BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene's bid for a senior day upset of Henderson State came up just a yard short in overtime as the Storm fell 42-41 to the Reddies on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing by seven in overtime, the Crimson Storm (3-6, 3-6 GAC) elected to go for two and the win after scoring their own touchdown. Unfortunately for SNU, the attempt came up just short as Donald May was tackled on the one, allowing Henderson State (7-2, 7-2 GAC) to escape the upset.
Southern Nazarene controlled the majority of the first half. They jumped out to a 13-0 lead and ultimately carried a 20-7 advantage into halftime. The lead jumped back to 13 with just 4 seconds on the clock when Gage Porter found Jarrell Farr for a 13 yard touchdown pass. The touchdown pass was part of Porter's six touchdown day. The other five all came on the ground as part of a school-record five rushing touchdown day.
Tides turned a bit in the second half. The Reddies outscored the Crimson Storm 21-7 in the third quarter and at one point rallied for 21 unanswered points to turn a 27-14 deficit into a 35-27 advantage with under four minutes to play.
Trailing by eight and down to likely their final possession of regulation, SNU put together a masterful seven play drive that included a big third down and seven conversion. A few plays later, Porter took an option keeper 23 yards down the SNU sideline for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game. Porter then tied the game with a strong push up the middle for the two-point conversion.
Henderson State was left with 49 seconds and moved the ball 25 yards to the SNU 46, but three straight incompletions stalled the drive and led to overtime.
On the first possession of overtime, the Reddie offense picked up where it had left off in the second half. They converted a 3rd-and-5 with a 17 yard completion that took the ball all the way down to the three yard line. Two plays later the Reddies punched it in to take a 42-35 lead.
With SNU's possession, they quickly punched it into the endzone on three straight Gage Porter carries, which gave him the SNU single-game rushing touchdown record. The Storm did not hesitate after the touchdown and elected to go for the win and the two point conversion. Out of the shotgun, Porter took the snap and darted to his left. He pitched it back to Donald May just as he was hit, but the pitch was slightly off and May could not handle it cleanly. By the time he picked it up, the Henderson defense was able to chase him down and tackle him at the one, leaving the Storm with a heartbreaking one point defeat.
Stats were even for both teams across the board. SNU outgained Henderson by just 19 yards. The Storm rushed for 290 yards, while passing for 149. The Reddies rushed for 251 yards, while passing for 169. Each team rushed for 5 touchdowns and threw for one touchdown, while also throwing one interception. The biggest discrepancy came in time of possession as the Storm held the ball for over 35 minutes of game time.
Along with Gage Porter's record-setting single-game performance, he also became SNU's single-season rushing leader as he now has 1,428 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. He ranks third in all of DII in rushing yards and second in rushing touchdowns.
Defensively, Cole McMahan led the team with 11 tackles, while Josh Johnson came away with his fourth interception of the season.
SNU will try to put a very tough loss behind them and focus on closing out the season strong. They finish up with two road games as they travel to Arkansas next Saturday to take on Arkansas-Monticello before closing the season at Oklahoma Baptist on November 12. Kickoff with Southern Arkansas is set for November 5 at 2:00 p.m. in Magnolia, Arkansas.
