Rangers disappoint in HOCO game

By OAKLEE FIELDER
Sports Editor

The NWOSU Rangers had a disappointing 44-21 loss at home in the Homecoming game against the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys.

It was a slow start for the Rangers as they received the ball for the starting kickoff for the game. They had made four plays and made 19 yards until the ball was fumbled and recovered by Arkansas Tech’s Israel Whitmore. Arkansas Tech then scored on their five-play drive to make it 7-0.

On the Rangers’ second drive of the quarter, Arkansas Tech intercepted the ball for a 65-yard touchdown. NWOSU’s third drive did not get very far either as it ended with a 49-yard punt. Arkansas Tech were able to get a field goal to make the score at the end of the quarter 17-0.

At the start of the second quarter, the Rangers were at a good pace. Almost 4 minutes into the quarter, Rangers’ QB Brodey Johnson threw a short pass to Royal Kyle for the first points for the Rangers to make it 17-7.

The Rangers’ defense was able to turn the ball over as the Wonder Boys fumbled the ball during a punt attempt. Rangers QB Brodey Johnson was able to keep the momentum going by throwing a short pass to Travis Romar to make another touchdown and make it a close game of 17-14.

Arkansas Tech went 65 yards in 10 plays with a 32-yard pass to score a touchdown and increase the Wonder Boy’s lead to 24-14.

NWOSU was not able to produce anything out of their next drive as Brodey Johnson was sacked and the Rangers had to punt. The Rangers were also caught with an unnecessary roughness penalty on the punt to allow Arkansas Tech move forward 15 more yards.

Arkansas Tech were able to score another touchdown against the Rangers to make the score 31-14. The Rangers had another short chance to make something out of the first quarter but were not able to do anything until the half ended with the score 31-14 Arkansas Tech.

In the second half, NWOSU defended and Arkansas Tech received. It didn’t take the Wonder Boys long to score in the third quarter with an 8-yard rush for a touchdown to make it a 38-14 game.

The Rangers did not get far at all only making 3 plays until they made a 37-yard punt to Arkansas Tech’s Diego Sanchez who made a fair catch. Arkansas Tech then went 50 yards and then made a 32-yard field goal with Arkansas Tech kicker Christopher Baldazo. The rest of the third quarter went scoreless and ended at 41-14.

The fourth and final quarter started in the Rangers’ hands. They charged from their 19-yard line across the field to score a touchdown thrown from Brodey Johnson to Bailee Davenport and made the score 41-21.

Kale Purvis made the extra point kick to make his first points as a NWOSU Ranger. The game ended with a score of 44-21 Arkansas Tech.

After the game, tight end Mark Zamora said: “We haven’t had a game where we play all four quarters. If we can play all four then we will have a great ball team.”