Ouachita Baptist University's season in the sun continued during a 38-10 victory over Henderson State in the 92nd Battle of the Ravine.
The OBU football team and its contingent of fans in the crowd of 10,165 were the fortunate ones on Saturday at Henderson's Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, basking on the sun-drenched visiting side.
There wasn't enough mid-November sunlight to cover both sides of the stadium on a 42-degree day.
The Reddies (5-6) and their fans shivered in the shade and the reality that a streak of nine consecutive winning seasons had come to an end.
Ouachita, 11-0 for the first time, turned Henderson State's three turnovers into three touchdowns in a game that was much closer on the stat sheet than it turned out on the scoreboard.
"Turnovers," said redshirt freshman quarterback Brayden Brazeal, who scored the game's first touchdown after OBU recovered a Henderson State fumble at the Henderson 37 in the first quarter. "The coaches preach it to us every week: Whoever wins the turnover margin is going to win the game."
OBU hardly dominated the game despite the 28-point final margin, but the Tigers -- No. 4 in the AFCA Top 25 and No. 2 in the Super Region III rankings -- sure won the turnover matchup.
The Tigers outgained the Reddies 312-295, with 207 of those yards coming in the first half as they built a 24-7 lead.
Henderson got the ball at the start of the second half and controlled it for more than 12 minutes, picked up 9 first downs and 125 yards, but only had 3 points to show for it.
When Temo Martinez missed a field-goal attempt early in the fourth quarter, Ouachita countered with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with the second of fullback Brockton Brown's three touchdowns.
OBU led 31-10 lead with 9:00 to play.
"You play a team like that, and you have turnovers, you know what's going to happen," said Henderson Coach Scott Maxfield, who missed out on his third consecutive chance to win his 100th game with the Reddies. "It's frustrating. You've got to make plays."
Maxfield was referring to two trips inside the OBU 20 that resulted in three points -- one made and one missed field goal by Martinez.
The Tigers, meanwhile, scored touchdowns after each of the Reddies' turnovers -- Brazeal's run and two by Brown.
A third touchdown by Brown came after Martinez's miss early in the fourth quarter, a 42-yard stop-and-go run that sealed the victory.
"All I saw in the hole was the safety," said Brown, who leads OBU with 15 rushing touchdowns. "So, I covered the ball because I knew he was going to hit me, and I lowered my shoulder. When I looked down, he was on the ground, and when I looked up, there was nobody in the secondary. All I saw was the end zone, and it was off to the races."
Brown's big play was more of the exception than the norm on a day when OBU ran 41 plays and lost 60 yards on penalties.
"It was work out there today," OBU Coach Todd Knight said. "It was methodical, and we got it done."
And that was most important for a team that will either begin play in the Division II playoffs next week or receive a bye when the 28-team bracket is announced this afternoon.
Take it from Drew Harris, the seven-touchdown hero of last year's 49-42 OBU victory over Henderson, who didn't score on Saturday but contributed on the ground (7-43 rushing) and as a receiver (3-26) after being slowed for most of the season by a balky right knee.
"This is just a milestone that we wanted to get to," Harris said of the GAC title, 11-0 record and third consecutive victory over Henderson State. "Now, everything's in front of us. We've just got to take it."
OBU's victory evened the all-time Battle of the Ravine series at 43-43-6, and it provided Tigers Athletic Director David Sharp with a warm feeling at the end of a long, stressful day.
"I'm still a little numb," Sharp said. "Wow. We're 11-0."
For the first time.
HARDING 28,
ARKANSAS TECH 0
Cole Chancey rushed for 126 yards and the Harding defense held Arkansas Tech to 156 total yards in the regu-lar-season finale for both teams at First Security Stadium in Searcy.
Harding (9-2, 9-2 GAC) captured its fifth consecutive victory, compiling 22 first downs and 416 total yards. Arkan-sas Tech (3-8, 3-8) was limited to 10 first downs and held the ball for only 19:49 compared to Harding’s 40:11.
Chancey had 24 carries, scoring on a 1-yard run with 6:07 remaining in the third quarter.
Harding scored on its first two drives and led 14-0 at the half.
After forcing Arkansas Tech to punt on its opening drive, Harding used 13 plays, covered 79 yards and took 8:13 off the clock to punch in the game’s first touchdown. Tristan Tucker scored from the 4 with 2:34 remaining in the first quarter.
Harding used 8 plays and went 60 yards in 4:22 to collect its second touchdown when Jesse Honnas ran in from the 1 with 11:49 before halftime.
Chancey’s 1-yard run capped a 14-play, 72-yard drive that took 8:42 off the clock. Cameron Scott’s extra point made it 21-0.
Preston Paden’s 6-yard run with 7:40 remaining capped the scoring and end-ed an eight-play, 75-yard drive.
Harding attempted only three passes with Paden going 2 for 2 for 56 yards. Paden also ran 11 times for 56 yards.
Bryan Allen ran 19 times for 71 yards to lead the Wonder Boys’ rushing game. Arkansas Tech quarterback Manny Harris completed 10 of 18 passes for 76 yards, while Isaac Disney caught 3 passes for 30 yards for the Wonder Boys.
ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 20,
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 17
The University of Arkansas-Monticello (6-5, 6-5 GAC) scored 10 points in the game’s final 1:04 to upset Southern Arkansas University (8-3, 8-3) at Willis “Convoy” Leslie Boll Weevil Stadium in Monticello.
Josh Marini’s 34-yard field goal as time expired allowed the Boll Weevils to complete the comeback from a 17-7 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter.
UAM senior quarterback Cole Sears completed 16 of 24 passes for 236 yards. His 1-yard TD pass to Orrin Walsh with 1:04 to play tied the game at 17-17.
SAU (8-3) managed 7 yards on its next three plays and was forced to punt. UAM then took over at its own 29 with 35 seconds left.
On second down, Sears hit Jeremy Hampton for a 32-yard gain to the SAU 30. A 6-yard run by Imani Riley put the Boll Weevils on the SAU 24 and Sears followed with a 7-yard pass to DeAndre Washington to set up the game-winning field goal.
Walsh’s touchdown reception a minute earlier capped a 12-play, 94-yard drive.
SAU quarterback Barrett Renner completed 25 of 35 passes for 258 yards, including scoring passes of 28 yards to Karonce Higgins and 5 yards to Dalton Wright. The Muleriders led 14-0 at the half.
UAM cut the advantage to 14-7 with 7:33 left in the third quarter when Stephen King scored on a 2-yard run to cap an 8-play, 80-yard drive.
SAU increased its lead to 17-7 on a 22-yard field goal by Austin Wilkerson with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter, but Marini answered with a 30-yard field goal 22 seconds into the final quarter.
Washington led the Boll Weevils in receiving with five receptions for 76 yards.
Higgins caught five passes for 76 yards for SAU.
Sports on 11/11/2018