Turnovers Sink Bison

SHAWNEE – Three interceptions and two special teams fumbles were Oklahoma Baptist's undoing in a 42-22 Great American Conference loss at Crain Family Stadium at the Hurt Memorial Athletic Complex Saturday.
 
Isaiah Mallory went for 152 yards on 19 carries, including a 46-yard rush and a touchdown. In fact, OBU rushed and passed for more yards than their guests, but the defense couldn't answer the turnovers as Southeastern scored touchdowns after four of the five turnovers.
 
"We've got to make improvements," said OBU Coach Chris Jensen. "It was a breakdown of communication. The team with the better field position is usually going to win the game. The field position and the mistakes we made put us in a hole early."
 
Southeastern took a 7-0 lead two plays after a punt touched an OBU player and was recovered inside the OBU 10. Devlon Wortham scored from two yards out at the 9:07 mark of the first quarter.
 
The Bison answered with a four-play, 64-yard drive. The march was fueled by runs of 12 and 16 yards by Mallory and capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass play from Dezmond Stegall to Stephan Turner. Trey Tully tied the score with the PAT, 7-7, with 7:23 left in the opening quarter.
 
Another punt turnover landed Southeastern at the OBU 21 and Wortham again scored, this time from the three yard line to make it 14-7 at the 1:26 mark of the quarter.
 
Southeastern made it 21-7 with a 74-yard CB Cantwell to Kaymon Farmer touchdown pass play with 13:53 remaining in the half.
 
The Bison put together a lengthy drive of 75 yards in 14 plays. Stegall kept the drive moving with completions to Josh Pettijohn for 19 yards and Turner for 16 yards, as well as successful rushes on third and fourth downs.
 
Mallory scored his fourth touchdown of the season to make it 21-13 with 7:47 to go in the half.
 
The Savage Storm tacked on touchdowns in the second half on Ronnie Green runs of three and 31 yards and a Cantwell rush for four yards.
 
The Bison were able to cut the lead to 28-15 in the third quarter when Levi Jennings wrapped up Cantwell for a safety with 4:12 remaining.
 
OBU got its first second-half touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter when Frankie Edwards made a strong leaping catch of a Stegall pass from 12 yards out .
 
Stegall's streak of 128 consecutive passes without an interception came to and end as Southeastern had three picks – all in the second half.
 
"Two of those came late when Dez was trying to make something happen," Jensen explained.
 
Stegall passed for 202 yards, completing 17 of 35 attempts. Turner, Pettijohn and Cagney Roberson had three receptions each with Turner leading with 57 yards.
 
Defensively, OBU got 8.5 tackles from Jennings, including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. D'Ante Meeking broke up two passes and Patrick Boxie had 5.5 tackles to lead the secondary.
 
Now 1-2, the Bison head to Ada Saturday to take on East Central in a 6 p.m. kickoff.