ECU Stops Bison, 41-20

Missed tackles and four turnovers proved too much to overcome as East Central knocked off Oklahoma Baptist 41-20 at the newly-named Crain Family Stadium Saturday at OBU.
 

"We took one step forward and two steps back," said OBU Coach Chris Jensen. "We can't make those mistakes."
 

Dez Stegall had 137 yards on the ground and 130 passing for 267 of OBU's 373 yards of offense.
 

The Bison struck first in the game, going 68 yards on four plays, including a 49-yard run by Stegall with 10:32 left in the first quarter. Stegall had a 45-yard keeper on the first possession of the game.
 

East Central tied the game with 6:17 left in the first quarter on a Rocky Moore touchdown pass to Dezmon Jackson from 14 yards out.
 

The Tigers went ahead on a seven-play, 58-yard drive, capped by a Moore pass to Jason Gaines for a 14-7 lead 14 seconds into the second quarter.
 

David Massuere added a 27-yard field goal for a 17-7 ECU edge with 8:32 left in the half and then added a 29-yarder as the first-half clock expired for the 20-7 halftime edge.
 

OBU scored on an eight-play 83-yard drive, including a 15-yard run by Stegall and a 22 yard run by Stephan Turner. Jacques Henderson capped it off with a 19-yard run around the left side to make it a 20-14 game with 7:57 remaining in the third quarter.
 

The Bison shot themselves in the foot with a roughing the passer call that negated an interception and prolonged what turned into a five-play, 57-yard scoring drive for the Tigers with Rocky Moore passing the David Moore for the 27-14 lead with 5:27 to go in the third.
 

ECU turned an interception into a 52-yard scoring drive, culminated by a 19-yard scoring pass from Rocky Moore to Juwan Dotson with 2:03 to go in the third for a 34-14 lead.
 

The Bison pulled to within 34-20 on a 66-yard scoring pass from Stegall to Derek Serowski with 55 seconds later.
 

D'Ante Meeking intercepted Moore and set the Bison up at the ECU 25 with 1:08 left in the third quarter and OBU got all the way to the 15 before turning the ball over on downs.

With OBU out of timeouts, ECU opted to go for one last touchdown and scored with 12 seconds remaining on a Jamal Hall run from three yards out for the final margin.

For the Bison, Turner had 55 yards rushing and Serowski was the leading Bison receiver with 83 yards on two catches.

Moore threw for 176 yards and East Central had big games from two running backs, getting 182 yards from Tre'von Jackson and 144 from Hall.

OBU got nine tackles and a forced fumble from Brynden Pitzer, while Tanner Robertson, Meeking, Gage Wimer and Zack Bishop had eight tackles each.

Ed Morgan, Jr., had a quarterback sack and OBU got one tackle for loss each from Pitzer, Wimer, Bishop, Levi Jennings and Christian Doty. Phillip Spess and Nic Shegog both had pass break-ups.

ECU out-gained the Bison 499-373.

Now 0-4, the Bison host Arkansas-Monticello Saturday at noon.