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BETHANY, Okla. — There's no doubt that the state of Oklahoma needed the rain. Apparently so did No. 13 Southern Nazarene. After a fairly stagnant first three quarters, and an hour and half rain delay, SNU scored 21 of its 35 points in the fourth quarter in a 35-10 win over Friends (Kan).
The Crimson Storm (3-0) scored just 14 points in the first three quarters, but scored 21 points in the fourth quarter in a total of 3:17 seconds in three different drives. All of this came after lightning from a quick moving storm halted the game with just minutes left in the third quarter.
“We protected Brady (Wardlaw) a lot better in the second half,” said SNU Head Coach
Mike Cochran after Wardlaw was sacked three times in the first half. “Once we started doing that, we could run our offense and have some success.”
It was the second straight week Southern Nazarene held an opposing offense to under 100 yards in total offense. The Storm held the Falcons (1-1) to just 87 yards with 42 coming on the ground and 45 coming through the air. SNU struggled at times with the running game, going for 63 yards, but threw for 337 yards for 400 yards total.
“I thought we played even better tonight on defense then what we did the last two weeks,” said Cochran “Friends had some really good running backs, but we stepped up and shut them down.”
SNU had a total of 11 tackles for a loss of 34 yards and recorded two sacks as well.
Dillon Brumbaugh led the way with 10 tackles, three of which were for a loss, a half-sack and a forced fumble.
Matt Pruitt recorded his second interception, and returned it for 10 yards, which set the school's career-record for return yards after an interception. He now has 134 yards on 10 interceptions in two seasons.
Wardlaw threw for 337 yards and four touchdowns on 21-for-42 passing.
Jordan Newby led the way with three receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown, while
Jarod Martin had 92 yards on six catches and a touchdown.
Derick Perkins was the leading rusher with 44 yards on 16 carries.
After a missed field goal and an interception on the Storm's first two possessions, SNU got on the board with just two seconds left in the first. Wardlaw hit
David Balenseifen for a 14-yard touchdown pass to complete a 5-play, 40-yard drive to put the Storm up 7-0.
Friends tied the game late in the second quarter when Kelton Miller drilled home a 50-yard field goal to put the Falcons within four at the half.
Damian Johnson helped give the Storm a 14-3 lead when he capped a 6-play, 39-yard drive with a 3-yard run with 4:01 left in the third.
Then came the rains, but out came the Storm offense.
The Storm scored on three of the five drives they had in the fourth. The first drive was capped by a Wardlaw to Newby touchdown pass that went for 60 yards to finish a 5-play, 83-yard drive. Wardlaw then hit
Terrence Smith to help put the Storm up 28-3 before Wardlaw hit Martin late in the fourth for a 15-yard touchdown for the final score for SNU.
Friends added a late touchdown with 1:40 left to make it a 25-point game.
SNU will now hit the road for the first time this year as it travels to Bethel (Kan.), Sept. 24, for a 6 p.m. kickoff. It's the first of four straight games away from Bethany.
