Turnovers Spell Trouble for Bison

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist got scoring passes from two different passers but came up short in a 45-14 loss to Harding Saturday at Crain Family Stadium at the Hurt Memorial Athletics Complex.
 
Down 7-0, the Bison went 65 yards on nine plays with Preston Haire connecting with Cagney Roberson for 15 yards and Frankie Edwards for 17 yards around a 16-yard run by Isaiah Mallory. Those plays landed the Bison at the 13 and from there, Haire broke right, stopped, and threw back left to a wide-open Mallory, who jogged in for a touchdown.
 
Luke Wendl added the PAT kick to tie the score with 7:07 left in the first quarter.
 
OBU was down 14-7 when Dezmond Stegall guided the Bison on a quick five-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Stegall had a rush of 24 yards and passes of 12 and 10 yards to Stephan Turner and Alex Lewis, respectively, to help get OBU to the 12.
 
Roberson then hauled down a Stegall pass in the end zone from there to tie the game at 14-14 with 7:13 left in the half.
 
The score was 14-14 at the half, but four OBU turnovers doomed the Bison to a 31-0 second half.
 
Haire led the Bison with 85 yards on 9-14-1 passing and Stegall threw for 65 on 8-16-1 passing. Roberson and Mallory had three receptions apiece; Roberson getting 38 yards to lead the team. Stegall was the leading rusher with 37 yards on six carries.
 
Jason Lee had nine solo tackles and 14 total – including three tackles for loss. Landon Rowlett had 12 tackles and an interception and Dante Foster had a quarterback sack.
 
Mallory was injured and taken from the field by ambulance in the second half. He gave teammates and everyone else in attendance a thumbs up as he was being wheeled to the ambulance. As of 4 p.m., Saturday, he was said to be doing well and was awaiting imaging results.
 
Now 0-4, the Bison travel to Magnolia, Arkansas, next week to take on Southern Arkansas in a 6 p.m. kickoff.