Alva Review-Courier -

The Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers football team opened their season at home hosting the University of Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils in a high scoring nail-biter to kick their season off with the win.

Northwestern started the game off with the first touchdown of the game, but the first half was even as the Rangers went into halftime leading by only seven, 21-14.

Though the Rangers had a lead coming out in the second half, they refused to slow down and instead turned up the intensity as they opened up with a passing touchdown to Horatio Smith to put the score at 28-14 in under two minutes of the start of the third.

After quickly ending the Boll Weevils' first drive of the half, Northwestern's offense came out again to try and increase their lead.

The Rangers came out with back-to-back running plays with returning running back Malcolm Robinson to give Northwestern their first first-down of the drive. Unfortunately, the Rangers followed that up with a penalty. On a third-down with 17 yards to go, Reid Miller found Arté' Muira Jr. down the field to get their second touchdown of the half to push the score to 35-14 with 9:30 to go in the third.

Arkansas-Monticello answered on their next drive on a three-minute possession and a three-yard touchdown run by their quarterback to put the score at 35-21, but Northwestern responded on their next two possessions to lead the Boll Weevils 49-21 and just under two minutes to go in the third-quarter.

Despite building that lead over the entire third quarter, the fourth quarter belonged to the Boll Weevils as they quickly gained momentum with a 22-yard touchdown pass over the middle to their 6-3 tight end in the first 30 seconds of the fourth.

Arkansas-Monticello's defense held strong, using that momentum form their offense to force Northwestern to punt the ball away for the first time in the second-half.

Starting their new drive at their 26-yard line, the Boll Weevils marched the ball up the field to score on an 18-yard pass up the middle to cut the lead to 14 at 49-35.

It wasn't long for the Boll Weevils to get the ball back, as they kicked an onside kick that took a perfect bounce to give them the ball back at Northwestern's 49. From there, UAM's Cole Sears made another big pass connection to his go-to Nathan Crouch all the way to the 15-yard line. Arkansas-Monticello was able to get the run inside the end zone after Jeremy Jackson spun off a tackle to drive for a five-yard TD to put the score at 49-42.

Northwestern's offense wasn't able to come back with a response to give them some cushion in their next possession, and were forced to punt the ball away.

Though Northwestern's defense slowed down the productivity of the Boll Weevils' offense, UAM finished the drive with a six-yard touchdown pass that put the score at 49-48. Trailing by just one point, Arkansas-Monticello decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion, but Northwestern was able to get the interception to keep the slim lead.

UAM tried to get the ball back with another onside kick, but weren't that lucky with the bounce as Northwestern began their drive near the 50-yard line. With the great field position, Miller capitalized with a pass to Riley Hess with a diving catch and contact to put the Rangers at the 15-yard line. From there, UAM decided to let Rangers running back Anthony Cota punch the ball up the middle so that they could get the ball back with less than two minutes left in the game and score at 56-48.

That decision from the Boll Weevils went over well, as they answered quickly with a touchdown to trail Northwestern 56-54. Arkansas-Monticello tried against for that two-point conversion, and this time they were successful as they tied the game up at 56-56 and only 38 seconds left for the Rangers to keep the game from going into overtime.

Leslie Nation

Riley Hess (27) makes the leaping catch over Christian Jefferson (9) deep in the end zone to get his first receiving touchdown of the game.

That was plenty of time for the Rangers as Miller started the drive at their 31 with a pass to Tamarick Courtney to get the first-down as Courtney squeezes out of bounds to stop the clock. Miller followed that with another big pass to Muira for 34 yards to put them inside the Boll Weevils' 10-yard line.

With 3.6 seconds left in the game, Northwestern went to red-shirt freshman Blayne Lankford for a 14-yard field goal. Lankford stepped up to the challenge to get the field goal and the win for the Rangers 59-56.

Stats

Both teams put on a clinic on offense each putting up 668 yards on total offense. Miller threw the ball 41 time for the night with 25 completions for 493 yards and seven touchdowns. Hess was his big go-to with four grabs for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Muira had four catches for 79 yards. Courtney finished with four more catches and 62 yards with a touchdown. Cota led the rushing game with 19 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.