MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The first November Saturday in Mulerider Country delivered an instant classic as Southern Arkansas and Southern Nazarene, in the tenth meeting all-time between the two programs, combined for 24 points in the final eight minutes of action which was capped by SNU sensation Gage Porter's three-yard run with seven seconds left to give the Crimson Storm a 49-44 win over the Muleriders on Senior Day inside Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field.
 
Porter's tear through the Great American Conference continued on Saturday as he rushed 31 times for 149 yards and four touchdowns, while completing half of his ten pass attempts for 72 yards and a score. Southern Arkansas relied on its trusty offensive weapons as junior quarterback OB Jones tossed for 281 yards on 10-of-16 passing with two touchdowns.
 
He added 27 yards on the ground to become the fourth SAU quarterback since 2000 to eclipse 600 rushing yards in a single season. Jones' rushing total complemented the ground efforts of redshirt sophomore Jariq Scales' 175-yard, two-touchdown day and redshirt sophomore Kadyn Roach's 114-yard day with a score as the Muleriders tallied 331 yards on the ground.
 
Much of Jones' success through the air went to sophomore Matthew Whitten who hauled in four passes for 141 yards and a touchdown which went for 89 yards and brought Southern Arkansas to within 21-17 of the Crimson Storm's first-half lead at the 9:20 mark of the second quarter. The Jones to Whitten scoring strike stands as the third longest touchdown pass in program history and is the longest in SAU's 12-year GAC membership. Ten players caught a pass on Saturday. Sophomore Cole Williams grabbed two for 59 total yards with a 19-yard touchdown grab with 60 seconds left that briefly gave the Muleriders a 44-43 lead.
 
Junior linebacker Jacob Berry recorded 15 tackles in the loss. He notched six solo stops and added nine assisted tackles. Berry will enter the final week of the season 13 tackles shy of becoming the first Mulerider defender to record 100 in a season since 2004. Junior defensive back Del Kristoffer Wade added eight tackles. The Muleriders recorded five tackles for loss with senior defensive end Prince Udenze recording 1.5 of which one was for a key sack of 11 yards.
 
SNU struck first as Porter scored on a 15-yard run with 10:07 to play in the first quarter. SAU responded with a six-yard run by Scales which was set up by a 72-yard punt return by senior Ean Beek. Porter led two more scoring drives before the half and sandwiched in between those scoring efforts was the first of two successful 41-yard field goals from the leg of grad placekicker Austin Wilkerson who also added a make of 22-yards with 4:16 to play in the game to put SAU up 37-35.
 
Wilkerson's three FG day gives him 47 for his career and along with five extra points he is now just two points back of 300 for his career.
 
A two-yard plunge by Roach with just over three minutes to play before the intermission gave the Muleriders a 24-21 halftime lead. With just over 11 minutes to play in the game, SNU regained and pushed its lead to 35-27 as it used a 14-3 run over the course of the third quarter to set up the back-and-forth action down the stretch.
 
Southern Arkansas accumulated 643 yards of offense at 9.2 yards per play. The Muleriders were again balanced with 312 yards in the air and 331 yards on the ground. SAU held the football for a little more than 25 minutes and finished 7-of-15 on third downs with 23 first downs recorded. Three of the Muleriders' scoring drives were less than 60 seconds.
 
The Muleriders will take the field one more time in 2022 and it will be in the biggest matchup of the season. Southern Arkansas travels east to Drew County to meet Arkansas-Monticello for the 97^th time in a bitter series between two south Arkansas rivals. Kickoff from Willis "Convoy" Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.