RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech football team lost their home game against Southern Arkansas by a score of 38-7 on Saturday night out at Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium.
The game started out promising for the Wonder Boys as they received the ball first after SAU won the opening coin toss and elected to defer the option to the second half. On that initial drive, the Wonder Boys got the ball into the redzone on 13 plays, but a sack on third-and-9 from the SAU-17 dropped the ball back to the SAU 27-yardline and forcing the Wonder Boys to attempt a 44-yard field goal.
That try was no good, giving SAU the ball at their own 27-yardline with just under eight minutes left in the first quarter. The Wonder Boys defense would force the Muleriders to punt from their own 41-yardline, but did gain possession on the punt as SAU came away with a muffed fumble recovery at the Tech 12-yardline.
Not long after that momentum-shifting play, the Muleriders found the endzone to take a 7-0 lead.
The next Tech possession stalled and forced them to punt again and SAU made another big play on special teams. This time in the form of a 49-yard punt return that set them up deep in Tech territory again.
On that drive, the Muleriders were able to get down to the ATU 6-yardline before the Wonder Boys made a stop to force them to a 23-yard field goal attempt. That attempt was good and SAU led, 10-0 early in the second quarter.
Later in the quarter, SAU added a defensive touchdown and a rushing touchdown near the end of the half to go into the locker room with a 24-0 lead.
The Muleriders then tacked on two more touchdowns to swell their leas to 38-0 through three quarters.
The Wonder Boys would get on the board early in the fourth quarter on a 10-yard rush by transfer running back Myles West. That touchdown by Tech brought the game to its final score of 38-7.
Tech will now prepare to make the trek to Alva, Okla. where they will take on Northwestern Oklahoma on Saturday, October 5. Kick-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
