BY: DIXON LAND
Sports Editor
ARKADELPHIA—In the 88th Battle of the Ravine this afternoon, the Ouachita Tigers defeated the Henderson St. Reddies 41-20.
The Tigers rushed for 215 yards on 55 carries and four touchdowns. They also threw for 177 yards and scored twice through the air. With the win, the Tigers finish the regular season at 10-0 and advance to the NCAA Division two playoffs.
“It’s a big win for us,” Tiger Head Coach Todd Knight said. “We have won the conference outright, and now we will look to see who we will play in the playoffs, but we are certainly up for the challenge.”
Reddie running back Ryan McDonald scored first for Henderson State, rushing up the middle from two yards out at the 8:08 mark of the first quarter.
The Tigers responded when quarterback Kiehl Frazier found Jalen Jones across the middle who took the ball 38 yards for a touchdown with 6:16 left in the first quarter.
On the Reddies’ next drive, quarterback Kevin Rogers found JaVante Mack in the back of the end zone for another Henderson St. touchdown. The drive eclipsed 70 yards on six plays, taking up 1:57 of the clock. The Reddies led 14-7.
At 2:43 left in the first, Houston Ray tacked on three points for Henderson St. to make the score 17-7.
After a Houston Ray field goal for Henderson State, Steven Kehner responded twice with touchdown runs at the nine-minute mark and the three-minute mark to give Ouachita a 21-17 lead.
Ray made another field goal as time expired in the first half give the Tigers a 21-20 lead at half.
After turnovers on both sides to start the second half, Ouachita drove the ball down the field, taking up 5:20 of the clock and scoring on a pass from Frazier to Drew White. The score gave Ouachita a 28-20 lead with 1:01 remaining in the third quarter.
Following an interception by Zack Mitchell on the next series for the Reddies, Frazier ran into the end zone for a touchdown with 12:52 remaining in the game. With the score, Ouachita led 34-20.
After a Henderson fumble at their own 10-yard line, Kehner scored once more as the Tigers finished with a 41-20 win.
Frazier went 12-22 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 67 yards and a score. Kehner scored three touchdowns on the afternoon and rushed for 137 yards. Drew White received five passes for 89 yards, some of those coming on key third downs, and also scored a touchdown.
The Tigers will wait to see who they will be playing until tomorrow when the playoff seeding is announced. In the meantime, the Tigers have won the Great American Conference and finish the regular season at 10-0.
“It’s definitely a special season to say the least,” Knight concluded.
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UPDATE: The Tigers have been selected as the #1 seed in their region of the 2014 NCAA Division II Bracket and will host the winner of Northwestern Missouri State and Minnesota-Duluth at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia. Both Duluth and NMSU have multiple Division II titles in the last 10 years. Kickoff is set for Nov. 29 at 12 p.m.
Because school will be out of session for Thanksgiving break, there is no word yet on early return for students into the dorm or differences in Game Day routine than normal games at Cliff Harris Stadium. For up-to-the-minute coverage and updates on this story, follow along on Twitter @OBUSignal.
