Bacone Wins Big Over Panhandle State

Turnovers Cost Aggies against Bacone

By Jihad’ Wright on 10/20/2013

Muskogee, Okla.-The Aggies (3-5) entered Saturdays matchup against the
Bacone College Warriors (5-2) hoping to even up their record after winning
their previous two. The records did not reflect how well the teams matched
up, but turnovers would eventually come back to haunt the Aggies.

The Aggies began the game with possession of the ball, but the first play
from scrimmage resulted in Caleb Holbrook being tackled as he attempted to
pitch the ball, and the Warriors promptly recovering at the Aggies’ 22 yard
line. The Aggies "Darkside Defense" would respond, however, not allowing the
Warriors to pick up a first down. Bacone would settle for a field goal to
take an early 3-0 lead.

OPSU’s next drive was plagued by dropped passes, one which looked like a
walk-in score, but were forced to punt. Once again, the defense came out
aggressively as they did not allow a single yard on Bacone’s following
drive. A key play occurred as Bacone’s attempted punt was blocked by Justin
Fogle, and the Aggies recovered at Bacone’s 17. The Aggies could not find
the end zone and were forced to kick a 29-yard field goal which was nailed
by Gabriel Ortega to tie the game at 3.

A slow start to the Aggies offense was backed by a dominating start from the
defense. With just under nine minutes remaining in the opening quarter,
Courtney Stinnett burst through the Warriors offensive line and forced the
running back to fumble the ball on Bacone’s first play. The Aggies again
revived the ball and set up the offense in the opponent’s territory. The
offense was again held to a field goal as Ortega made his second of the game
from 22 yards out giving the Aggies a 6-3 advantage.

Bacone would finally get in the end zone on their next possession as they
raced 70 yards in under two minutes to score on a quarterback keeper. The
Warriors led 10-6 after one. OPSU’s second offensive play in the 2nd quarter
resulted in a fumble by Chris McClendon which set up another scoring drive
for Bacone as they again scored on a quarterback run. An explosive 40-yard
kickoff return by Rod Moore set the Aggie offense up on the 50 yard line,
but for a third time were limited to only three points as Ortega drilled a
career-long 47-yard field goal to make the score17-9 Bacone.

Stinnett again would show his dominance as he recovered a fumble on Bacone’s
opening play following drive to place the offense on the opponent’s 16-yard
line. After three plays, the offense was unable to advance the football, and
Ortega’s 38-yard attempt barely tipped the bottom of the goal post as he
missed his first kick of the game. Bacone’s next score would come with 7
minutes remaining in the quarter and it only took them two plays to score,
putting them up 24-9. The Aggie offense finally gained momentum in their
following drive led by Jamal White’s dynamic 43-yard reception to put the
Aggies in scoring position. The biggest play of the game came as the Aggies
faced 4th-and-goal on Bacone’s 3-yard line with less than 20 seconds
remaining in the half. Holbrook attempted a pass intended for White, but the
ball was tipped and intercepted. Bacone’s Erik King returned the ball 104
yards for a score that seemed to kill all momentum for the Aggies. They
headed to the locker room down 30-9.

The second half saw more of the same as the offense struggled to get
anything going. The defense also struggled to keep Bacone out of the end
zone as they allowed 17 more points, making the final score 47-9.

The Aggies were out-gained offensively, 437-291, and also committed 5
turnovers in the game. The defense could not prevent the big plays and
allowed 6 of 14 third down conversions for Bacone’s offense. For the game,
Holbrook and the Aggie offense were finally slowed down as he completed only
9 of 23 passes for 135 yards. McClendon had an exceptional day on the ground
gaining 80 yards on 20 attempts. For the defense, Keidrick Brewster and
Brandon Gipe both tallied five tackles.

Coach Gaskamp was disappointed by the teams’ performance and said, "We’ve
got to be more disciplined on the field. We’ll need to improve our pass game
and work on stopping the run defensively as we prepare to face SAGU this
week."

The Aggies are on the road again next week as they take on Southwest
Assemblies of God in Waxahachie, Texas. The Aggies look to improve their
record against a team in which last year’s contest ended in a nail-bitter in
overtime. Game time is set for 2 p.m.