MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas defense allowed just 151 total yards of offense to GAC-newcomer Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday afternoon to help propel the Muleriders to a 38-20 win over the visiting Bison on Homecoming.
The Muleriders' (4-2, 4-2 GAC) victory against the Bison (1-5, 1-5 GAC) pushes their Homecoming Day winning streak to eight games overall with the last seven coming under head coach
Bill Keopple.
In Saturday's game, neither team would light up the scoreboard in the first quarter, but early in the second quarter, the Muleriders struck first as
Barrett Renner hooked up with a wide open
Tanner Hudson from nine-yards out. Later in that second quarter, SAU's
Deandre Jenkins would find pay dirt from seven-yards out to put the Muleriders up 14-0 heading into halftime.
Despite being held off the scoreboard in the first half, the Bison wasted little time at the beginning of the second half before pushing across their first points of the game. The initial touchdown for the Bison was a 16-yard rush by QB Dez Stegall on the first play of their opening drive of the second half after the Bison recovered a fumble deep in Mulerider territory.
The Muleriders would answer back a couple of minutes later when Renner connected with his fullback
Garrett Turnbull for a 30-yard TD pass that put SAU back up 14 points, 21-7 with 11:15 left in the third quarter.
A
William McKnight two-yard score and a 31-yard field goal by
Bradford Grems pushed the Mulerider lead to 31-7 with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Bison would mount a comeback attempt however over the remainder of the third quarter and on into the early moments of the fourth quarter as they scored a pair of touchdowns by taking advantage of a short field off of a SAU punt and capitalizing on a Renner interception to make the score 31-20 with 13:41 left in regulation.
On the ensuing kickoff following the last of those two Bison touchdowns, the Muleriders would catch a break that could have swung the momentum of the game firmly to Oklahoma Baptist as SAU was able to recover a fumble on the return. After retaining possession, the Muleriders would march down the field 57 yards on nine plays, which was capped by a two-yard touchdown on a direct snap to McKnight on Fourth-and-Goal to give SAU some breathing room.
That score, McKnight's second of the game, would be the final scoring in the game as the Mulerider defense put the suffocating clamps down on the Bison on their next and subsequent final drive of the game.
On that drive, which lasted nearly four minutes, the Mulerider defense would allow just four yards on seven plays. After the Bison converted on a Fourth-and-One, the Muleriders would have consecutive tackles for lost yardage as
Malik Preston registered a sack and
Calvin Lyons notched a TFL on a quarterback scramble.
Overall in the game, the Muleriders would total 12.0 tackles for lost yardage led by Preston with 3.0 TFL. Two of those TFL's for Preston came via the sack, which was matched by fellow linebacker
Dominic Kelly.
The Muleriders will now prepare for a pivotal clash with defending GAC Champion Ouachita as the two teams will meet in the Murphy USA Classic in El Dorado. The game will be played at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado with a kick-off of 2 p.m.
