From SNU Sports Information
Reddies ready for the Storm
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — It may have been a typical warm August afternoon, that was the only thing that was warm in Southern Nazarene’s greeting to the Great American Conference. SNU fell 63-21 to Henderson State in the 2012 season opener and it was the second game played in the NCAA season by just an hour. Ouachita Baptist and Northwestern Oklahoma State kicked off the first game of the season literally across the street.
The Reddies (1-0) came into the season opener as the pick to win the GAC and Southern Nazarene is in Candidacy Year 2 of the NCAA Division II process and its first year of a predominantly Division II schedule.
It was just the second time since the 2007 season that SNU had lost a home opener.
If the first drive for Henderson State was going to the set the pace for the game, the Reddies were going to be in for a fight after Southern Nazarene got a huge stop on Henderson State’s first drive of the game, but the Reddies scored on four of their next five possessions in the first half to race out to a 35-0 lead.
The Crimson Storm struggled to put together a drive longer than 40 yards in the first half as HSU totaled 346 yards of total offense in the first half. The Crimson Storm were held to just 100 yards in the first half. SNU was just 1-for-9 on third-down conversions in the first half.
HSU struck first with 9:55 left in the first on a 31-yard pass to cap a five-play 55-yard drive. The Reddies then answered on the next two drives of 77 and 45 yards through the air to lead 21-0 at the end of the first. HSU put the finishing touches on the first half with a pair of short runs inside the five to cap a 75 and a 59-yard drive in taking the 35-0 lead at the half.
The Reddies extended the lead to 56-0 in the third before Stan West picked off a pass with 8:48 left to play and took it 35 yards the house to put the Storm on the board. The Storm answered right back when Dylan Terry found Ryan Mischler for a 37-yard pass with 7:59 left to play to cut it 56-14.
Henderson added another touchdown with 5:34 remaining to take a 63-14 lead before Terry led the Storm down the field one more time and capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive with a 14-yard strike to Sedrick Johnson to cut it to 63-21.
The Storm finished with 265 yards of total offense with 177 coming through the air and 88 on the ground. Terry threw 177 yards and two touchdowns on 27-for-47 passing and threw just one interception. Johnson led the way on the receving end with six catches for 45 yards. Derrick Perkins led the way on the ground with 61 yards on 11 carries.
Matt Pruitt had a game-high 11 tackles and forced a fumble that he recovered and ran it back 30 yards. Blake Cavill debuted for SNU with 10 tackles and a half sack for a loss of three yards.
The Crimson Storm will now get set to travel to East Central, Sept. 8, for a 6 p.m. kickoff in Ada, Okla.
David Noblett is the Sports Information Director for Southern Nazarene University.