ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - No. 24 Henderson State led by 14 points with 4:47 remaining in regulation on Saturday, but No. 4 Ouachita Baptist fought back to win the 95th edition of the Battle of the Ravine, 40-37.
The Reddies out-gained Ouachita on the day, 474 yards to 396, including out-rushing the Tigers 237 to 172.
Xavier Malone tied his season high with two receiving touchdowns while also throwing his first career touchdown as the senior wide out recorded 150 total yards.
Jeremiah Davis logged a season-high 104 yards on 19 carries, followed by
Korien Burrell with 75 yards on 18 carries. Burrell became the Reddies' first 1000-yard rusher since 2015 and now has 1064 yards on the season.
Andrew Edwards was 21-for-36 passing for 232 yards and three touchdowns. The redshirt freshman also ran for 51 yards.
Defensive back
Kolbi Crawford registered his first career interception for the defense. Senior
Deldric Shields tallied HSU's only sack on the afternoon while also adding a half tackle for loss.
Tim Jennings led the unit with eight total tackles.
Ouachita Baptist won the toss and elected to receive to open the game, but Henderson's defense stood strong right out of the gate, forcing a turnover-on-downs on the Reddies' 30 yard line. The Tiger defense did their job as well, getting the ball back after a three-and-out before logging the first points of the game with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter, 7-0.
The first quarter ended with HSU able to punch the ball into the end zone for the first time as Edwards threw an 8-yard pass to Burrell to tie things up, 7-7. On the ensuing drive, Crawford came down with the interception at OBU's 2-yard line, leading to an impressive 11-play, 83-yard drive that took 5:02 off the clock and ended with a
Tristan Heaton 30-yard field goal to give Henderson its first lead of the game, 10-7. From there, both offenses traded field goals the rest of the way until the break as fans at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium witnessed the teams head into the locker room tied at 13-13.
Ouachita Baptist came out hot in the second half, forcing a three-and-out on HSU's first drive of the third quarter before retaking the 20-13 lead with an eight-play, 44-yard drive. Another punt from Heaton gave Ouachita a chance to open up a two-score lead, but HSU forced OBU's first punt of the game and then scored on their next three possessions to surge in front 34-20 with 4:47 to play.
From there, the No. 4 team in the nation clawed all the way back over the next three and a half minutes tie the game 34-34 with just over a minute remaining. A final drive gave HSU some life, as the Reddies got the ball down to the Tiger 29-yard line with three seconds left, but a potential game-winning 46-yard field goal missed wide right as time expired to send the contest into overtime for the first time since 2013.
Ouachita once again won the coin toss and elected to play defense first. The Reddie offense was unable to get into the end zone, as Heaton came through with a 28-yard go-ahead field goal. Needing a touchdown to win, Ouachita converted on a 4th-and-1 inside the 10-yard line rather than settle for the tie and eventually punched it in two plays later to claim the 95th Battle of the Ravine in dramatic fashion, 40-37.
