Bison football prepares for next game

By Jared A’Latorre, Sports Editor

For the first time this season, the Bison tasted defeat against Arkansas Tech, 31-7.

It was a game full of more mishaps than successes for OBU.

On OBU’s first possession, they were forced to punt in Arkansas Tech’s territory.

The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys drove down the field with the help of a long catch and run and scored on their first possession.

After a three and out for OBU’s next possession, the Wonder Boys drove the ball down the field again to set up a field goal to make take a 10-point lead.

The game worsened for the Bison in the first quarter as the Wonder Boys were able to force a fumble.

Arkansas Tech was able to pick up even more momentum when they scored a touchdown in two plays following the OBU turnover.

The Wonder Boys put up 17 points in the opening quarter.

Early in the second quarter where OBU was forced to punt yet again, Arkansas Tech took the ball down the field in nine plays to score another touchdown.

It was a 24-point lead for the Wonder Boys and it seemed like the Bison could not get anything going for them.

The peak of low-lights for the Bison came in the second quarter.

On two drives inside the 20-yard line, the Wonder Boys came up with two takeaways on interceptions.

This was crucial for the Bison because they were in position to score.

The result being with still no points on the board for OBU. It was a 24-point lead for Arkansas Tech going to halftime.

To start the second half, OBU was looking to come out strong on defense and gain momentum.

The outcome to start the third quarter was just how they pictured it with a blocked field goal by nose tackle Ashton Vickers.

The offense was hoping to take the energy off the blocked kick and make something of it.

The possession ended on another interception for Arkansas Tech.

Nothing seemed to be going right for the Bison.

The Wonder Boys took advantage of the turnover and capitalized for another touchdown to make it a 31-point lead.

The Bison had another chance to get themselves on the board but missed on a field goal attempt.

Life was more miserable for the Bison as they still could not get anything going.

The chances were there, but they kept coming up empty.

In the fourth quarter, the Bison continued to come up empty with another three and out.

There were some successes for the Bi-son in garbage time as they were finally able to get something going.

Quarterback Pres-ton Haire threw a touchdown pass to receiver Jacques Henderson from four yards out.

Arkansas Tech won the game by 24 points.

While the Bison rushing attack was shut down, they won the battle in passing yards.

It did not seem this way due to the turnovers.

Haire went for 31 of 52 completions but the defense of Arkansas Tech came through.

Redshirt freshman Joshua Cornell led in receiving yards with 54. Senior receiver Cagney Roberson led in receptions with six.

This was not the best of days for the Bison. They have definitely seen much better in front of their home crowd.

The Bison were looking for a 3-0 start to the season and the dreams were swept away. It would have been the first time for the football program to win the first three games since joining the NCAA Division II.

With this being the first loss for the Bison, they will look to move forward and turn around last week’s loss when they go on the road to face Harding next Saturday.

The Bison stand 2-1 on the season.

They will look for better results in front of the home crowd when they go up against Southern Arkansas University at 1:00 on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Crain Family Stadium in Shawnee.