The ACU Wildcats finished their bid for an outright Lone Star Conference Championship and a perfect 11-0 season with a 47-17 victory over the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs on the Wildcats senior day.
“It means a lot,” senior fullback Emery Dudensing said. “I really enjoy that we won it here in front of the home crowd.”
The Wildcats out-gained the Bulldogs nearly two to one in yardage, in a game that featured back-ups for the vast majority of the second half.
Mitchell Gale played just the first half completing nine of 15 pass attempts for 128 yards and a score. Gale, a regional finalist for the Harlon Hill Award, completed an outstanding regular season with 33 touchdowns and just two interceptions, the best touchdown to interception ratio in the nation.
The Wildcats shredded Southwestern Oklahoma on the ground, ripping off 257 yards on just 36 attempts, an average of 6.9 per carry.
Charcandrick West led the ground attack as the only rusher who went for over 100 yards. West finished the game with 114 yards and two scores, including a 66-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
ACU scored touchdowns on their first five offensive possessions of the game for the first time this season.
After scoring three touchdowns in a more conventional style, Offensive Coordinator Ken Collums decided to dial up the trick play. Senior wide receiver Harold Jackson caught a screen pass, which he promptly threw down field to a wide-open Raymond Radway. The 61-yard touchdown was indicative of just how one sided the contest was.
Despite missing two starters, the Wildcat defense stifled the Bulldogs attack throughout the first half. Senior linebacker Obinna Ononobi got the start in place of the injured Kevin Washington and finished the game with two tackles.
“It was sad that Kevin had to go down, but the next man has to step up and that’s what I did,” Ononobi said.
The Bulldogs managed just three points in the first half and only 132 yards.
“Our guys came out pretty focused,” said Thomsen. “Its hard to come out focused after a game like last week.”
Southwestern Oklahoma did find the end zone on their first drive of the second half when quarterback Dustin Stenta found Ryan Corbin on a nine-yard strike. The touchdown capped an eight-play 60-yard drive that chewed up the first four minutes of the third quarter.
But the game was well out of reach at that point, and Coach Thomsen turned to Clark Harrell to finish out the game for the Wildcats. Harrell, senior transfer from Tulsa University, has seen little time since being apart of a quarterback carousel in early 2009. He finished the game, one of his best as a Wildcat, seven for 10 for 56 yards. Harrell also tacked on a two-yard rush late in the second half.
ACU, by virtue of their win over the weekend, earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Super Region II bracket. With the first round bye, the Wildcats will have a great chance to rest several players who have been banged up throughout the season.
Also earning a first round bye in Super Region II is Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Javelinas beat out Northwest Missouri for the second spot despite Kingsville’s lesser strength of schedule.
ACU’s familiar foe Northwest Missouri State claimed the No. 3 seed in the region and will not earn a bye this season. Their first round opponent will be fellow Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association team Missouri Western. The Winner of that match-up will face Kingsville in the second round.
The Wildcats potential second-round opponents are the No. 4 seed Central Missouri or the No. 5 seed West Texas A&M. The Buffs and Mules will square off this Saturday with the winner earning a right to play ACU in Abilene the following week.
“We’re not done,” Dudensing said. “We want to win four more games and win it all.”
