeremy Holt led the Bisons with 102 yards rushing.
VALDOSTA STATE 27, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 0
MAGNOLIA - Valdosta State (3-1, Gulf South Conference) scored three defensive touchdowns to beat Southern Arkansas (0-4, 0-2).
Both teams committed two turnovers in the first quarter and the Blazers took a 7-0 lead when Stevie Harden recovered a fumble and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown. The Blazers led 10-0 at halftime.
Larry Dean then made it 17-0 on a 12-yard fumble return for a touchdown. The Blazers got their final defensive score when Harden returned an interception, his second of the game, 42 yards.
The Muleriders held the Blazers to 205 total yards, but gained just 146 yards of offense themselves.
Sports, Pages 28 on 09/26/2010