With three consecutive wins under their belts, the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys are rightfully feeling pretty good these days. Head coach Steve Mullins just wants to make sure they don’t allow those good feelings to translate into over-confidence.
With three consecutive wins under their belts, the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys are rightfully feeling pretty good these days. Head coach Steve Mullins just wants to make sure they don’t allow those good feelings to translate into over-confidence.
“If our guys expect to just show up, we’re not going to win that way,” said Mullins. “We have to have the same focus and effort that we had the last three weeks. We are building in the right direction, but I don’t think anyone on our staff or our team thinks we are better than we are. We’re in the middle of the pack in the conference right now, but if we keep doing what we can do, we have an opportunity to finish very high in the conference. That all starts with Saturday’s game.”
The Wonder Boys (4-3 overall, 2-2 Great American Conference) will host the University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevils (1-6, 0-5) for a 2 p.m. GAC football contest at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Party at the Plaza, the pre-game tailgating celebration outside the stadium on Centennial Plaza, will begin at noon. Game tickets will be available at the stadium ticket office. Those with a valid Arkansas Tech identification card will be admitted free.
It will be Johnson/Yell County Day at Arkansas Tech. Fans presenting a driver’s license showing residence in either of those counties will receive a promotional ticket price of $5 per person.
Arkansas Tech is on a winning streak of three games or longer for the first time since 2009 after consecutive wins over Northwestern Oklahoma State, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southwestern Oklahoma State the last three Saturdays.
In both of their two most recent victories, the Wonder Boys rallied from 17-point deficits to win. Arkansas Tech trailed Southwestern Oklahoma State 17-0 after one quarter last Saturday, but a big day from quarterback Tanner Marsh and three turnovers forced by the Tech defense allowed the Wonder Boys to avenge a 23-20 loss at Southwestern Oklahoma State in 2011.
“A year ago, we couldn’t have done what we have done the past two weeks,” said Mullins. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our team. We kept working and believing, and eventually good things happened for us. “
Marsh completed 25-of-37 passes for 424 yards and four touchdowns at SWOSU and was named GAC co-offensive player of the week. His 424 passing yards were the fifth-most by a Wonder Boy in a single game in program history, and he joined Nick Graziano as the only Arkansas Tech quarterback to ever throw for 400 or more yards in a contest.
In addition to his big day throwing the football, Marsh also caught the go-ahead touchdown pass from wide receiver Jonathan Keener on a trick play with 3:50 remaining. Marsh handed the football off to Ketrich Harmon, who ran left and handed it to Keener, who in turn rolled to his right and threw the scoring strike to Marsh.
“We started working on that play during the first practice of the week on Sunday,” said Mullins. “I love trick plays. There wasn’t anyone within 10 yards of Tanner, so it was an easy throw for Keener. Hopefully we’ll keep expanding and have something this Saturday that will keep people entertained.”
Arkansas-Monticello has lost six consecutive games following a season-opening 78-0 win over College of Faith. Second-year head coach Hud Jackson and the Boll Weevils have suffered through an injury-plagued season that has included the loss of their top three candidates at quarterback.
“Outside of this one game I have a lot of sympathy for Hud and my alma mater,” said Mullins, a 1980 graduate of UAM. “We had a similar situation here at Tech in an extreme way last season. At the NCAA Division II level, your depth is not going to be like it is at the Division I level. As you start to lose guys and replace them…there’s a reason a guy is first team, second team or third team. It’s a tough deal when you look at the personnel board and realize there are a lot of things you’d like to do, but you can’t.”
Even with UAM’s injury troubles, Mullins said that he is concerned about the threat posed by quarterback Damon Wicker because of his running ability.
“There’s no secret about it…defensively, we’re not playing as well as we should and mobile quarterbacks in particular have given us trouble,” said Mullins. “We’ve seen that the last two weeks, and Wicker is in the same mold in terms of his mobility.”
Radio station KWKK 100.9 FM will broadcast the Arkansas Tech-UAM game in the Arkansas River Valley. Live audio and live video coverage will be available online at http://athletics.atu.edu.
