Bison Stun Arkansas Tech, 19-15

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist avenged its worst football loss of 2015 with a 19-15 victory over Arkansas Tech at Crain Family Stadium Saturday.
 
The Wonder Boys had inflicted a 50-7 hurting on the Bison a year ago, but there was nothing reminiscent of that game in the 2016 version.
 
"After last week, the conviction that we could be 1-1 after this day was positive," said OBU Coach Chris Jensen. "The players believed it; the coaches believed it and we got it done."
 
Arkansas Tech received votes in the AFCA Top 25 poll after blanking Southern Nazarene 46-0 last week, but it didn't take long for the Bison to end the Wonder Boys' shutout streak.
 
After the Bison stopped ATU on five plays on the opening drive, march 52 yards and Trey Tully put the Bison ahead with a 30-yard field goal with 10:06 showing in the first quarter.
 
Isaiah Mallory started that drive with a 15-yard run and that was only the beginning for the Bison sophomore. He racked up 140 yards on a workhorse 35 carries and would score two touchdowns.
 
"We were pretty salty about that loss at Arkansas Tech last year," Mallory said. "We just wanted to come out here and beat Arkansas Tech."
 
After a trade of punts, OBU's defense put its stamp on the game when Edward Morgan Jr. forced down ATU quarterback Ty Reasnor in his own end zone for a 5-0 OBU lead with 4:41 left in the opening stanza.
 
OBU took the ensuing drive 41 yards on four plays with Mallory completing the drive from a yard out.
 
Dez Stegall completed passes of 17 yards to Stephan Turner and 14 yards to Cagney Roberson to get to the 10 on the drive. Turner took the next two carries for the 12-0 lead at the 2:43 mark of the first quarter.
 
Tech scored on the final play of the first quarter on a 23-yard Reasnor pass to Henry Wesley to make it 12-7.
 
The Bison put the kibosh on any thought of a Tech rally in the second quarter, moving the ball 75 yards on nine plays for a 19-7 lead with 12:31 left in the half. Stegall hit Noah McGraw for a 40-yard pass play with McGraw hauling in the pass on a terrific dive and Mallory and Sha'Hada Artberry added runs of eight and nine yards in the drive before Mallory capped the march with a five-yard scoring tote.
 
Eric Perez added a field goal for Tech from 32 yards to make it 19-10 just ahead of the half.
 
Shade added a 4-8-yard field goal to cut the lead to 19-13 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.
 
Arkansas Tech missed a scoring chance in the fourth quarter when Reasoner found Jabyes Coons open down the middle, but as Coons came across the OBU five yard line, defensive back Charles Taylor III poked the ball loose and into the end zone for a touchback, giving the ball back to the Bison.
 
"He beat me on a double move and I just said I can't get beat like that so I just hustled up and made the play," said Taylor.
 
Tech came up empty again when Taylor intercepted Reasnor in the end zone.
 
The Wonder Boys had another chance with seven seconds left and it appeared Taylor had another end zone pick, but a penalty was called away from the ball. On the final play, Reasnor threw an incomplete pass from the OBU 47.
 
"Defensively, what a phenomenal job they did in the second half holding them to a field goal," said Jensen. "Offensively, we would have loved to have scored a few more points and make it less of a nail-biter, but they scored enough to win the game so they did their job."
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OBU rushed for 164 yards in the game, led by Mallory's career-best 140. Stegall was 16 for 26 with no interceptions, putting him at 105 consecutive passes without a pick-off. He finished with 181 yards passing – 57 of that to Roberson. Turner had 50 yards on a game-high six receptions.
 
Cooper Koons had a 44.2-yard punting average, including a 66-yard boomer that went out of bounds inside the Tech 5.
 
Defensively, Levi Jennings accumulated 12 tackles and D'Ante Meeking added 10, including eight solos. Tanner Robertson and Gage Wimer had two tackles for loss apiece with Robertson getting a sack.
 
At 1-1, the Bison host Southeastern Oklahoma State Saturday at noon.