By Oaklee Fielder, Sports Editor
The NWOSU football team lost to the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers in a game that ended 14-55 and a win for the home team.
This is the eighth loss for the Rangers, putting their current record at 1-8. The Rangers currently sit 11th in the Great American Conference standings, tied with Southern Nazarene University, whom the Rangers defeated the week before.
The Rangers won the coin toss and decided to defend in the first half.
Ouachita took just a single play to score the first touchdown of the game, making it 0-7 just nine seconds into the first quarter. NWOSU’s first drive of the game started well. The Rangers started on the 25-yard line and charged their way down the field and into Tiger territory. Unfortunately, the Rangers threw an interception at the Tigers’ 23-yard line and lost the ball. The Tigers found a moment of weakness from the Rangers and scored on their drive to make it 0-14 with five minutes left on the clock.
The Rangers’ next drive did not go as well as the last one. They slowly marched down the field, but were forced to punt before they got onto Ouachita’s side of the field. Ouachita showed its strong arm, scoring on one play to make it 0-21 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started in NWOSU’s possession, but they were not able to do anything with it and punted. Ouachita didn’t hold back and scored for the fourth time in four drives and made it a 0-28 game.
The Tigers continued their offensive surge and scored again, making it 0-35. The Rangers didn’t let Ouachita get to them and put their heads down on their next drive.
The drive started with a long 26-yard pass from Caleb Deal to Royal Kyle to get to Ouachita’s 49-yard line.
The Rangers continued their drive down the field, gaining yards and pushing towards the endzone.
Eventually, the Rangers got into the Tiger red zone.
With small passes and rushes, the Rangers were able to get to the five-yard line. With two short rushes, the Rangers were at the one-yard line. A handoff to Ezequiel Luna ran into the endzone and scored for the Northwestern Rangers. Ouachita responded with a touchdown and made the game 7-42 just before the first half ended.
Northwestern started with the ball in the second half, but was not able to score. However, Ouachita did, and the Tigers made it a 7-49 game. The Tigers kept their feet down and scored once again to make it 7-55. In the fourth quarter, the Rangers had possession at the 28-yard line. Northwestern charged down the field and got to the Tigers’ side of the field.
On a third-and-seven play, Deal chucked one down the field to Isaiah Taylor, who gained 27 yards for the Rangers, and put them in perfect scoring position at the 15-yard line. The Rangers tried a run, but lost a yard doing that. Then, they turned to their QB, who threw a pass to Merric Judd, who ran into the endzone and scored another touchdown for the Rangers.
No more points were scored in the game against Ouachita, ending in a Tiger win 14-55.
Deal passed for 194 yards, making one touchdown and completing 23 of 35 attempts. Judd caught for 60 yards, making one touchdown and having nine receptions. Luna rushed for 50 yards and had one touchdown. Luna had 17 rushing attempts. Luke Beauchamp was also good in the run game. Beauchamp ran for 46 yards with 12 attempts.
Aiden Lewis had five solo tackles, leading the Rangers in tackles. Brayden Darrell had four, two solo and two assisted. Nasiim Rhodes-Nelson had three tackles, two solo and one assisted.
The Rangers have two more games on their schedule, and they’re both at home. The University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevils will face the Rangers on Saturday. The next game is the final one, and it is against the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Bulldogs. The final game will take place on November 15, next Saturday.