ALVA, Okla. – A quick start by Northwestern Oklahoma State looked promising, but Arkansas Tech had other plans for the young Ranger team, taking the game by a 19-point margin, 33-14.
The second drive of the game for Northwestern started the scoring for both teams. Reid Miller dumped off a short pass to sophomore Running Back, Jarion Tudman, who after making some cuts, took it to the house from 30 yards out, to give the Rangers a 7-0 lead.
Arkansas Tech quickly turned the tables and ran back the following kickoff 102 yards for the score to even it up. Two drives later, the home team was up by a count of 21-7.
The black-and-red had a chance to cut into the 14 point deficit, but a gamble on fourth down ended the drive for the Rangers following an interception in the red zone.
Northwestern owned the time of possession stat in the first half of play, but were also hit with eight penalties for a total of 60 yards. The Rangers ended up with the ball for 32 minutes and change for the game, while Tech held the ball for only 27 minutes.
After a struggle on the ground in the first half, Northwestern's Tudman scampered for a 75 yard touchdown to get things rolling for the Rangers to start the third quarter, but the score would be the last for both teams for a large amount of time.
Following Tudman's touchdown run, both defenses went into lockdown mode, shutting each offense down for over a full quarter of play.
After the Northwestern score at the 9:40 mark in the third quarter, neither team put points on the board until the Wonder Boys connected on a 27 yard field goal with 6:47 on the clock.
In the last few minutes of the ballgame, the Rangers pushed ever so close to a touchdown, but were held up on the one yard line. Two plays later, Tech's quarterback Dennis Robertson connected with Merdock for a 98 yard touchdown pass. The score made the game 33-14 in the Wonder Boys favor, the eventual final score.
The Northwestern quarterbacks threw for a total of 189 yards combined with 81 of those going to Tudman who crossed the goal line twice on the night. The sophomore running back ended up with a 162 yards rushing and receiving combined.
Both Miller and Cody Weinzheimer took snaps under center with Miller going 10-for-21 for 112 yards with a touchdown, and Weinzheimer completing 5-of-15 passes on the night for 77 yards.
Northwestern returns home for the next game against Harding next Saturday, Sept. 13 at 1 p.m.
