The Ouachita Tiger football team dominated the Fort Lewis Skyhawks 58-7 last Saturday at A.U. Williams Field. The Tigers allowed the Skyhawks to jump out to an early lead after a 32-yard touchdown run by Joel Johnson, and then reeled off 58 unanswered points to post the highest point total since 1942.
Head Coach Todd Knight was very pleased with his team’s performance, especially considering they had not yet played a game and had only been able to practice on the field once during the week because of Hurricane Gustav.
“Overall I thought we had a ton of improvement on defense from our last game last year and offense really carried on what we had last year in the Harding game,” Knight said.
Side receiver Julio Pruitt reflected on the tough week saying “last week could’ve easily been a negative because of the weather and conditions of our practice field and indoor facility, but with the leadership we have on our team we kind of turned all those negatives into positives and stayed focused.”
The Tiger offense was led by senior quarterback Lance Parker who threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns.
The main beneficiary of Parkers’ passes was Pruitt who hauled in eight receptions for 158 yards and two touchdowns.
Jeremy Young also impressed at receiver in his first game as a Tiger, catching five balls for 57 yards and a score. K.J. Johnson, Terrell Alex and John Johnson added 80, 78 and 48 yards on the ground respectively.
The defense, which tackled poorly on the Skyhawks‘ only touchdown, stiffened and ended up having an excellent day allowing no other points.
Knight said the biggest reason for the improvement on defense this year was team speed.
“We created turnovers, and we ran to the football,” he said. He added that, although the team ran to the ball well, it can get better.
The defense was paced by sophomore linebacker Terrance Garrett who had 10 tackles, defensive lineman Bryan Church who had five quarterback hurries and defensive lineman Jerry McNeil who had an interception in the end zone near the end of the first half to preserve the Tigers’ big halftime lead.
The Tigers however cannot bask in the glory of victory too long as they have a tough game on the horizon.
Gulf South Conference foe West Georgia makes the trip to Arkadelphia Saturday for the 7 p.m. conference opener for both teams.
West Georgia is 0-2, but has played well in both their games.
“They’ve played a D-1AA team in Samford and almost won,” Pruitt said, “and then played Clark Atlanta tough, but this is the GSC. You can throw that 0-2 record out the window because any team in this conference can beat any team on any given night.”
In the Samford game it took Samford a fourth quarter rally to win, and although Clark Atlanta came away with a win, West Georgia had several missed opportunities that would have made the game closer.
Knight expects a tough game saying, “They are wanting to win a game, we are wanting to start 2-0 and it’s a Gulf South Conference game.”
Knight hopes for a great week of practice this week because “we can get so much better and that’s what’s encouraging.” The Tigers will be looking to repeat their performance from last week in getting a win and putting up numbers.
“We have a great offense, so if we don’t turn the ball over or make mistakes we can put points on the board against anybody in the country,” Pruitt said.
