SWOSU Unable to Stay with Southeastern, Lose 43-12
October 22, 2005
Weatherford, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State gave a determined effort but could not keep up with high-scoring, in-state rival Southeastern Oklahoma State, losing 43-12 in football action Saturday in Weatherford.
The loss was SWOSU’s eighth straight and dropped the Bulldogs to 1-8 overall and 0-3 in the Lone Star Conference’s North Division. SOSU, the defending division champion, raised its current win streak to five in-a-row and stand at 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the North.
SWOSU will next play (1-7) Northeastern State University in Tahlequah on Saturday, Oct. 29 before returning home for the season’s final game against Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m.
SWOSU ran more plays and had the ball longer but could not cool the Savages and their red-hot freshman quarterback Justin Pitrucha who threw for a school record five touchdown passes while connecting on 17-of-25 attempts for 240 yards. Pitrucha’s backup entered the game midway in the fourth quarter and tossed another TD pass, the sixth of the night, setting a new school team mark.
Southwestern fell behind early when Pitrucha connected on the first of what would be two TD hookups with receiver Jeremie Berry for a 34-yard score four minutes into the game. Berry ended the game with four catches for 124 yards and two scores.
SOSU, and primarily Pitrucha, kept the gas pedal pressed to the floor scoring a pair of touchdowns and adding a field goal to take a 23-0 lead into the locker room.
The Bulldog defense appeared to have solved the Savages in the outset of the third quarter forcing SOSU to consecutive three-and-outs. Linebackers Michael Hart and Greg Franklin came up with a big third-down stop of speedy tailback Sean Cooper on SOSU’s first possession of the half. Safety Tommy Musa then collared Cooper for a loss on a short pass play setting up another SOSU punt on the Savages’ next possessin.
Through much of the early part of the game SWOSU’s offense moved the ball effectively but bogged down the deeper it got into Southeastern territory. The Bulldogs Will Freeman was thrown for a loss on a fourth-and-one play at the visitor’s 20-yard line and SWOSU missed field goals of 28 and 47 yards.
The Savages put the game out of reach with a three-touchdown flurry over a 11-minute span of the third and fourth quarters. Pitrucha found Berry on a 66-yard pass to lift SOSU to a 29-0 lead at the close of the third. The point-after-kick was blocked by Franklin who scooped up the ball and appeared to be racing for what would have been a two-point defensive conversion if not for a shoe-string tackle by a Southeastern player.
SWOSU regrouped and later put together its best drive of the game as quarterback Beau Dodson helped engineer a 13-play, 68-yard drive that ate up nearly seven minutes of clock. The Bulldogs were aided by a personal foul roughing the passer call that gave them ball back after a fourth down pass fluttered incomplete. SWOSU made good use of its second chance and found the endzone when Dodson delivered a 29-yard pass to Chase Pratt, cutting SOSU’s lead to 29-6 with 13:00 to play.
The touchdown catch was Pratt’s first of the season and 11th all time during his stellar four-year career.
SOSU dashed any hopes of a heroic rally by scoring quickly on its next two possessions and took 43-6 lead when backup quarterback Brandon McCain tossed a seven-yard TD pass to Gabe Morse with just over eight minutes to play.
SWOSU showed its resolve in the game’s closing minutes pushing the Savage defense backwards on a 40-yard, six-play drive. Tyson Bryant had a five-yard catch and Michael Mercer had a run of four yards and two yards to set up the Bulldogs with a first-and-10 at the Southeastern 17.
Quarterback Steve Day, who split time with Dodson, then lofted a 17-yard scoring pass to receiver Chris Craig in the corner of the endzone with just 47 seconds to play to end the game’s scoring at 43-12.
SWOSU managed 273 yards of total offense to Southeastern’s 416 but the Bulldogs nearly matched the Savages’ first down total, trailing only 17-15.
Offensively, SWOSU rushed for over 116 yards on the ground with Freeman accounting for nearly half of the total with 57 yards on 11 carries. The Bulldog quarterbacks completed 15-of-32 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns while being intercepted twice.
Defensively, Hart was again at the top of the tackle charts recording nine tackles. He leads the team with 71 through eight games. Franklin had his best game since a 15-tackle effort in the season-opening win against Panhandle. The redshirt freshman had eight tackles, one and a half sacks and blocked a kick.
SWOSU defensive lineman Terry Joiner had numbers similar to last year’s all-American season when he led the entire LSC in sacks with 11. The Seattle, Wash. senior had four tackles, three of which were for losses totaling 17 yards. He added two quarterback sacks and now has moved ahead of teammate Roddrick Sheppard in the team sack lead with four and one-half to Sheppard’s four.