Rangers steamroll over the Crimson Storm early for the win

 

October 23, 2016

Leslie Nation

Ranger linebacker Kyler Ferguson (39) is there to make the tackle on SNU's running back, Quincey Whitfield (20), to stop him for a short gain.

The Northwestern Oklahoma State football team steamrolled over the Crimson Storm as the Rangers looked to get their first back-to-back wins of the season, hosting Southern Nazarene on Ranger Field on Oct. 22 for a 4 p.m. kickoff.

Despite the Crimson Storm getting the first points on the board after forcing the Rangers to punt the ball away, Southern Nazarene kept their first and only lead of the game briefly as Northwestern answered right back.

Starting their second possession of the game on their 25-yard line, the Rangers began the drive on an 18-yard pass completion between Reid Miller and Tammarick Courtney to put Northwestern just outside Crimson Storm territory. Miller ran the ball the rest of the way across the 50-yard line for a 19-yard gain, and Miller ended the six play drive off a 27-yard passing touchdown to Arté Miura Jr. to get a 7-3 lead within five minutes of the first quarter.

After forcing the Crimson Storm to punt the ball away, the Rangers answered with another touchdown off a 12-play and 93-yard march during their next possession.

Miller had back-to-back big passing gains to Riley Hess and Miura for 19 yards and 15 yards respectively. The Rangers ended that possession on a four-yard passing touchdown to Hess that increased Northwestern's lead to 14-3 with 4:35 left in the first quarter.

Northwestern continued to dominate throughout the rest of the first half, increasing their lead to start the second quarter off a 19-yard touchdown pass to Dashawn Gordon, as Gordon took a dive into the end zone to ensure the touchdown and the 21-3 lead.

The Rangers scored once more before halftime off another pass to Hess for 12 yards that gave Northwestern a 28-3 lead with 6:33 before halftime.

Southern Nazarene got their last scoring drive of the half starting from their own 25-yard line with over six minutes left before the end of the half. After 11 plays and a 74-yard march down the field, the Crimson Storm ended their drive on a one-yard rushing touchdown from Matthew Seratte with less than one minute to go before halftime. After a failed extra point attempt from Southern Nazarene as the Rangers' Maurice Wright Jr. blocked the kick, the Rangers went into the second half with a 28-9 lead.

With the commanding lead coming into the second half, the Rangers slowed down their scoring onslaught considerably.

The Rangers scored early in the third quarter to increase their lead, ending their seven play drive off back-to-back big runs from Jacob Peyton as he ran the ball into the endzone for an eight-yard touchdown to put the score at 35-9.

Northwestern scored once more in the fourth-quarter off a seven-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jordan with 12:25 left in the game as the Rangers ended the game with that touchdown 42-9.

Stats

Leslie Nation

Rangers quarterback Reid Miller (8) scrambles to avoid the Southern Nazarene pressure and looks for an open receiver.

Offensively, the Rangers had another big game as Miller completed 25-of-37 of his passes for 323 yards and five touchdowns. Gordon caught seven for 85 yards and one touchdown, Miura had four grabs for 83 yards and one touchdown, Jarion Tudman caught two for 39 yards, Hess had three catches for 35 yards for two touchdowns, Courtney had two receptions for 24 yards, M. Jordan had three receptions for 21 yards and one touchdown, and Cody Weinzheimer had two catches for 21 yards.

Rushing for the Rangers, J. Peyton led Northwestern with 114 yards off 16 carries and a touchdown. Jalen Williams shared responsibility with J. Peyton carrying the ball 10 times for 64 yards.

Defensively Wright led the Rangers with 11 tackles and a blocked kick. Kyler Ferguson picked up six tackles against SNU, Devin Peyton had five tackles, and Ramon Readus had five tackles, two for a loss of 10 yards. Joby Saint-Fleur added another sack for a loss of six yards, while Aharon Barnes picked up an interception.

The Rangers will be back on the road as they travel to Russellville, Ark., to face off with Arkansas Tech on Oct. 29, with the kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.

To view more photos of this game, visit https://goo.gl/8xijO6 and https://goo.gl/kaSMHm.

 

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