BETHANY, Okla. – It had been a total of 480 days since the Crimson Storm last took the field at SNU Football Stadium. On a rainy Friday evening against GAC foe East Central, SNU and the Tigers battled down to the wire until the Tigers managed to oust SNU 35-28 in their home-opener.
A couple lightning delays extended the contest further than intended as the teams would play for over three hours.
In front of a rowdy crowd, Southern Nazarene (0-2) put on a show as they outgained East Central (1-0) in total yards 577-392. The Storm outrushed ECU 288-247 and held the advantage through the air as they finished with 289 passing yards. With
Gage Porter at the helm, the Storm offense thrived as he tallied 491 total yards. 286 of those yards came through the air with one touchdown and 205 were mustered on the ground as he scored once. Porter's longest run on the day was 51 yards and he averaged 8.3 yards per carry.
Reid Roelofs had the most lucrative game of his career he racked up 153 yards on six receptions. Roelofs' 79-yard catch was the longest of the season thus far.
Christian Shelmire also had a career game as he rushed nine times for two touchdowns and 51 yards. Rounding out the work on the offensive side was
Andrew Tisdale who caught two passes for 76 yards and a score.
Defensively,
Trenton Smith led the way with eight total tackles while three other SNU players,
Josh Lopez,
Aaron Randle, and
Angel Hernandez, had seven tackles a piece. Lopez, a freshman, would also collect a sack and two tackles for loss.
This game never kept you waiting as fans witnessed two teams run up the score. The Crimson Storm were the first to the party as a 49-yard pass to
Reid Roelofs led to a 1-yard sneak by
Gage Porter to put SNU up 7-0. In the first quarter alone, Southern Nazarene rushed for 142 yards and passed for 107 more.
East Central would score in the dwindling minutes of the second quarter and the two teams headed into the locker room tied, 7-7.
An action-packed third quarter saw a total of 28 points hit the scoreboard. It began when
Gage Porter connected with
Andrew Tisdale for a 42-yard score in the early moments. The Tigers quickly answered with an 86-yard kickoff return, bringing the score to 14-14. SNU found the endzone again when Porter hit
Reid Roelofs with a 79-yarder, setting up a 6-yard
Christian Shelmire scamper into the endzone, putting the Storm up 21-14.
On the ensuing drive, ECU again crossed the plane and brought the third quarter to an end with a score of 21-21.
A bit into the fourth, the Tigers scored their third rushing touchdown of the evening, capping a 14-play, 75-yard drive. After sitting out a series, Porter came in to start the SNU drive and ripped off a 47-yard rush that set up
Christian Shelmire's 24-yard touchdown score, his second on the day.
East Central eclipsed the white line one last time with four minutes left in the quarter. A fourth down stand by the SNU defense with 1:06 left gave
Gage Porter and company a final chance at tying the game up. However, a last second Hail Mary heave into the end zone fell beyond the outstretched arms of multiple defenders and gave the Storm their second loss of the season.
Southern Nazarene will return to the gridiron next week for a face-off with Missouri Southern State on Thursday, March 18. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
