Aggie Mistakes Costly in Alva

NWOSU Takes 34-30 Win —By Laura Nelson on 10/21/2012 Alva, Okla.—Football fans watched an exciting game between Oklahoma Panhandle State University and Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Ranger Field Saturday, and even though the Aggies led for much of the game, the Rangers earned the 34-30 victory.

The Ranger offense took the field first and the Aggie defense held them to only three yards, forcing NWOSU to punt with less than a minute gone in the game. On the first Aggie offensive play, quarterback Caleb Holbrook found Justice Patterson with a 24-yard pass. The very next play, he connected with Timothy Hollingshed for another 33 yards, and a few plays later, Holbrook ran the ball in from six yards to put the Aggies on the board with Carlos Nieto adding another point with his kick.

Northwestern, hungry for points, drove down to the Aggie 1-yard line, but the OPSU D held fast, forcing the Rangers to kick a field goal. At the end of the first quarter, the Aggies led 7-3.

The Ranger offense started quarter two on the OPSU 21-yard line, and following a 15-yard rush, quarterback Kyle Jech completed a 6-yard TD pass to Morris Avery. The point after kick was good, and the home team took a 10-7 lead. On the ensuing Aggie possession, OPSU made it to the NWOSU 1-yard line, but turned the ball over downs. The defense went to work, limiting the Rangers to three yards, and on the ensuing punt, Patterson grabbed the ball and sprinted 48 yards to the end zone. After another good Nieto kick, OPSU regained the lead, 14-10.

Just before the half, Holbrook threw to Nick Collins for a 42-yard touchdown, and after the PAT attempt was blocked, the Aggies had increased their lead to 20-10. On the very next Ranger possession, NWOSU scored a touchdown to make the score 20-17 at the half.

Northwestern kicked off to OPSU to begin the second half, and the Aggies found themselves again in a too-familiar position—they were within three yards of the end zone, but were unable to get the ball inside. Nieto kicked a field goal, and it was Aggies 23, Rangers 17. A missed Northwestern field goal put the Aggies on their own 29, and Holbrook completed a pass to Patterson for a 71-yard TD and another good PAT put OPSU up comfortably, 30-17. Another Ranger field goal made it 30-20 at the end of the third quarter.

On the first drive of the fourth quarter, NWOSU’s Brandon Eddins intercepted a pass intended for Willie Hall, setting the Rangers up for a touchdown. The Aggies were unable to score again, and the Rangers found the Aggie end zone once more to pull ahead 34-30 to win the game.

For the Aggies, Holbrook completed 10 passes on 21 attempts for a total of 264 yards. OPSU had 449 of total offense. For the defense, Jihad’ Wright had five solo tackles and assisted on four. Vonkei Brewer had a solo sack while Stephen Perriera and Ashton Bailey paired up for another.

Head coach Russell Gaskamp said, "We were in control of the game for 3 quarters, made some mistakes on both sides and ended up losing. We’re looking forward to our first home game in a month this Saturday, especially since it’s homecoming. We will use this opportunity to take the next step and improve."

The Aggies play Southwest Assemblies of God for homecoming on Oct. 27 and the kick-off is set for 1 p.m.