Alva, Okla – The Northwestern Rangers hosted their final game of the season at home against the rivals of Southwestern Oklahoma State for senior day. The Rangers came out fast and got on the board early in the first quarter with 14 points. The helped propel the Rangers to a 31-28 win over the Bulldogs to close out the regular season.
The Rangers improve on their season to 2-9 as the Bulldogs drop to 0-11 with the Saturday loss.
Quarterback Tanner Clarkson threw for 215 yards with two passing touchdowns and 17 completed passes. Gavin Garner had two touchdowns 143 receiving yards. Calion Baker had 141 rushing yards with one touchdown. Torrence Stevens had 57 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Wacey Williams led the Rangers defense with 11 tackles total with James Ellis following with nine tackles. Brendan Brown had three punts with a total of 137 yards while averaging 45.7 yards per punt.
The Rangers got on the board first with a touchdown early in the first quarter from a 12-yard pass from Clarkson to Garner with 12:52 left in the quarter with Nick Dill's point after attempt being good.
The Rangers added more points to the board with a touchdown later in the first quarter from Clarkson tossing it to Garner, Garner pitching it back to Baker who rushed up the middle for seven yards into the Bulldogs end zone to put the Rangers up two scores.
The Rangers led the Bulldogs 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Isaiah Wallace picked off his first interception of the season on the goal line keeping Southwestern out of the endzone as the interception came on the two yard line.
Southwestern scored their first touchdown early in the second quarter from Lafayette Wright completing a four-yard pass to Patrick Lee for the touchdown to cut their deficit in half.
Alejandro Aaron had his second interception of the season keeping the Bulldogs out of the endzone. The Rangers took over on the 25-yard line.
The Rangers increased their lead to 21-7 on a Stevens rush to the left for an eight-yard touchdown with 3:34 remaining in the second quarter.
Southwestern scored their second touchdown right before halftime on a passing touchdown from Wright to Justice.
The Rangers led the Bulldogs 21-14 going into halftime.
The Bulldogs came out strong in the third quarter scoring a touchdown with 12:19 left in the quarter to tie the game out of the break at 21-21.
The Rangers scored their fourth touchdown from Clarkson throwing a 51-yard passing touchdown to Garner who stayed on his feet and back peddled into the end zone following a tremendous catch. Garner's two touchdowns set him up with a tied record of 25 touchdowns within a season. Garner tied Kory Williams from the years 2007-10.
Terry Atta-Peters had a interception in the fourth quarter with the Rangers up by a touchdown helping setting up an eventual field goal. This was the third interception of the game for the Northwestern defense Saturday afternoon.
Dill came in the game to put it out of reach in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard field goal attempt, which was good to push the Rangers lead to 10 late in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs scored their fourth and final touchdown from a 16-yard pass from Wright to Torin Justice. The score was 31-28 with 1:38 left in the game as Southwestern attempted their comeback.
Northwestern would close the game out with a sustained drive to run the clock out with Clarkson putting the final touches on the game with a kneel down.
The Rangers picked up the win on Saturday afternoon to close out the season on senior day this would be the fourth straight win for the Rangers over the Bulldogs.
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