FORT WORTH – Texas Wesleyan Football (2-8) suffered a 35-29 loss at the hands of Ottawa-Arizona (6-3) Saturday afternoon at Farrington Field, in a game that included a slew of Rams records, so many that it almost felt impossible that Texas Wesleyan came out on the losing end.

Ottawa-Arizona was averaging nearly 55 points in their first eight games of the season, fourth in the nation – sandwiched in between Kansas Wesleyan (No. 3) and Langston (No. 5) – proving just how difficult of a schedule it has been for the Rams defense in 2018. Yet, the Rams rose to the challenge Saturday holding the Spirit to just 35 points, one off their season low. The 479 yards of total offense OAZU racked up was their second lowest output by just 48 yards.

The game turned completely sideways with 1:38 left, Ottawa-Arizona up 28-21. Pressuring Ottawa-Arizona punter Austin Bohn was a critical part of Texas Wesleyan's gameplan all day, getting a few fingers on a boot in the first half, but after back-to-back incompletions from the Spirit (attempting to bury the Rams) preserved the Rams' two remaining timeouts, the home squad received new life.

Bohn's punt was emphatically blocked by Ryan Leichus and recovered by Vincent Stephenson five yards from pay-dirt. Two plays later, Desmond Nisby found room cutting back inside to bring the OAZU lead to one, 28-27. Texas Wesleyan decided to go for two – for a chance to win without overtime. Quarterback Donavan Isom fired a missile to Tyler Pullig, who fell backwards into the end zone coming back for the throw.

Up one, the Rams defense needed one more stop. Ottawa-Arizona's drive started with 1:25 left – no timeouts – at the Spirit 30-yard line. That's when the Spirit offense caught fire, driving 70 yards in seven plays, scoring with 0:16 left on an Austin McCullough touchdown pass to Bran McLaughlin. It was McLaughlin's third touchdown of the day on nine receptions (207 yards).

Isom had three shots to move the ball in the final seconds, but Texas Wesleyan couldn't manage to matriculate down the field.

RECORDS SHATTERED

• Desmond Nisby set a modern-day Texas Wesleyan record with 176 rushing yards on 27 carries for two touchdowns. Nisby's previous game high was 166 against SAGU.
• Jermarcus Jones carried the rock 29 times for 160 yards and a score, breaking his Rams career high, previously 149 yards against Arizona Christian.
• It was the first time Texas Wesleyan has had two 100-yard rushers in the same game since the program's return, and both went over 150.
• The Rams offense ran 108 plays, the most they've ever run in a single game, dominating time of possession with just shy of 40 minutes on offense.

If it wasn't for the explosive touchdown plays for the Spirit offense outside the hash marks, this would have been a completely different game. Out of Ottawa-Arizona's 479 yards of total offense, four of Ottawa's five touchdowns were over 20 yards or more, accounting for 211 of those yards. Without those four plays, OAZU would have had just 268 yards on 71 plays, just 3.7 yards per snap. The touchdown that gave the Spirit the 28-21 lead came on a 3rd and 17 – an 87-yard bomb to Jeremi Greylock (6 receptions, 163 yards and 1 touchdown).

Texas Wesleyan forced nine three-and-outs on Ottawa-Arizona's 19 possessions. There were 39 different changes of possession in the contest.

Tyquandrik Conner got his first sack of the season to go alone with his six tackles. Josh Phillips, freshman linebacker had three pass deflections, including two acrobatic leaps at the football flying over his head to force incompletions, which the defense as a whole did on 25 different occasions against McCullough. Michael Miller earned another interception and on the next series after the blocked punt, Leichus took down McCullough for the sack, the Rams' fourth on the day. Sir Marc Sanders recorded four tackles, plugging many holes in the Ottawa-Arizona rushing attack that contributed just 85 yards on 33 carries.

WHAT'S NEXT

Texas Wesleyan prepares for the 2019 season. Coming off of a 1-9 campaign that only included a forfeit win over Wayland Baptist, the Rams improved to 2-8 with on the field wins against Texas College and Lyon College. The Rams could have had a few more, with an overtime loss at Arizona Christian, a loss in the final three minutes to Southwest Assemblies of God and the heartbreaker against the Spirit. All three of those teams finished the regular season .500 or better – sometimes it can be just that close.