By OAKLEE FIELDER
Northwestern Ranger Jayce Morgan runs with the ball against Arkansas Tech in the home opener on Sept. 10, ending in a ATU victory.
The Northwestern Oklahoma State football team lost to the undefeated East Central University Tigers on Saturday night, ending with a score of 42-24.
Defense started strong in the battle between the Rangers and Tigers. Almost the first 10 minutes of the game went scoreless, until a touchdown for the Rangers from Jacob T. Jones. Jones ran 12 yards into the endzone to score the first points of the game in an 11-play 85-yard drive. Almost immediately after, the Tigers responded with a 90-yard rushing touchdown to take the lead by one point after the extra point was scored, as the Rangers did not score an extra point after their opening touchdown.
The Rangers were able to take the lead in the 2nd quarter with a field goal from Kash Shipley from 23 yards out. The Tigers took back their lead after a 74-yard drive across the field, giving them the lead 14-9. Shortly after, East Central scored another touchdown to make it a 21-9 game with not much time left until halftime. The Rangers weren’t able to make anything out of the drive with just under three minutes left to go in the first half.
After Jones was sacked for a loss of 14 yards on a 3rd down, the Rangers went to punt. The Tigers’ punt receiver made a mistake and allowed the Rangers to get the ball back. Terry McCutcheon was the Ranger who recovered the muffed punt. The mistake from the Tigers’ punt returner gave the Rangers a new set of downs further down the field than they were before Jones was sacked.
Working in short time, the Rangers charged down the field in six plays. Jones threw a pass to Royal Kyle, who ran into the endzone just as the clock hit six seconds. This touchdown made it a 5-point game with the Tigers in the lead.
The 3rd quarter only had one scoring play between the two teams. Just 15 seconds into the quarter, the Tigers scored a touchdown with a 72-yard pass to make it a 12-point game. The 4th quarter put the game to bed quickly. Just three minutes into the final quarter, the Tigers scored a touchdown to make it 16-35 with 13 minutes to go.
Not shortly after the Tiger touchdown, Koda Bridges caught a pass from Jones and scored a touchdown to make it an 11-point game with 11 minutes left on the clock. A response from East Central was not much later, as they scored a touchdown with a 21-yard run to make it a 24-42 game. The Rangers were unable to reel the Tigers back in, and took their 4th loss of the season, still winless.
Jones was a solid quarterback with 215 yards thrown and 20 completions. Jones threw two touchdowns against the Tigers. Jayce Morgan had the most yards for a running back on Northwestern’s team with 62 yards rushed. Morgan ran for an average of 3.4 yards a carry.
Kyle had 77 receiving yards and one touchdown. Cade Reynolds had seven tackles and one tackle for loss. Aiden Lewis had six tackles.
The Rangers remain on the road this week as they play the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders in Magnolia, Arkansas on Saturday. The Muleriders are 1-3 for the year, defeating Southern Nazarene in week two at home. The next home game will be next Saturday against Henderson State.