BETHANY - The 2019 football season got underway for the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm on Thursday night in Bethany, as the Crimson Storm welcomed the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas into the SNU Football Stadium. With the conditions fitting a late summer Oklahoma night, the Crimson Storm were unable to find a rhythm in the hot and humid conditions, falling to the Muleriders.
SNU (0-1, 0-1 GAC) fell into a 31-7 halftime hole, but the Crimson Storm battled back before ultimately succumbing to SAU (1-0, 1-0 GAC) 34-14.
The Muleriders came out of the gate and set the tone early, covering 74 yards in 12 plays on their opening touchdown drive, and SAU added another score with 3:20 to play in the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead.
SNU answered less than two minutes later when
Gage Porter (Jr./Elk City) looped a pass to
Reid Roelofs (Sr./University Place, Wash.) who was wide open on the left sideline. Roelofs then scampered 62 yards for a touchdown to get SNU on the board and cut the deficit to 14-7.
SAU took control for the remainder of the half, however, rattling off 17 unanswered points in the second period to take a 31-7 lead into the locker room.
SAU bled the clock for most of the third frame, tacking on just a field goal to extend their lead to 34-7, but with 4:29 left on the third quarter clock, SNU created an opportunity for their offense deep in SAU territory. A pass from SAU's Tristan Smith was tipped at the line of scrimmage, and
Dylan Meador (Jr./Piedmont, Okla.) dove and picked off the pass to set up the Crimson Storm at the SAU 7-yard line. Three plays later,
Vance Hooper (Jr./McKinney, Texas) plunged in for a touchdown to cap the scoring and cut the final margin to 34-14.
Porter finished the night 10-for-18 through the air for 112 yards and a touchdown. Roelofs finished the night with three catches for 100 yards and a touchdown for SNU as well, but the Crimson Storm were bottled up on the ground, managing only 18 net yards rushing in the game. SAU out-gained SNU 416-130, and the Muleriders held the ball for 37:40 in the game.
Josh Jordan (Sr./Mansfield, Texas) had seven tackles in the game to lead SNU, and that included a tackle for loss as well.
SNU will hit the road for the next two weeks, heading first to Arkadelphia, Arkansas to take on Henderson State University (0-0) at 6 p.m.
