Southern Nazarene Game Notes
Southwestern Oklahoma State Game Notes
GAC Notebook

BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene plays its final road Great American Conference game this week as it travels out to Weatherford, Okla., to take on Southwestern Oklahoma State in the Route 66 Rivalry. The Crimson Storm are coming off their closest loss of the year in a 22-19 defeat at Arkansas-Monticello. Southwestern Oklahoma State is coming off a 24-21 loss at home to East Central for Homecoming. The Bulldogs started the season at 3-1, but flipped that record in the last four, going 1-3.

LAST WEEK
Southern Nazarene out gained its opponent for the first time this year and scored first in a game for the first time this year as well. The Crimson Storm jumped out 3-0 on Arkansas-Monticello, but watched the Boll Weevils score 17 straight. 

Trey Hills then found Cass White in the end zone to make it 17-9, but a blocked extra point gave UAM a 19-9 lead that it carried into the half. Ian Sanders hit his second field goal of the day to make it 19-12 in the third quarter, but the Weevils answered to take a 22-12 lead into the fourth quarter. 

Later in the fourth, SNU took advantage of an errant punt and punched it into the end zone on a 7-play drive capped by a Trey Knowles touchdown to make it 22-19. SNU had two separate chances on drives in the final minutes, but UAM forced a turnover on downs the final two drives for SNU.

Hills threw for a career-high 233 yards going 23-for-41. Cass White recorded a school single-game record with 13 receptions. He had 83 yards receiving on the day. 

The Bulldogs had a lead twice on East Central at 7-0 and 13-10, but it was the Tigers who had the final say. Hunter Dinkines put SWOSU up 7-0 late in the first when he caught a pass from Dustin Stenta. ECU answered just a few minutes later to make it 7-7 and that's how the first half finished.

The Tigers went up 10-7 early in the first, but Southwestern answered just two minutes later to  take a 13-10 lead on a Ryan Corbin touchdown. That was the last lead the Bulldogs had though as ECU scored with just seconds left in the third and early in the fourth to lead 24-13. SWOSU got a late touchdown and a two-point conversion with 1:20 to play to make it 24-21, but ECU recovered the on-side kick and ran out the clock from there.

THE LAST TIME
Last year Southwestern escaped it's own Homecoming with a 19-12 win over the Crimson Storm. SNU took a 6-0 lead to start the game early in the first quarter as it scored on its first drive of the. That drive came shortly after picking off a Dustin Stenta pass on SWOSU's first possession.

The Bulldogs though rattled off 19 straight to lead 19-6 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Storm began to chip their way back into the game. DeWayne Ikner forced a fumble early into the fourth quarter that Blake Cavill recovered and returned 45 yards back for a touchdown. That made it a one-possession game with 11:26 left to play. The Storm had a chance with 3:11 left to play with a first down and 10 at their own 49-yard line, but Davionne Amie picked off a Taylor Chasteen pass and the Bulldogs ran the clock out from there.

The Crimson Storm had a 165 yards of total offense with 116 yards rushing and 49 yards passing. The Bulldogs had 200 yards of total offense with 61 yards rushing and 139 yards passing.

Stenta threw for 134 yards and one touchdown while Aaron Wilson rushed for 47 yards. Chasteen had 31 yards passing and 35 yards rushing. 

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs are seventh in the Great American Conference in total offense as they average 397.1 yards per game. Southwestern averages 145.1 yards per game on the ground and 252.0 yards per game through the air, ranking them fifth in both categories. Southwestern is also eighth in the GAC in scoring offense at 24.5 points per game. 

D.C. Walker leads the ground attack the for the Bulldogs as the senior is averaging 67.6 yards per game and 3.9 yards per carry. He ranks sixth in the GAC in rushing. Dustin Stenta ranks sixth in the conference in passing yards per game at 244.4. He is 150-for-270 on the year with nine interceptions. He has thrown for 1,955 yards this season. Stenta is also seventh in passing efficiency at 130.5. Ryan Corbin is third in the GAC in receptions per game and sixth in receiving yards per game. He is currently averaging 6.2 catches per game and 77.1 receiving yards per game. 

Southwestern is fifth in the GAC in points allowed at 25.5 per game and sixth in total defense at 400.6 yards per game. The Bulldogs have the third best rushing defense in the conference at 120.1 yards per game and are ninth in passing defense at 280.5 yards per game. SWOSU is ranked eighth in opponents' third-down conversions as teams are converting 41.1 percent of the time, but the Bulldogs are third in opponents' fourth-down conversions at 17.6 percent. 

Ryan Feller leads the way on the defensive side of the ball for Southwestern Oklahoma State as he is ranked fourth in the GAC in tackles at 72 and is averaging 9.1 per game. Cliff Nyagesiba is also in the top 20 with 54 tackles. Jacolby Robinson is the team's leader in sacks at 2.5 and tackles for a loss at 6.0.

STORM AMONG THE GAC
Dylan Terry is ninth in the Great American Conference in passing yards per game at 140.1 and is also 10th in total offense at 129.0 yards per game and has accounted for 1,032 total yards of offense. Ian Sanders is ninth in the GAC in scoring for kickers at 27 points. The senior is 15-for-16 on PATs and is 4-for-7 on field goal attempts. Sanders is also seventh in field goals.

Cass White leads the GAC in kick return average as the junior is averaging 25.7 yards per return. He has 15 returns on the year for a total of 385 yards and has a long return of 58 yards. Johnathan Martin is third in kickoff return yards as is averaging 16.6 yards per return. He has 25 on the year for a total of 414 yards. 

Blake Cavill is fifth in the GAC in tackles with 71 and is averaging 8.9 per game. Josh Price is 14th in the conference in tackles at 6.9 per game and has 55 on the year. Matthew Gregg is also in the top 20 as he is averaging 6.8 tackles per contest and has 54 total. Christo Lisika is second in tackles for a loss with 12 total for a loss of 45 yards and is fourth in sacks with 4.5. Lisika is also third in fumbles forced with two while Derrick Carmouche is tied for fifth in fumbles recovered with two. 

The Crimson Storm are sixth in the conference in red zone offense having scored in 20 of their 26 attempts. SNU has 15 touchdowns and five field goals.

NEWS AND NOTES
Blake Giles recorded a career-high five sacks last year at Southwestern Oklahoma State ... Matthew Gregg tied his career-high for tackles with 10 last week against Arkansas-Monticello ... Trey Knowles scored his first career rushing touchdown against Monticello last week as well ... Jarod Martin is approaching 2,600-yards in receiving as he needs just 17 more yards to do so ... Martin needs just one more touchdown to take sole possession of second place in touchdowns in school history. He currently has 33 touchdowns and is tied with Derick Perkins (2009-12) for second ... Dylan Terry is 181 yards away from totaling 3,000 total offensive yards for his career. He is fourth in all-time in school history in total offensive yards.