BETHANY, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State was on the road against Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon, as the Rangers earned the first win of the season with a strong 14 point second quarter leading to a 14-7 victory after a final defensive stand.
The Rangers improve to 1-2 on the season as Southern Nazarene falls to 0-3 on the year.
Brodey Johnson led the team with 135 passing yards, 47 rushing yards, and two passing touchdowns. Chase Davidson had 76 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Defensively the Rangers were led by Coby Tillman with seven tackles, three for a loss and a sack. Wilson Cal had 2 sacks in the afternoon, with Ken Irving forcing a fumble and Bashu Delco with an interception.
The Rangers started off right on Saturday afternoon after the opening kickoff as the first drive of the game, Bashu Delco picked off Rashee Noel's pass giving the Rangers the ball for their opening possession. Southern Nazarene picked up a strong defensive stand after the Rangers going for it turned it over on downs.
The two defenses kept the offense out of the end zone through the opening quarter at 0-0 before the Rangers found the end zone twice in the second quarter. The Rangers used a four play drive to take advantage of a Crimson Storm fumble that set up the Rangers on the SNU 35 yard line. Brodey Johnson was able to connect twice with Royal Kyle first on for 10 yards followed by a 19 yard passing touchdown for the 7-0 lead after Tyler Furey extra point was good.
Northwestern got the ball back after forcing a punt,as Johnson connected with Mark Zamora to start the drive for 21 yards and a first down. This was the first of a 10 play drive down the field ending in a touchdown. Johnson ran for 11 yards to extend the drive on a 3rd and 9 before connecting with Chase Davidson for 24 yards and a 14-0 lead following the touchdown.
Northwestern went into halftime with the 14-0 lead.
The Ranger defense continued to battle strong, holding Southern Nazarene scoreless through three quarters, maintaining the 14-0 lead through three quarters.
It was not until a 12 play fourth quarter drive when the Crimson Storm found the end zone after a couple of big plays ensign with a 15 yard rushing touchdown cutting the Rangers lead in half.
Southern Nazarene had the ball back with 1:48 remaining looking to tie the game but a Wilson Cal sack creating a 13 yard loss held Southern Nazarene back before one final chance was broken up by Ben Heidebrecht knocking the ball down and sealing the 14-7 Ranger victory.
Northwestern will now have two straight home games first September 28th against Southeastern Oklahoma State followed by Arkansas Tech on October 5th.
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