BETHANY, Okla.—The 2021 football season came to a close on Saturday afternoon as Southern Nazarene fell to Oklahoma Baptist on Senior Day.
Southern Nazarene (1-10, 1-10 GAC) had no luck slowing down the high-powered offense of Oklahoma Baptist (7-4, 7-4 GAC). The Bison cranked out 599 yards of offense, including 367 yards and 6 touchdowns through the air by senior quarterback Preston Haire.
The Storm put together a decent opening drive, marching down inside of Bison territory before a pair of penalties pushed SNU back and forced them to punt. Ryan Reid would down the ball at the OBU Bison 5 yard line, although that would ultimately not matter. The Bison took just two plays to find the endzone as Haire connected with Josh Cornell for a 90 yard catch and run. Cornell finished the day with 10 catches for 215 yards and three scores.
Oklahoma Baptist continued to open the lead throughout the first half, building a 21-0 lead. Following an SNU punt with 41 seconds left in the first half, Oklahoma Baptist methodically worked their way down the field. On the last play of the half, Haire heaved the hail mary 39 yards down field and Keilahn Harris hauled it in to extend the Bison lead to 28-0 at the break.
SNU's offense would find some life in the second half, but it was too little too late. The Storm notched a pair of touchdowns, including a 71 yard bomb from Jarvis Davis to Reid Roelofs, in the second half, but would also surrender a pair of touchdowns as Oklahoma Baptist went on to take the game 42-14. Roelofs finished off his SNU career in style, tallying 6 receptions for a season-high 113 yards a score. He leaves SNU in 2nd all-time with 116 career receptions, 3rd in yards with 1,614, and 7th with 10 touchdowns.
Jarvis Davis posted his best day of the season through the air in terms of yards. He racked up 190 total on an efficient 10-of-14 passing and one touchdown.
Freshman Josh Lopez was all over the field on the defensive side of the ball. He racked up double-digit tackles for third time this season, reaching a new high of 13 total tackles. Of those 13 tackles, 3 were tackles for loss, including 1 sack.
The Crimson Storm finish the season at 1-10 and will look to grow during the offseason as the team looks to lean on some promising youth heading into the next season.
