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EDMOND (Oct. 16) -- There were plenty of highlights during a wild Homecoming tilt here Saturday afternoon, but in the end it was an excruciating setback for Central Oklahoma.
The Bronchos dropped an amazing 56-55 overtime heartbreaker to Lone Star Conference North Division rival Southeastern Oklahoma in the highest-scoring game in Wantland Stadium history when the Savage Storm made their extra point following an OT touchdown after UCO had their PAT bounce off the right upright.
It marked UCO's second one-point overtime loss of the season on a failed extra point, with Incarnate Word earning a 42-41 win on Sept. 18 when UCO had a PAT blocked.
“It's a tough loss and a huge disappointment,” said head coach Tracy Holland, whose team fell to 2-5 on the year and 1-2 in North Division play. “We played hard and put ourselves in position to win the game and just didn't finish.”
The Bronchos saw a big 35-10 third-quarter lead turn into a 42-35 fourth-period deficit before coming back to take a 49-42 lead on Ethan Sharp's 38-yard scoring pass to Carter Whitson with just 1:02 left to play.
SOSU came back to tie it on the final play of regulation to force overtime when Chad Laury pulled in a six-yard TD pass from Logan Turner to complete a frantic 62-yard scoring drive.
UCO got the ball first in the extra session and scored in just three plays when Josh Birmingham weaved his way through traffic from 12 yards out, but Chris Robbs' kick bounded off the upright to leave the Bronchos with a 55-49 lead.
The Savage Storm took just two plays to cover the necessary 25 yards against UCO's worn-out defense and SOSU's Chris Peoples then booted through the game-winning PAT.
Birmingham was virtually unstopped in the contest, rushing for 205 yards -- the 23rd-best game in school history -- and three touchdowns on 21 carries while adding a 33-yard TD catch. He had scoring sprints of 12, 60 and 66 yards, making him the first player in school history to have two 50-plus touchdown runs in one game.
Sharp finished 20-of-37 passing for 242 yards and four scores, with Daniel Morrell hauling in six receptions for 94 yards and a TD to lead the receiving corps. UCO finished with a season-high 460 yards, averaging 7.3 yards a play.
SOSU racked up 602 total yards while running 95 plays to just 63 for the Bronchos. Turner was 24-of-41 passing for 298 yards and five TDs and Baylen Laury had 198 yards and two scores in 23 rushes.
The Savage Storm scored on their first possession of the gamae to take an early 3-0 lead, but UCO came back with 21 unanswered points to grab its first big lead of the game.
Sharp ended UCO's first offensive try with an eight-yard scoring toss to Tucker Holland to give the Bronchos a 7-3 lead and Birmingham ripped off a 60-yard TD jaunt on a pitch-out around the corner to make it 14-3 minutes later.
Herbert Byrd recovered a botched punt snap at the SOSU 47-yard-line to set up UCO's next score, which came on a 33-yard Sharp-to-Birmingham swing pass on the final play of the first quarter to up the lead to 21-3.
The Savage Storm answered that to get within 21-10 and then the defense got in the scoring act for the Bronchos when #Brad Harmon's blindside sack of Turner forced a fumble that Kerry Wallace plucked off in mid-air and returned 38 yards for a touchdown that made it 28-10 late in the half.
UCO pushed it to 35-10 on the first play of the third quarter when Birmingham rambled through a big gap up the middle and raced 66 untouched yards for his third TD of the game.
SOSU came alive after that, ripping off 32 straight points to take a 42-35 lead with 9:59 left to play.
The Bronchos rallied to draw even at 42-all on Sharp's 23-yard touchdown pass to Morrell with 8:47 remaining, but then failed to take advantage of fumble recoveries at the SOSU 49 and UCO 46 as the game stayed deadlocked.
A big sack by Tucker Cason forced the Savage Storm to punt into the wind with less than two minutes left and the Bronchos gained great field possession at the SOSU 38. UCO needed just one play to score, with Sharp finding a wide-open Whitson for the go-ahead touchdown on the first play.
That made it 49-42 with 1:02 left to go in regulation and the Savage Storm needed all of that to move in for the tying touchdown that set up overtime and the dramatic finish.
The Bronchos return to LSC North Division action next Saturday, traveling to Tahlequah to take on Northeastern State.
