CORSICANA A fourth-quarter offensive surge wasn’t enough for the UTPB football team in the first bowl game in program history.
The Falcons had an early lead, but couldn’t hold off Oklahoma Baptist in a 24-21 loss in the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl Saturday at Community National Bank & Trust Stadium.
The team saw a consistent effort from its defense, but didn’t have the same luck on the offensive side.
“Defense played pretty much like they have most of this year and kept us in the game,” UTPB head coach Justin Carrigan said. “They did a great job, 24 points should have been good enough for us to win.
“We didn’t execute well offensively and that starts with coaches.”
Oklahoma Baptist, led by quarterback Preston Haire, the Great American Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year, came into the game averaging 37.73 points per game.
Although Oklahoma Baptist moved the ball downfield with efficiency in the first quarter, the only points the Bison managed in the period came from a 32-yard field goal on their first drive.
A 9-yard touchdown pass from Suddin Sapien to Matt Zubiate swung the momentum in favor of the Falcons late in the first quarter and they took that advantage into the second period.
Haire and Tyler Stuever were key players in the Bison’s push before the halftime break, scoring 14 points to put Oklahoma Baptist ahead by a 17-7 score.
First Haire found Josh Cornell for a 12-yard touchdown and the Falcons had responses with an interception from Levon Barnett, followed by a forced three-and-out when Oklahoma Baptist led by three points.
Stuever powered the ball forward with a 1-yard rushing score to put the Bison up by 10 points.
A 17-yard run up the middle of the defense from Haire gave Oklahoma Baptist a 24-7 lead in the third quarter and that’s when UTPB started coming alive.
The Falcons made a switch from Sapien to Clayton Roberts at quarterback late in the second quarter and that helped the Falcons, as Roberts got the offense going late in the game.
His two touchdown passes, to Jordan Smart and Marcus Molina, helped the Falcons cut the deficit to three points, but the Bison relied on their run game behind Stuever to control the clock and win the game.
Carrigan said shoring up fundamental aspects of the game would fix the execution issues on offense.
“It’s about just getting back to basics of being able to block, protect the quarterback and from there just play pitch and catch,” Carrigan said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of that stuff today, basic fundamentals.”
Haire went 25-of-41 passing for 181 yards on the day, while Stuever ran for 150 yards on 30 carries.
Roberts had the most efficient day at quarterback for UTPB, completing 12 of his 24 attempts for 161 yards and two scores.
Smart caught six of those passes for 138 yards.
Carrigan said he hopes the end result will fuel the players he has returning to the program and he was grateful to the seniors who took the field for the last time in a Falcon uniform.
Zubiate felt good about seeing the progress the program has made since his first collegiate season in 2018.
The tight end knows he’ll have more responsibilities as a senior next year and he plans on using this season as a stepping stone.
“This experience is a humbling experience, just to be a part of it, getting that extra week to be a part of football,” Zubiate said. “There’s a lot of schools out there and guys that wish they could be out here still playing one more week, and practicing during Thanksgiving.
“It’s awesome, it’s a blessing.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
Oklahoma Baptist 24, UTPB 21
Oklahoma Baptist…… 3.. 14 7 0 — 24
UTPB……………………. 7…. 0 0 14 — 21
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
Oklahoma Baptist: FG Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez 32, 9:17. Drive: 11 plays 58 yards, 3:50. Key play: A pass interference call helped the Bison move the ball into UTPB territory and have a shorter field to work with.
UTPB: Matt Zubiate 9 pass from Suddin Sapien (Michael Mayfield kick) 2:45. Drive: 7 plays 72 yards, 2:08. Key play: A pass from Sapien to Jordan Smart for 31 yards gave the Falcons a momentum boost.
Second Quarter
Oklahoma Baptist: Josh Cornell 12 pass from Preston Haire (Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez kick) 14:57. Drive: 7 plays 62 yards, 2:43. Key play: A 16-yard run from Haire helped the Bison get deep into the opponent’s territory.
Oklahoma Baptist: Tyler Stuever 7 run (Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez kick) 3:19. Drive: 10 plays 84 yards, 4:02. Key play: A 36-yard run from Stuever got the offense going for the Bison and helped him get in rhythm.
Third Quarter
Oklahoma Baptist: Preston Haire 17 run (Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez kick) 4:17. Drive: 12 plays 65 yards, 4:41. Key play: Haire completed a 16-yard pass to Shae Garner to get into UTPB territory.
Fourth Quarter
UTPB: Jordan Smart 25 pass from Clayton Roberts (Michael Mayfield kick) 13:17. Drive: 7 plays 51 yards, 1:48. Key play: A 2-yard run from Roberts converted a fourth down to keep the drive alive.
UTPB: Marcus Molina 11 pass from Clayton Roberts (Michael Mayfield kick) 9:20. Drive: 4 plays 52 yards, 1:20. Key play: Roberts completed a 39-yard pass to Jordan Smart to set up the scoring play.
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TEAM STATISTICS
OBU UTPB
First Downs…………………… 26……………….. 18
Total Yards…………………. 368……………… 298
Rushes-Yards………… 46-187…………… 25-18
Passing……………………… 181……………… 180
Comp-Att-Int…………. 25-41-1……….. 20-45-0
Fumbles-Lost………………. 0-0………………. 0-0
Punts-Avg……………….. 7-35.7………….. 8-45.0
Penalties-Yards…………. 5-67…………. 11-101
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Oklahoma Baptist: Tyler Stuever 30-150, Preston Haire 13-36, Nate Anderson 3-1.
UTPB: Kevin Young, Jr. 15-46, Nathan Tilford 2-2, MJ Link 1-(-3), Suddin Sapien 1-(-12), Clayton Roberts 6-(-15).
Passing
Oklahoma Baptist: Preston Haire 25-41-1—181.
UTPB: Clayton Roberts 12-24-0—161, Suddin Sapien 8-21-0—119.
Receiving
Oklahoma Baptist: Josh Cornell 8-72, Tyler Stuever 3-26, Keilahn Harris 5-17, Shae Garner 1-16, Chris Mehn 2-16, Michael Marshall 1-11, Seth Berry 1-8, Braden Phipps 1-7, Julian Clarke 2-6, Sam Sharp 1-2.
UTPB: Jordan Smart 6-138, Marcus Molina 7-97, Kobe Robinson 4-28, Matt Zubiate 2-13, Baylon Ware 1-4.
Interceptions
UTPB: Levon Barnett 1-0.
