DURANT, Okla. — The Arkansas Tech football team pulled even with their season record on Saturday afternoon as they went on the road and beat Southeastern Oklahoma, 6-0. It was the first shutout for the Wonder Boys since they blanked Southern Nazarene, 52-0 in 2017.
All six of the points scored by the Wonder Boys against Southeastern on Saturday came in the kicking game as Christopher Baldazo made field goals from 37 yards out in the third quarter and from 42 yards out with 5:56 left in the fourth quarter.
With neither team scoring in the first half, the second half started with the Savage Storm and Wonder Boys trading three-and-outs on the first three possessions of the third quarter. The Wonder Boys got the ball back from the last of those three-and-outs and were in great field position as they started at their own 44-yardline as the Savage Storm were forced to punt from their own five-yardline.
One play into that ensuing drive, the Wonder Boys were in Savage Storm territory as Ethan Everson connected with Joyrion Chase for a 12-yard completion. Two plays later, the Wonder Boys were in the red zone going in as Everson and Chase teamed up for a 25-yard pass play down to the Southeastern 19-yardline.
The drive stalled three plays later as Tech was forced to settle for a field goal attempt by Baldazo. After having a lengthy 52-yard try to end the first half fall short, Baldazo drilled his second chance, giving Tech a 3-0 lead.
After the Wonder Boys broke the seal on scoring, Southeastern got the ball back and began to move the ball down the field before their drive stalled at the Tech 17-yardline. That would leave the Savage Storm with a field goal attempt from 34 yards away to try and tie the score. The attempt was no good, however, keeping the Wonder Boys in the lead.
Two more three-and-out possessions drew the game to the fourth quarter.
That quarter's initial possession had the Wonder Boys with the ball and they were methodically moving and got it all the way down to the Southeastern 4-yardline before being stopped and forced to attempt a shot 21-yard field goal.
Unfortunately, the kick was blocked at the line of scrimmage and the score remained 3-0, Tech.
Southeastern's ensuing possession was cut short as the Tech defense made a big time play with Diego Sanchez intercepting the ball at his own 4-yardline and returning it 31 yards. That big defensive play did not result in in anything on the offensive end as the Wonder Boys went three-and-out, but they soon retained possession as the Savage Storm muffed the punt by Tech, which was recovered by Scout Brazeal.
With possession now relatively deep in Southeastern territory, the Wonder Boys were in position to add to their lead. Three plays later, however, the Wonder Boys were only able to advance the ball four yards to set up a 42-yard field goal attempt by Baldazo. Having made 1-of-3 previous kicks, Baldazo made it 2-of-4 on the day by drilling this kick and giving Tech a 6-0 lead just under six minutes left to play.
Back with the football and trailing by just a possession, the Savage Storm looked like they were getting their offense going enough to push ahead with a touchdown, and even took a shot into the endzone, but that ball was intercepted by CJ Palmer for a touchback, swinging the ball back to Tech with just over two mintues left.
Needing to get at least one first down to secure the win, the Wonder Boys were forced to punt just 30 seconds of game time later after the two-minute timeout and a called TO by Southeastern.
Now, the Savage Storm had the ball back with 1:31 left with a chance to score a go-ahead and likely game-winning touchdown.
Four plays into that drive, the Savage Storm were in Tech territory. Four plays after that, Southeastern had got to the Tech 31-yardline, but were facing 4th-and-9. With the game hanging in the balance and less than 20 seconds left, the Savage Storm took another shot into the endzone and nearly came away with the potential game-winning touchdown, but Palmer made a great play on the ball and broke it up, to turn the Savage Storm over on downs and seal the win for the Wonder Boys.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to end their season on the road at nationally-ranked Harding on Saturday, November 16. Kick-off for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m. from Searcy.
