EL DORADO, Ark. – A go-ahead 16-yard touchdown pass from Barrett Renner to Tanner Hudson with 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter gave Southern Arkansas their first lead of the game against Ouachita and then a SAU defensive stand from their own 12-yardline on the game's final play secured a 32-28 win for the Muleriders in the Murphy USA Classic, which was played at Memorial Stadium in El Dorado on Saturday afternoon.
 
The win for the Muleriders moves them to 5-2 overall on the year with a matching Great American Conference record and also puts them in a tie for second-place in the league with a showdown with GAC-leader Henderson State next Saturday in Arkadelphia.
 
Additionally, the win brings the Murphy USA Classic trophy to Magnolia for the first time as the Muleriders snapped a four-game losing skid in the annual event.
 
The eventual game-winning drive for the Muleriders came off the heels of a much-needed defensive stand after the ball was given back to the Tigers (4-3, 4-3 GAC) on their own 32-yardline after SAU missed a 49-yard field goal attempt wide right. The attempted field goal would have given SAU a one-point lead, 29-28, with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter, but instead Ouachita was in great position to try and eat the clock with a two-point lead.
 
Coming as no surprise, the Tigers, who ended up rushing for 271 yards in the game, ran the ball on their first two plays of that ensuing drive following the missed field goal and left themselves with a manageable 3rd-and-2. On that 3rd down play, a pair of defensive secondaries in Q'Niko Thomas and Elgin Moore came up and stuffed the Tigers' QB Austin Warford for no gain, forcing Ouachita to punt.
 
The Muleriders would then get the ball back at their own 24-yardline with 4:37 left in the game following the Ouachita punt. Consecutive 11-yard pass completions by Renner to Hudson and Karonce Higgins quickly moved SAU near midfield. Three plays later, the Muleriders were facing a 3rd-and-7 from their 49-yardline when a Ouachita pass interference kept the drive alive and moved the ball into Tiger territory.
 
Two plays after that, SAU was facing another 3rd down, but this time, Michael Nunnery, with the help of great blocking down field by Mulerider receivers, gained 16 yards and moved SAU into the redzone at  the 19-yardline.
 
A holding penalty on the ensuing 1st down play and an incomplete pass made it 2nd-and-20 from the Ouachita 29. On the next play, Renner avoided further disaster as he somehow got the ball out before being pulled down for a sack and found Hudson, who gained 13 yards on the play to bring the ball to the Ouachita 16 and set up a 3rd-and-7.
 
Electing the let as much time run off the clock as possible, the Muleriders ran the play clock down to one second before calling a timeout to set up the next play. Out of that timeout, Renner found a wide open Hudson in the flat and Hudson took it to the endzone for the go-ahead TD with just 37 seconds left as SAU's final drive ate up 4:00 minutes of clock.
 
Now only up by four points, SAU chose to go for two rather than try for a traditional extra point, but the attempt failed, leaving it open for the Tigers to perhaps walk-off with a touchdown.
 
The Tigers would start their final drive from their own 28-yardline after a 55-yard kickoff and 18-yard return by Keandre Evans.
 
Having only attempted 10 passes to that point in the game, the Tigers quickly found success through the air as their first two plays gained 43 yards and brought Ouachita to SAU's 29-yardline. Gunning for the endzone on the next two plays, the Tigers weren't able to complete a pass as the Mulerider pass defense stood up. On the next play, however, a 17-yard completion to Evian Hill brought the ball to the SAU 12-yardline with just four seconds left.
 
Ouachita would call a timeout there to set up for their last-stitch effort at stealing a win from the Muleriders. Out of the timeout, the Tigers tried a natural pick play with two of their receivers, but Warford's pass would be nowhere near a Tiger and with no flags on the play, SAU captured their first Murphy USA victory.
 
Statistically, the Muleriders would put up 485 yards of total offense with 383 of those yards coming on a very efficient 23-of-27 passing effort by Renner, who also matched a career-high in touchdowns with five. The top two recipients of Renner's passes were Karonce Higgins and Tanner Hudson as each had over 100 yards on five catches with two of the grabs being touchdowns. Higgins would have the most receiving yards with 158 while Hudson added 111.
 
Defensively, the Muleriders were led in tackles by Elgin Moore as he matched a career-best in tackles with 17 (5 solo, 12 assisted). Also on defense, redshirt freshman Davondrick Lison continued to be a menacing force as he totaled nine tackles with 2.0 of those being sacks. Additionally, Lison would add a forced fumble and three QB hurries as he applied pressure to the Ouachita QB all game long.
 
Next week, the Muleriders will hit the road to Arkadelphia to take on first-place Henderson State in a game that could go a long way towards both team's championship aspirations. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.