SURPRISE, Ariz. – Playing the most important game in the young history of the program, the 17th-ranked OUAZ football team was up to the moment in securing a 27-7 win over 15th-ranked Langston on Saturday night at Spirit Field.
 
In winning the game fans voted as the NAIA Game of the Week, OUAZ (7-0, 5-0 Sooner) did something that no conference team had done since 2016 and defeat Langston (4-2, 3-1) to snap their 24-game conference winning streak. The Spirit ended the streak despite scoring their fewest points in a game in program history.
 
"It's tough to beat a team like Langston because they have been mauling people," OUAZ head coach Mike Nesbitt said after the win. "We knew they were going to come in and be super physical and we were hoping our guys had the energy to get back and fight."
 
What OUAZ did was slow the vaunted rushing attack of the visiting Lions, and the conference rushing leader Tim Whitfield. After the junior gained 110 yards on his first seven carries of the night, the Spirit defense held Whitfield to just 16 yards on 17 carries the rest of the game.
 
"I thought our interior line did an excellent job and then our safeties came down and got involved in stopping the run," Nesbitt added of slowing the Langston rushing effort. "We knew if we couldn't slow (Whitfield) down and make them snap the ball in third-and-long we were going to have a long night."
 
With Langston's offense struggling to gain momentum, the OUAZ offense went to work. Austin McCullough threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns. He completed two of those scores to Richard Montello, including a 12-yard strike to open the scoring on the Spirit's first possession.
 
Kyandre Brooks took a swing pass 12 yards for a score early in the second quarter to notch his fourth touchdown of the past two weeks. McCullough and Montello connected for the second time – a 28-yard pass down the right sideline – to put the Spirit in front 20-0 at halftime.
 
When asked about the offensive plan, Nesbitt commented, "Offensively we wanted to push the ball down the field as quick as possible to get some early points. It was then fun to see Rich (Montello) and Kris Ewens step up and make some plays. Tonight was a full team effort and it was a lot of fun."
 
The Spirit defense got in on the scoring in the third quarter when Maverick Bradford stripped the Langston quarterback and Marcus Farria recovered the fumble in the end zone. This is the fourth straight game OUAZ has seen their defense score a touchdown.
 
Leading 27-0, Kristopher Ewens took over. The senior recorded his first career 100-yard rushing game with 140 yards on 28 carries. He also caught one pass for eight yards in just his second start of the season. Ewens is the fourth different Spirit back to run for a 100 yards in a game this season.
 
OUAZ ended the night with 451 yards of total offense in running 74 plays. They were held below 34 points in a game for the first time in the program's 17-game history largely due to three turnovers. The Spirit totaled 23 first downs despite going 3 of 11 on third-down.
 
Montello recorded 87 yards on five catches while Kavon Gardner added four receptions for 47 yards.
 
Langston accounted for 343 yards of offense with 243 of those coming on the ground. Along with the 126 yards from Whitfield, Jordan Cooper gained 79 yards on nine carries coming on in the second half at quarterback.
 
OUAZ tallied three sacks in the win, getting two from Bradford and the third from Alema Collins. The Spirit defense entered the game as the NAIA leader in takeaways and they got three more on Saturday. Adding to the Farria fumble recovery, Marcos Garcia recovered a fumble in the red zone on the Lion's second possession and Amare Burks had an interception to halt a third-quarter drive.
 
Burks led the Spirit with 10 total tackles, including eight solo stops. Rylen Kaniaupio had nine tackles and Justin Barnett had eight and one tackle-for-loss.
 
The win leaves the Spirit as the only undefeated team in the Sooner Athletic Conference and one of just 10 teams in the NAIA without a loss this season. They will now get set to face in-state rival Arizona Christian next Saturday, October 26, at Cactus High School.