First Responders Day Brings First Rate Win for OPSU

First Responders Day Brings First-Rate Win for Aggie Football
Released by Panhandle State Sports Information on 09/24/2017

Goodwell, Okla.-Saturday was a great day to be an Aggie from start to finish. A top-notch tailgate accompanied a fun and exciting tribute to the Panhandle Area First Responders. The Aggies capped things off with their second Central States Football League conference victory, defeating Lyon College 42-21 to take a 3-1 lead on their 2017 season.

Local police and fire departments came together in friendly competition for the First Annual Guns N’ Hoses event during the pre-game tailgate. Teams went head-to-head in three contests starting with a quarterback football toss, which went to a tiebreaker won by the firefighters. The police team took the next two contests, winning the obstacle course relay race by a three-second margin and dominating at the tug-of-war. The police were presented with a traveling trophy for their team victory at halftime of the football game.

Apollo Med Flight made the day even more memorable by delivering the game ball via helicopter directly onto Carl Wooten Field. The Aggies were led on the field by a roaring band of motorcycles mounted by local police and firefighters. The group of police, firefighters and EMS crew were recognized at halftime along with the Apollo Med Flight pilots, medics and nurses who represented the official game sponsors as part of the Frist Responders Appreciation event.

The game got off to a shaky start with three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties within the first three plays of the opening drive. The Aggie defense forced the Fighting Scots to punt on 4th-and-3, and Panhandle State’s Kameron Lyons got his hands up to block the kick and give the Aggies prime position near mid-field to start their first possession. Lyon College laid heavy coverage on the Aggie offense, shutting them down on a three-and-out series.
Jacob Test’s punt set the Scots to start on their own 16-yardline for their second drive, which wouldn’t last long as senior defensive back Marcus McCants came down with an interception at the Lyon-17. Quarterback DJ Scott and running back Orlando Haymon grounded out 17 yards in four plays to put the first points on the board for Panhandle State. The Aggies owned a 7-0 lead after seven minutes of play.

The Aggie defense came out strong with a QB sack by David Smith and Nathan Leithead to start off Lyon’s next drive. The Scots went on to convert four first downs and take ten plays 71 yards in for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 2:35 left in the first quarter. Scott had settled in for a long series as the quarter ticked down, but was stopped abruptly on the first play of the second quarter; Lyon’s Tre Hawkins got away with a stolen pass and a 20-yard return from the Lyon-2.

Another third-down shutdown for the Aggie defense left the Scots to punt on 4th-and-14. Panhandle’s offense was stopped on their first two plays of the next series, but Scott kept his composure and sent an 18-yard pass into the hands of Kameron Taylor for an Aggie first down. Taylor and Scott connected again on a 4th-and-7 play with a 15-yard pass to convert another first down. Running back Cedric Agyeman hauled in a shovel pass to gain 11 yards on second down, and Haymon finished the job with a six-yard run to the Promised Land. With ten minutes left in the half, the had regained their seven-point advantage 14-7.

Lyon would answer with a two-minute, five-play scoring drive that started on their own 25 and evened the score once again 14-14. The Aggies ate up four minutes of clock time on a ten-play drive that gathered eight yards off Haymon, seven yards off a Scott pass to Seth Barbarino and a combined 43 yards from Agyeman who entered the end zone on a ten-yard rush. Panhandle fell short on the extra point attempt, leaving the score at 20-14 with four minutes still remaining in the first half.

The Darkside Defense brought a big three-stop series, sending in the punt team for Lyon. The Aggies then sent four straight runs for 15 yards and followed up with another huge Scott to Taylor completion for 42 yards and another Aggie TD. Opting for the kick on the point after attempt, Cesar Tellez booted it through to make the score 14-27. That would be the score as both teams left the field for halftime after the Aggies defense destroyed any offensive plans by the Scots with a negative nine-yard possession.

Panhandle had the ball to open the third quarter and got off to a great start with a 34-yard run by Haymon. However, the momentum shifted swiftly as the Scots recovered a fumble by Agyeman on the next play. The Scots would only be allowed two plays by the Aggies defense who came in with a sack by Aaron Kinch and a forced fumble by Kam Lyons; Lyons scooped and scored on a 19-yard return. After the PAT and kickoff by Tellez, the Aggies led by twenty 34-14.

Two empty possessions by each team followed bringing the Scots offense back on-field. More great plays by Panhandle’s defensive unit included a third quarterback sack brought by Myles Alexander and Adrian Johnson. The Aggies were forced to punt on their next drive leaving 5:42 showing in the third quarter. The Scots threatened on their next series, taking the ball deep into Aggie territory; but McCants denied the touchdown with an interception in the end zone on a 2nd-and-7 pass attempt from the OPSU-15.

A big play by Brady Barrett on the Aggies’ ensuing drive knocked out 43 yards on a reception from Scott. Two plays later, a 19-yard pass to Taylor added another six points for Panhandle who would take a 42-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Scott suffered a sack on the first drive of the fourth quarter, bringing Test out for the punt. He placed the Scots on their own 14 and the defense kept them backed up throughout the next series. Junior linebacker D’Darrin Primes swept in with a sack for a loss of six yards. Brandon Ramon came in at quarterback for Panhandle State, but failed to connect with and incomplete pass and a dropped ball by Aggie receivers. A high snap on the punt set the Scots up for, what would be the final touchdown of the game. The extra point, good, the Scots went for the on-side kick, which they were able to recover, but would bear no fruit.

De’Adryelle Fites forced a fumble on the Scot’s following play and defensive back Dejon Jeffrey came away with the ball for Panhandle State. An unproductive series for the Aggies left Scott with another sack and sent Test out for the punt with 1:11 left to play. Lyon ran out the clock with three straight run plays and the Aggies earned their second CSFL victory with a final score of 42-21.

The Aggie offense amassed 390 yards with 250 in the air and 140 on the ground. DJ Scott went 17-31 for three touchdowns passing to average 14.7 yards per completion. Lyon College was held to 243 yards of total offense, taking 168 yards passing and 75 rushing. Panhandle converted 21 first downs and was 8-of-15 on third down. The Aggie defense kept the Scots to 4-of-15 on third down attempts. Orlando Haymon led the game with 94 rushing yards on 23 carries with one touchdown; Haymon also hauled in 50 yards and one touchdown receiving. Kameron Taylor finished with 94 yards on four receptions for two TDs.

On the defensive side, the Aggies were led in tackled by sophomore Nathan Leithead with eight assists and 0.5 sack. Jawan Purifoy and Dominick Bell each collected six tackles followed by Dejon Jeffrey, De’Adryelle Fites, Terrell Fallon and D’Darring Primes who totaled five apiece; Primes with a solo sack. Senior defensive back Kameron Lyons had a big day with a blocked punt, and a forced fumble that he recovered for a 19-yard touchdown; Lyons also added two tackles to his stats.

Coach Gaskamp said he is, “Excited about being 3-1 going into the bye week. It gives us a chance to get healthy and to work on cleaning up a few areas we need to work on.” The team will be back in action next week with a road game in Plainview, Texas against Wayland Baptist on Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.

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Justine Gaskamp