SURPRISE, Ariz. – The home opener for the OUAZ football team had a little bit of everything to delight the standing-room only crowd on Saturday night at Spirit Field as the Spirit rallied with the final two scores of the game to defeat Western New Mexico 38-31.
Trailing 31-24 when they took over at their own 16-yardline with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter, OUAZ (2-0) saw
Kristopher Ewens catch a ball down the middle of the field and take it 81 yards for the game-tying score on the second play of the drive.
Western New Mexico (0-1) saw a chance to take the lead falter with 14:52 to play in the fourth quarter when Evan Rios missed a 24-yard field goal to keep the game level. The Spirit then forced the Mustangs into turnovers – one interception and one fumble – on their next two possessions.
Following the fumble, OUAZ went 44 yards in 11 plays for the game-winning run from
Joshua Vizcaya. The drive featured 10 carries from Vizcaya, a field goal that was taken off the board because of a WNMU penalty, and the lights going out.
Two plays after the lights went out, it was lights out for the Mustangs as Vizcaya capped his 109-yard rushing performance with the game's final touchdown with 1:03 on the clock.
Amare Burks sealed the Spirit victory when he intercepted WNMU quarterback CJ Wilcox at the Mustangs 45-yardline with 41 seconds on the clock. The pick capped his night that included a game-high 14 tackles and saw the three Mustangs' drives of the fourth quarter end in a turnover.
OUAZ ended the night with 420 yards of offense and 25 first downs. Their 41 rushing attempts are the second-most in program history and they accounted for 108 yards on the ground. The Spirit turned it over three times in interceptions but won the turnover battle with five takeaways.
Western New Mexico picked up 468 total yards, including 216 rushing yards. They hurt themselves with fumbles on the first play of the game, and in the closing seconds of the first half inside the red zone.
Austin McCullough finished his night with 312 yards passing for his fifth straight 300-yards passing performance dating back to last season. He completed passes to nine different receivers with
Antonio Day leading all Spirit players with six grabs.
Christian Woo added nine tackles, two pass breakups, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
Marcos Garcia had nine tackles and one tackle-for-loss.
Jevan Hogan had the other interception and
Quinten Blair had two fumble recoveries.
The Spirit special teams also played a role with
John Williams scoring eight points, including a 30-yard field goal.
Austin Bohn averages 50.8 yards per punt on four kicks, including a pair for 60-plus yards.
OUAZ now has a week off before hosting Texas Wesleyan in their Sooner Athletic Conference opener on September 21 at Spirit Field.
OUAZ NOTES
This is the first time in program history the team is 2-0 after falling to Langston in the team's second game last season.
OUAZ is now 6-2 all-time at Spirit Field and 2-0 in home openers.
The kickoff temperature of 103 degrees matches the warmest temperature at kickoff in school history. It was also 103 at kickoff of the game on September 15 last season.
The 420 yards of total offense are the fewest gained by the Spirit in a victory.
OUAZ set a school record with their five takeaways on Saturday.
The 81-yard touchdown pass from McCullough to Ewens is the fourth-longest passing play in team history and the longest receptions by a running back.
Vizcaya carried the ball a school-record 29 times to record his first career 100-yard contest and the fifth in team history.
Burks' 14 tackles are one off of his career high and this is his third 10-plus tackles game of his career.
Williams' 30-yard field goal in the first quarter was his 11th straight made field goal dating back to last season. The run was snapped with a miss in the third quarter.
Williams did extend his run of consecutive PAT attempts made to 29 straight dating back to last season. That is five shy of his school record of 34 set during a five-game run last season.
