SHAWNEE - Senior
Isaiah Mallory rushed for 169 yards on 18 carries while junior
Preston Haire threw for 312 yards, rushed for 62, and had four total touchdowns as the Oklahoma Baptist football team earned a thrilling 50-41 win over East Central on Saturday night under the lights at Crain Family Stadium at the Hurt Complex.
For a team that was severely struggling to establish a running game so far in 2019, OBU found its footing on Saturday night as they rushed for 289 yards as a team and racked a season-high 601 yards on the evening averaging 9.1 yards per play. East Central had a good night on the offensive side as well, going for 469 yards of total offense including 277 on the ground.Â
OBU was an impressive 9 of 12 on third down and 2 of 2 on fourth down while the Tigers dominated time of possession as they held the ball for 35:01. ECU was 7 of 15 on third down and a whopping 5 of 5 on fourth down.
The Tigers scored with 1:32 to play to make it 42-41 and decided to try for two and the lead, but sophomore
Taurean Smith blew up a reverse by the Tigers to hold onto the one point lead. Haire would score on a 24-yard run on third down with 24 seconds left and sophomore
Tyler Stuever delivered the dagger with the two-pointer to make it 50-41.
Both offenses got off to slow starts as ECU went three-and-out while OBU had a rare turnover on an interception in East Central territory. The Tigers used their vaunted rushing attack to go on a 14-play, 93 yard drive that resulted in a one-yard plunge from Ontario Douglas for the 7-0 lead.
The Bison answered with their own long drive, using a 13-play, 73 yard drive to even the score. Haire connected with freshman
Braden Phipps to get deep into ECU territory while sophomore
Eli Paul hauled in his first career touchdown on a one yard pass to make it 7-7.
Both teams exchanged possessions going into the second quarter as OBU would take over with under 10 to go in the half. Haire had a pair of big connections with his running backs, one for 34 yards to Mallory and one for 23 yards to Stuever to move deep into ECU territory. Haire capped the drive with a beautifully designed fade route to one of his favorite targets in sophomore
Joshua Cornell to give OBU their first lead at 14-7.
East Central answered almost immediately as a good kick-off return set up Kenny Hrncir on a 31 yard completion to JayQuan Lincoln and gave Douglas his second score, this time from two yards out, to even the game again at 14.
At this point, the OBU offense was in a groove and it only took one play on the next drive as Mallory found daylight as ripped a 75-yard run down the middle of the field for a 21-14 lead. East Central used a 13-play, 66 yard drive to respond as Hrncir finished the drive with a 15-yard burst before the break and the back-and-forth affair went into half tied at 21 a piece.
Cornell took the opening play of the second half as he caught passes of 10 and 28 to get into ECU territory while Phipps made another huge play, hauling in a 47-yard pass to get down to the ECU 6. A few plays later, Haire again hit Cornell on a fade to put OBU on top 28-21.
East Central began their drive, but the OBU defense caught the break they needed as senior
Ke'Landus Culton went up and got a jump ball for a huge turnover, giving OBU possession at the 34 yard line. OBU pounded the rock into Tiger territory after a 21-yard
Noah McGraw catch as Stuever finished it off with a strong 10 yard score and OBU's lead increased to 35-21.
However, the big play continued to hurt the Bison defense as Hrncir found Lincoln for a 60-yard score to again cut it back to 35-28.
OBU would move into the fourth on a 10-play, 75 yard drive set up by a 38-yard Mallory run. Stuever again capped the drive with a two-yard score to make it a 42-28 game.Â
Douglas would respond with a 57-yard touchdown run and then the Tigers got the break that they needed on the other edn as a fumble was recovered by the Tigers at the ECU 44.Â
From there, the Tigers went on a grueling 16-play, 56 yard drive that included four fourth down conversions and ended in Douglas's fourth touchdown run of the game for the second straight week with 1:32 to play. ECU elected to go for the lead, but Smith came away with the huge stop to keep OBU on top.
The Tigers attempted an unsuccessful onside kick, but still had three timeouts to work with. Stuever started the drive with a 16-yard run to help run clock and Haire finished the drive with a 24-yard score to make it 48-41. Stuever added a two-pointer to all but end the contest and give OBU a huge home win and their second consecutive win.
The victory moves OBU to 2-2 on the year while East Central falls to 1-3.
Along with Haire and Mallory's big days, Stuever added 11 carries for 62 yards and two scores. Cornell hauled in another eight receptions for 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Phipps caught two for 78. McGraw had four catches for 58 yards while Stuever caught a pair for 27. Haire connected with eight different receivers on the night.
Douglas finished with 31 carries for 189 yards and four scores while Hrncir was 15 of 24 for 176 yards and a score. Lincoln hauled in six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, junior
Lane Martin led the night with 11 tackles and a tackle for loss while junior
Myles Russell had 10 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a break up. Senior
Josh Arnold had nine tackles while Culton had seven and the interception.
For the Tigers, RJ Williams led the way with nine tackles, two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble while Jalen Baldwin had five tackles and an interception.
Oklahoma Baptist will be back on the road next weekend as they head to Russellville, Ark. to battle Arkansas Tech. Kick-off is set for 6 pm from Thone Stadium.
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