Football 09.19 James Hill | Assistant AD for Strategic Communications

Bison to Square Off with Storm in Durant

SHAWNEE - Oklahoma Baptist will be on the road for the second consecutive week as they get set to take on the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm at Paul Laird Field in Durant, Okla. at 6 pm. The game will be featured on obubison.com with the trio of Todd Miller, John Brooks, and Scott Wanish.

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (0-2, 0-2 GAC) AT SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE (1-1, 1-1 GAC)

Saturday, Sept. 21 | 6 p.m.

Paul Laird Field | Durant, Okla.

Tickets | Game Day Info | Game Notes | Live Stats | Bison Radio Network

OPENING KICKOFF

OBU is coming off an absolute heartbreaker as they dropped their first road contest of 2019 to the Southern Arkansas Muleriders in Magnolia, 30-28, thanks to a 48-yard field goal as time expired from Austin Wilkerson.

OWNING THE STATE

Last season, Oklahoma Baptist went a perfect 5-0 against Oklahoma football teams including a 34-28 win over the Savage Storm in 2018. Dating back to 2017, OBU has won six straight contests over Oklahoma teams. Their last loss came on November 4th on the road to Northwestern Oklahoma State, 31-24. The Bison have also won three straight road contest over Oklahoma based teams.

SHAE IS THE WAY

For the third straight game dating back to the 2018 finale, junior Shae Garner put together career numbers for the Bison, matching a career-high in catches with 10 while going over 100 yards for the first time in his career, finishing with a total of 103. Garner hauled in a 46-yard reception late in the first quarter. In his last three contests, Garner has 27 catches for 234 yards receiving and a score. Garner is also sixth in the country in receptions per game with 8.5.

HAIRE GOES FOR 50

With a 23-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against Southern Arkansas, junior Preston Haire became the first Bison quarterback in school history to throw for 50 touchdowns in a career. He is now 14 yards away from eclipsing 6,000 yards passing in a career. Haire threw for a pair of touchdown in the loss to the Muleriders.

MR. ALL-PURPOSE

With 43 yards rushing on Saturday night, senior Isaiah Mallory eclipsed 2,500 all-purpose yards in his career. Mallory is already the career-leader in rushing yards for the Bison and adds all-purpose yards to his already stellar career. Mallory continues to be one of the lead backs in 2019 after recovering from an injury a season ago.

BISON POWER

Tyler Stuever found the endzone twice in the first half on Saturday evening, using his power to score on runs of six and one yard out. Stuever is the first to rush for a pair of touchdowns since his quarterback Preston Haire did it one season ago against Southwestern Oklahoma State on October 2. Stuever also did it twice a year ago against East Central and Ouachita.

OH MY JOSH

For the second straight week, it was an eye opening performance from sophomore Josh Cornell. Cornell simply took over the fourth quarter, scoring on back-to-back drives to erase a 13-point deficit and put the Bison ahead by one with under two minutes to play in the contest.

Cornell is currently 10th in the country in touchdown catches with three. He is also 27th in the country in receptions per game (6.5), 32nd in receiving yards (193), and 35th in total points scored (18).

Cornell also became the first receiver since September 29, 2018 to catch a pair of touchdown passes in a game. Josh Pettijohn was the last Bison to do it, catching a pair of scores also against Southern Arkansas.

CREATING TURNOVERS

One of the struggles OBU had as a defense a season ago was the inability to create turnovers. However, that changed on Saturday as OBU was able to create a pair of turnovers despite the loss.

Tyler King forced a fumble that was recovered by Myles Russell and Russell made his mark in the fourth quarter with an interception.

Russell was fantastic in the contest, finishing with six tackles including an interception, a fumble recovery, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry, and a pass break up.

DEFENSIVE HIGH MARKS

Three different defensive players had double-digit tackles against SAU. Sophomore Trajan Lands entered double-digit tackles for the first time in his career, going for 12 including half a tackle for loss. Meanwhile, junior Lane Martin also hit a career-mark in tackles as he also finished with 12 tackles in the contest including half a tackle for loss.

Senior captain Josh Arnold continues to play at a high level at his linebacker position, going for 10 tackles. His 11.0 tackles per game is currently 24th in the nation.

HEARTBREAKER

For OBU, it was as heartbreaking of a loss that a team could suffer as what seemed like a road win in Arkansas was snatched away by a last second 48-yard field goal. It was the first time they lost as time expired since October 20, 2016 when Southwestern Oklahoma State won on a hail mary to stun the Bison, 37-35.

LAST TIME OUT

The Oklahoma Baptist football team put together a huge fourth quarter comeback, scoring 14 points in the final five minutes to surge ahead of Southern Arkansas 28-27. However, Austin Wilkerson booted a 48-yard field goal as time expired, just inching over the crossbar to give the Muleriders a 30-28 home win.
Oklahoma Baptist took the early 7-0 lead and pushed that out to 14-7 on a pair of Tyler Stuever touchdown runs, but Southern Arkansas scored 10 straight to lead 17-14 at the break. The Muleriders extended that lead to 27-14 before a huge fourth quarter rally, thanks in part to Josh Cornell, gave OBU an incredible 28-27 lead with under a minute to go. However, Wilkerson came through as time expired to extend SAU's home winning streak to 17.
The Bison offense had 390 yards of total offense including 261 yards through the air. On the other side of the ball, Southern Arkansas had 534 yards of total offense including 350 yards in the air. The OBU defense was able to turn SAU over two times in the contest. SAU had a slight advantage in time of possession at 31:38 to 28:22.

SCOUTING THE SAVAGE STORM

Last week, Southeastern held on down the stretch with a late touchdown from CJ Shavers and a game-sealing interception from Keelan Chilton to pick up a 24-15 victory on the road over Northwestern Oklahoma State and earn head coach Tyler Fenwick his first win guiding the Savage Storm. The Savage Storm currently sit at 1-1.
Southeastern had its issues moving the ball at times but finished the contest with 350 total yards, including a better effort running the ball in week two with 147 yards on the ground. That was paced by Shavers who finished with 87 yards and a touchdown late which essentially sealed the SE victory.
The Storm passing attack posted 203 total yards, led by Rollin Kinsaul's 123 yards on nine completions with a touchdown, while Daulton Hatley put up 80 yards and a score. Felton Hatcher was the top target on the night with 82 yards on five catches, while Shavers had three receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Ronces added a 26-yard TD reception as well.
Defensively, Conner Swope was all over the field with a game-high 14 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Josh Mulumba added six tackles, two for a loss, and picked off a pass, tacking on a 37 yard return.
Southeastern dropped their week one contest to Southwestern Oklahoma State at home by the score of 35-17.
Last year, for the first time in its NCAA era, Oklahoma Baptist knocked off Southeastern Oklahoma State to move to a 2-0 record.
Preston Haire passed for 298 yards with four touchdown passes with Cagney Roberson grabbing a dozen receptions for 127 yards and a score. The 12 catches tied an OBU record shared by Nyko Symonds, who reeled in 12 against Southwestern Kansas in that 2014 season.
Defensively, Lane Martin had 11 tackles and Felipe Alvear added 10. Each forced a fumble, Alvear recovered one and broke up three passes.
Luke Wendl had a pair of field goals in the contest, connecting from 24 and 45 yards in the contest.
Austin Skinner led the Storm offense with 212 yards on 20-of-33 passing with a score while adding 31 yards on four carries with a touchdown. Kenneth Burks led all rushers on the afternoon with 21 carries and 122 yards with two scores.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#10 Josh Pettijohn: WR; 5' 9"; Redshirt Senior

#15 Cagney Roberson: WR; 6' 3"; Senior

#25 Felipe Alvear: DB; 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore

#41 Josh Arnold: LB; 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior

#85 Shae Garner: WR; 5' 6"; Junior

#12 Preston Haire: QB; 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior

#24 Trajan Lands: DB; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#20 Isaiah Mallory: RB; 5' 8"; Redshirt Senior

#35 Lane Martin: LB; 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior

#11 Myles Russell: S; 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

#10 Josh Pettijohn
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Senior
: WR

#15 Cagney Roberson
: 6' 3"; Senior
: WR

#25 Felipe Alvear
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Sophomore
: DB

#41 Josh Arnold
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior
: LB

#85 Shae Garner
: 5' 6"; Junior
: WR

#12 Preston Haire
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior
: QB

#24 Trajan Lands
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: DB

#20 Isaiah Mallory
: 5' 8"; Redshirt Senior
: RB

#35 Lane Martin
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior
: LB

#11 Myles Russell
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Junior
: S