SURPRISE, AZ - Texas Wesleyan Football (0-3) Head Coach
Joe Prud'homme made a point of emphasis on his Coaches' Show Wednesday: 'no one in our conference has played who we've played out-of-conference.' After tough road losses to No. 4 Kansas Wesleyan and NCAA FCS' Houston Baptist, the Rams had something to prove Saturday night against No. 23 Ottawa-Arizona (3-0): that TXWES was better than their record. Texas Wesleyan did that, but fell just short of the first victory of the season and a major upset, 42-38 in the Sooner Athletic Conference opener for both schools.
TXWES got one last possession to go win the game, with the defense giving the offense 1:25 and one timeout to work with. Quarterback Donavan Isom and the rest of the explosive unit went 82 yards in 12 plays, but fell one yard short of the end zone and a victory. The offense compiled 514 yards on 90 offensive plays with nearly ten more minutes in time of possession. After two first half fumbles, Texas Wesleyan won the turnover battle, picking off the Spirit twice and forcing a fumble of their own, while the Rams offense played a turnover-free second half.
At one point in the second half, the two teams exchanged touchdowns on five of six drives, all of which were at least five plays. The 38 points was the second time in as many seasons Texas Wesleyan has scored over 35 on the road in conference. The team nailed 46 points on the board against Southwest Assemblies of God in 2018.
Running back
Trey Jackson burst onto the scene against the Spirit. In his career in a Ram uniform, Jackson had compiled 26 carries and 66 yards with two rushing scores. Against Ottawa, Jackson rushed for 153 yards on 28 carries, surpassing all that he's done in nine previous games during a magical 60 minutes. The running game as a whole finally got moving, bolstered by 47 yards on 13 carries for Isom. Backup quarterback
Keaton Huebner scored two touchdowns on the ground. 116 of the 214 rushing yards for TXWES came in the third quarter.
Isom completed 21-of-40 passes for an even 300 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Isom has just one interception in his first 90 passes of the season, just two interceptions in his last 181 passes (six games) dating back to last season. A balanced receiving corps, led once again by
Le'Mant Monroe (7 receptions, 76 yards) helped keep pace with the Spirit. Three different receivers scored:
Collier Ricks,
Tyler Pullig and
Brandon Rolfe (his score came on his only catch, a 27-yard strike that gave the Rams a 38-35 advantage with 7:50 remaining in the fourth frame).
Defensively,
Tarik Davis and
Elijah Hall earned interceptions. Hall attached a 46-yard return to his, setting up one of Huebner's scores in the third quarter that gave the Rams their largest lead, 10, 31-21. The plunge capped 18 unanswered points for TXWES, dating back to the end of the first half when
Gregory Blaser was able to boot through a 31-yard field goal. The Rams held Ottawa-Arizona quarterback Austin McCullough - who was third in the NAIA averaging 369 pass yards per game coming into the battle - to just 174 yards on 13-of-29 completions. It was the junior's lowest passing yards total of his career and accounted for his second-worst completion percentage. Last season, the Rams held him to completing just 41.5 percent of his throws.
WHAT'S NEXT:
One last road game before Texas Wesleyan finally gets the hometown cheers from Farrington Field. The Rams will visit Lyon College next Saturday in Arkansas. Kickoff is set for 5:00 p.m. from Batesville.
