SHAWNEE –
Tonight is a night to be remembered in Oklahoma Baptist football history as the Bison came out victorious in a 56-42 shootout with Northwestern Oklahoma State (0-3, 0-3 GAC) on Saturday night in Shawnee. The two teams combined for a total score of 98, two points shy of the single-game points record of 100 (2018) in OBU history.
OBU (2-1, 2-1 GAC) wins their 12th consecutive game over an Oklahoma School, having not lost a matchup against an Oklahoma opponent since 2017.
The Bison offense could not be tamed as they compiled 531 yards offense tonight, 310 through the air and 241 on the ground. The offense would score seven total touchdowns and convert 30 first downs. Much of this success can be credited to the offensive line's work who kept quarterback
Preston Haire out of the dirt as they didn't allow a sack tonight.
Haire pitched six passing touchdowns, breaking his single-game record of five in school history. The signal-caller collected another 300-yard passing game as he finished 25-34 with 310 yards.
Keilahn Harris was the most receptive of Haire as he brought in nine balls for 100 yards and a touchdown. Harris also returned a kickoff 87 yards as he piled up 240 all-purpose yards. The other half of the outstanding receiving duo,
Josh Cornell, collected six receptions for 80 yards and two scores. Redshirt Freshman
Michael Marshall caught the first touchdown of his career as he went for three catches and 48 yards.
Sophomore
Braden Phipps also collected his first touchdown reception while
Sam Sharp reeled in his second of the season.
Tyler Stuever carried the ball 23 times for 180 yards, four yards less than his career-best of 184 yards in a single game. The workhorse couldn't be stopped, averaging nearly eight yards a carry with one score.
Defensively, the night belonged to the new all-time tackle leader in school history,
Josh Arnold. The linebacker eclipsed 305 career tackles tonight, passing Bryden Pitzer (2013-16), with a seven tackle, 2.0 tackles-for-loss, and two sack performance. In GAC history, Arnold moves into third place all-time, passing up Devin Peyton of NWOSU on the career leader list.
As a whole, the defense sacked the Rangers four times. Two came from
Josh Arnold, while Freshman
Malik Allen collected his second of the season. The other came from
Robert Lolofie, his second sack of the year.
Linebackers
Nick Boone and
Noah Velicer flew sideline-to-sideline tonight as each turned in six tackles. Velicer added 2.0 tackles-for-loss while Boone added one as well.
The Bison offense scored four times in the first half, but couldn't scare away NWOSU as the Rangers turned in 21 points of their own to draw the tally 35-21 going into the break.
OBU's momentum continued into the second half as Oklahoma Baptist tacked on 21 more points. Still, the Rangers fought, and despite a 21-point half of their own, the Bison walked away with tonight's win.
This coming Saturday, Oklahoma Baptist will hit the highway after being at home for the past two weeks for a road test against Southwestern Oklahoma State (0-3, 0-3 GAC). The Bison kickoff time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Weatherford.
