For the second year in a row, the Bisons football team had the lead on Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) late in the 4th quarter, and for the second year in a row it fell short. OBU found the endzone with 1:40 left in a 26-21 win, giving head coach Ronnie Huckeba’s Bisons it’s first loss of 2015.
According to Huckeba, the scrambling ability of OBU’s quarterback hurt the Bisons, as the Tigers converted eight of 12 third downs.
“If you look back at those conversions, quite a few of them were their quarterback escaping pressure,” Huckeba said. “He’s a very good player.”
Junior quarterback Park Parish agreed that OBU made the bigger plays when they needed to.
“We moved the ball well on them, I thought, but they did a better job of finishing drives than we did at the end of the day,” Parish said.
Despite the loss, Huckeba saw bright spots in the Bisons’ performance. The offense again piled up over 400 rushing yards, and junior running back Eric Kelly rushed for 114 yards, despite going out early in the 3rd quarter with a hamstring injury.
“He averaged over 25 yards a carry,” Huckeba said. “Sometimes it’s your day, and it was definitely that for him.”
According to Parish, the team remains upbeat about the rest of the season considering they remain in a tie atop the Great American Conference (GAC) standings and still have a shot at the GAC title.
“We can still win the conference and we can still make the playoffs, so we just have to learn from the mistakes we made on Saturday and move forward,” Parish said.
The Bisons are preparing to rebound on Saturday, when they host Henderson State University (HSU).
“The worst thing we can do is let one loss turn into two, so we just have to move on and get ready for Henderson,” Parish said.
In 2014, the Bisons regrouped from a home loss to OBU by beating 4th ranked HSU 28-24 on the road.
According to Huckeba, they will be mindful of last year’s win as they prepare for Saturday.
“It helps me because I know we can bounce back from a tough loss,” Huckeba said. “That’s who we are, we’re guys who know what adversity is, and we are going to face it head on.”
Parish said he expects the Bisons to respond with a win against HSU because of the mentality they have as a team.
“Last year we had the resiliency after a devastating loss to get a big win and that’s the same culture we have this year,” Parish said. “I expect us to have a great week of practice and be ready for this weekend.”
The Bisons will host the Reddies of HSU on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 6 p.m at First Security Stadium.
