BETHANY – For the first time in school history, the Southern Nazarene University football team defeated Arkansas Tech University 41-24 in an electrifying fashion on "Pink Out Day".
It was all about the defense on Saturday afternoon, and the Wonder Boys' (0-6, 0-6 GAC) offense was caught in a living nightmare. The Crimson Storm (2-4, 2-4 GAC) compiled four takeaways in the contest, which was the second-most in program history. All four of those turnovers forced were interceptions and SNU returned two of those for touchdowns.
The SNU defense held Tech to 340 yards, but the Wonder Boys ran 86 offensive plays compared to 46 for the Crimson Storm.
Noah Campbell was simply outstanding in the game as he led the way with nine tackles and two interceptions (one of those returned for a touchdown). Alongside Campbell was
Jake Hanson who also tallied nine tackles in the game.
Ethan Spurlock and
Josh Jordan each recorded seven tackles as Jordan also had an interception as well.
Jakel Davis was the other Storm defender to pick off the Wonder Boys and had the team's other pick-six touchdown.
As fantastic as the defense was, quarterback
Gage Porter had just as good of a game on the offensive side of the ball. The junior tallied a career-high 380 all-purpose yards as 270 of those came on the ground, the fourth-most in a single game in school history. He finished with three total touchdowns, two coming on the ground and one through the air. The Wonder Boys had absolutely no answer for Porter as he helped the Storm offense to 41 points, the most points scored for SNU since September 8
th of 2018.
Reid Roelofs hauled in three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown while
Nate Walker picked up 31 total yards in the game as well. For the first time this season, the Crimson Storm offense outgained the opponent as SNU racked up 412 total yards and an impressive 8.4 yards per play.
The Southern Nazarene special teams unit kickstarted the fireworks early in the first quarter as
Jaden Simmons blocked a Wonder Boy punt which
Kolbe Branch scooped up and took 31 yards to the endzone to give SNU a quick 7-0 lead. After both defenses gritted their teeth and allowed no points for the rest of the first quarter, the Storm offense turned up the heat. Porter connected with Roelofs for a 28-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give SNU a 14-0 advantage with 7:31 to play in the half. After that, well it was pure madness.
Just 1:09 later, Porter high-stepped through a hole the size of Bethany and scampered 83 yards untouched to push the Southern Nazarene lead to 21-0. On the next defensive possession, the SNU secondary decided they wanted a turn. Campbell picked off Arkansas Tech quarterback Mason Cunningham and returned the interception 44 yards for a touchdown giving the Storm a 28-0 lead.
Arkansas Tech pushed the ball down the field and scored their first touchdown just before halftime to cut the deficit to 28-7 heading into the break. The 28 first-half points scored for Southern Nazarene was the team's highest since joining NCAA Division II back in 2013.
Head coach
Andy Lambert changed his strategy in the second half to one simple gameplan: burn the clock. In the third quarter, the Storm offense tried to chew as much clock as possible but Arkansas Tech was not going down without a fight. The Wonder Boys connected on a 29 yard field goal with 12:39 left in the period to cut the SNU lead to 28-10 before Cunningham found the endzone on a 2 yard run with 2:54 remaining to make it 28-17.
The Southern Nazarene decided in the fourth quarter they were not going to allow a comeback, and
Jakel Davis proved that by picking off Cunningham and taking the interception 81 yards to the endzone to extend the SNU lead 35-17. With 9:35 left in the game, Porter decided he wanted more and sprinted 68 yards to put the icing on the cake and make it 41-17. The Wonder Boys added one more touchdown with 4:22 left and the Storm were able to run out the clock from there to earn their second win in the last three weeks.
Southern Nazarene hits the road next week to take on Arkansas-Monticello next Saturday afternoon with a 3:00 kickoff scheduled. The Crimson Storm return home after that to take on Ouachita Baptist on October 24
th.
