By: Dixon C. Land
ARKADELPHIA—Austin Warford scored three touchdowns for the Ouachita Tigers today as they defeated the Oklahoma Baptist Bison 31-20 on a cloudy day in Arkadelphia.
The Tigers scored only ten points in the second half. Kris Oliver rushed for a 19-yard touchdown with 6:49 remaining in the third quarter. The play capped an 11-play, 84-yard drive. Cole Antley added a 23-yard field goal with 5:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Ouachita finished with 497 total yards of offense with 319 on the ground. Kris Oliver recorded 29 total carries for 193 yards and a touchdown. Warford added 14 carries for 99 yards.
Warford completed 10-13 passes for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns on the afternoon.
“Warford is the man,” Head Coach Todd Knight said. “He can do pretty much do anything we could ask him to do. He played really well today and we’re very proud of him.”
Ouachita scored three times in the first half. Kris Oliver scored a touchdown on the first possession of the game, when Kris Oliver caught an Austin Warford pass out of the backfield and burst down the sideline 51 yards for a touchdown.
With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Johnathan Powell caught a bootleg pass from Warford on third-and-goal for a five-yard touchdown.
Warford made the score 21-0 when he scrambled into the end zone on a 16-yard rush.
Down 21-0, Oklahoma Baptist responded with two scores of their own on a rush from Frankie Edwards from 42 yards out. Alex Lewis made the score 21-13 when he caught a nine-yard pass from Blake Woodard for the second Bison score of the game.
Warford finished the first half completing eight-of-nine passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 11 times for 82 yards and another touchdown. Kris Oliver added 15 carries for 55 yards.
Alex Myres led the Ouachita defense with eight tackles in the first half. Mike Williamson added six tackles and a tackle-for-loss.
“This is a big win for us,” Knight added. “That’s a great team we played today and we knew they may score some and have a surge and we held tough and got the win.”
The Tigers travel to Bethany, Okla. next week to take on Southern Nazarene. The following week will be the Tigers final regular season game, where they will play Henderson State in the Battle of the Ravine. The game will be held at Cliff Harris Stadium for the first time.
Kickoff for the Bethany game is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Battle of the Ravine will kickoff at 1 p.m. as well.
