DURANT, Okla. - Southern Arkansas scored 22 points in the final 2:49 of action on Saturday afternoon, but the late scoring surge fell just short as Southeastern Oklahoma managed to hold off the Muleriders to pick up a 35-32 Week 6 Great American Conference win from Paul Laird Field.
The Muleriders (2-4, 2-4 GAC) trailed by just a touchdown at the half, but fell behind 28-7 entering the fourth quarter of play. Grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson connected on his 42nd career field goal with a 29-yard make at the 8:12 mark to cut into the three-touchdown deficit at 28-10.
Southeastern Oklahoma responded with 2:51 to play as Deundre Wheeler scored his third rushing touchdown of the afternoon to push SOSU out front 35-10.
With the Savage Storm appearing to be in control of the contest, the Muleriders rallied. On the second play of the ensuing SAU drive, junior OB Jones hooked up with junior Dekendrick Bender on a 48-yard scoring pass, Bender's second grab for six on the day, with 2:17 left to bring the deficit back to 18 at 35-17.
The Muleriders used all three timeouts on the next SOSU drive as the SAU defense forced a three and out that used just 26 seconds and covered only five yards.
One minute after their first of three straight scoring drives in the final three minutes, the Muleriders went back to work offensively. Jones found redshirt junior Kamden Perry on a 56-yard completion on the left side of the field and Jones' two-point rush was successful as the five-play, 86-yard drive used just 45 seconds of clock and pulled Southern Arkansas to ten of the SOSU lead at 35-25 with 64 ticks remaining.
Southern Arkansas recovered the onside kick, but a limited clock, no timeouts and needing to go 66 yards for its first of two potential scores greatly hampered the chances. However, there was no quit in the Mulerider offense. Jones engineered a nine-play drive that ended on the final play of the game: an 18-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 3 to redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales.
Bender crossed the century mark in receiving yards with 108 on six catches with two finding the end zone. Scales' seven catches led the team and he finished with 19 touches for 115 all-purpose yards and the game's final score.
Redshirt sophomore Kadyn Roach led SAU with 44 yards rushing. Jones passed for 248 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-25 passing and he added 27 yards on the ground.
Junior Jacob Berry, redshirt sophomore Gavin Roe and sophomores Melvin Smith Jr. and D'verryon Foster all recorded eight tackles. Redshirt sophomore Andrew Schreiner punted five times at an average of 37.5 with three pinned inside the 20; two of which landed inside the 15. Grad return man Ean Beek averaged 24.3 yards per kickoff return as he totaled 73 KOR yards in the loss.
Southeastern Oklahoma struck for the first two touchdowns of the game as its opening drive of the game covered 60 yards in 11 plays and resulted in a Daulton Hatley to Braxton Kincade 14-yard connection for the game's first points.
The Muleriders forced the Savage Storm's high-powered offense off the field in the latter's next two drives. Both drives went eight-plus plays, covered at least 32 yards and took no less than 5:20 off of the clock, but each ended in punts.
Southern Arkansas managed just a pair of six-play drives with neither covering 20 yards on the two possessions that followed the two SOSU punts in the first half.
Following SAU's third punt of the half, Southeastern Oklahoma utilized a five-play, 45-yard drive finished off on a 17-yard rush by Wheeler, while the two-point try pushed the host out front 14-0 with 2:24 remaining before the intermission.
The scoring drive for the Muleriders, which cut the deficit to a single touchdown late in the first half, took less than two minutes and tallied up 64 yards on nine plays. The drive found SOSU territory and the red zone on a 31-yard toss from redshirt freshman Judd Barton to Bender and the Barton-to-Bender link occurred six plays later on a short pass out to the left that hit paydirt with 24 seconds before the break.
The Mulerider defense withstood and limited a Savage Storm attack in the first half despite an efficient 19-of-23 passing effort, 15 first downs for the nation's leader in the category and nearly 21 minutes of possession time.
Southern Arkansas ran four more plays and out gained SOSU by 13 yards. The teams, two of the top two in first downs and third down conversions in the country, combined for 49 first downs and were 11-of-26 on third down opportunities.
The Muleriders prepare for a Week 7 matchup in Russellville as Arkansas Tech awaits on October 15. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
