ARKADELPHIA -- Lindenwood quarterback Cade Brister punctured Ouachita Baptist University's bend-but-don't-break defensive mentality with pinpoint passing and confounding elusiveness Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs at Cliff Harris Stadium.
Brister, who either rushed or passed on 54 of his team's 69 plays, accounted for 367 of his team's 445 yards to help the Lions (9-3) upset the second-seeded Tigers, 41-38, on Brett Garner's 30-yard field with 1:24 to play.
"Some of it was self-inflicted," Ouachita Coach Todd Knight said about the Tigers' troubles with Brister. "Some of it was because he's a really good player."
Ouachita had a chance to tie or win the game after Garner's field goal and moved to the Lindenwood 44 with 1:18 to play.
Lindenwood's Jordan Perry made sure it was OBU's last offensive down when he stepped inside intended receiver Justin Dean at the Lindenwood 10 and intercepted quarterback Brayden Brazeal's pass to end the drive and the season for the Tigers.
Ouachita (11-1) was led by senior running back Brockton Brown (20-161 rushing, 3 touchdowns), sophomore QB Brazeal (204 passing, 2 TDs; 50 rushing), sophomore wide receiver Hayden Waller (5-78, 2 TDs) and senior wide receiver Allie Freeman (9-77 receiving).
Brown, from Sheridan, and Freeman, from Episcopal Collegiate, played their final collegiate games.
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for photos » arkansasonline.com/1124obuplayoff/]
"I've been playing football since the second grade.," said Brown, who finished the season with 25 rushing touchdowns. "It was abrupt. I wasn't ready to finish up my career. Football's all I know."
Freeman said he got emotional when he walked off the field for the final time.
"You never see it coming," he said. "You go out to win every game. You don't expect it to happen. ... We didn't expect for us to be in this situation."
Ouachita was kept off balance by dual-threat runner Nash Sutherlin (12-81 rushing, 1 TD; 8-76 receiving). Sutherlin was one of five Lindenwood players who caught three or more passes.
"I'm almost speechless," Lindenwood Coach Jed Stugart said. "It's been one of those types of years, and it keeps getting better. I'm proud of their resiliency."
No Lindenwood player showed as much resilience as senior kicker Brett Garner, who came into the game having made 6 of 14 field goals but was full of confidence when he trotted on the field with the game tied 38-38 and less than two minutes to play.
"I was ready, and I was prepared," Garner said of his game-winning kick. "All I had to do was kick it through the uprights."
Brister said the Lions came into the game knowing that Ouachita played a defense that tightens up as it backs up to the goal line.
"They make a living on quarterbacks getting greedy," said Brister, who did not throw an interception and continually kept drives alive with third-down runs or completions.
Brister, a sophomore, started making plays on the game's opening series, when Lindenwood drove 71 yards in 17 plays and took a 3-0 lead on Garner's 21-yard field goal.
But Knight said he was pleased with the way the defense held Lindenwood out of the end zone, and thought it was an omen of things to come.
"I said, 'OK, here we go, this is our game, we're going to hem 'em up, make them kick field goals today," Knight said.
The defense got no time to rest when Brown scored on a 72-yard run on OBU's first offensive play, and Lindenwood drove 78 yards in seven plays, scoring on a 14-yard scramble by Brister with 6:17 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers' offense retook the lead 14-10 on another touchdown run by Brown, but the game's tempo was heading toward a shootout, and there wasn't much Ouachita could do to stop it.
The Tigers ended up with 26 first downs and 482 offensive yards, but it was a first down they failed to pick up on their final drive of the first half -- with Brown getting stuffed on fourth and inches at the Lindenwood 17 -- that Knight said was going to haunt him.
"I'm going to beat myself up for not kicking that field goal," Knight said.
Ouachita led 21-17 at halftime, but Lindenwood responded with a go-ahead drive that ended with Sutherlin's 4-yard run with 11:02 to play in the third quarter.
OBU took a 35-31 lead on a 47-yard pass from Brazeal to Waller, but Lindenwood responded on the ensuing kickoff when Spencer Redd emerged from the arms of four Tigers at his own 30 to go 97 yards to put Lindenwood back on top 38-35 with 12:07 to play.
Ouachita tied the game on Gabe Goodman's 22-yard field goal with 6:02 to play, but the defense couldn't stop Lindenwood, and Knight had to use two timeouts to ensure the Tigers would have time for another series before Garner's field goal.
Ouachita was well-positioned after Shun'cee Thomas returned Garner's kickoff to the 42.
Brazeal connected with freshman Keemo McKnight for 14 yards to give OBU first and 10 at the Lindenwood 44 with 1:18 to play.
But that's when Lindenwood's defense stepped up to make the biggest play of the game.
Brazeal spotted Justin Dean running down the OBU sideline with cornerback Jordan Perry in close pursuit. Perry broke inside Dean and made a diving interception at the 10 to secure the victory for Lindenwood.
"The defense had been playing rough all day," Perry said. "Cade told me, we're going to need a stop later, we're going to need a stop in the fourth, that's when it matters most."
Many of the Ouachita fans in the announced crowd of 4,689 protested that pass interference should have been called, and Knight was demonstrative as well.
Knight said the game did not come down to one or two calls.
"They played with a lot of energy," Knight said of Lindenwood. "We were a little bit emotionally drained.
"They made the plays when they had to have them and we didn't."
Sports on 11/24/2019