With winning record & potent offense, Ottawa doesn't give impression of first-year program

Except maybe for having only a handful of seniors on the roster, nothing about Ottawa University-Arizona brings to mind a first-year football program. Fielding an offense that averages almost 52 points a game to rank fourth in the NAIA certainly doesn't, nor does the overall success the Spirit have realized.
 
With wins in four of their seven games, the Spirit – coached by former West Texas A&M head coach Mike Nesbitt – prepare to host a Wayland team looking for its fourth victory in a row.
 
"They're a very explosive team," Pioneers coach Butch Henderson said of Ottawa. "We'll have to play four full quarters."
 
Six years removed from its own inaugural season, Wayland travels to Surprise, Ariz., in a battle of teams tied for fourth place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings along with Arizona Christian, the team Wayland hosts next week in the regular-season finale.
 
Saturday's contest kicks off at 7 p.m. (9 p.m. CDT) and can be watched for $7.95 at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ottawaaz/. Live stats will be available at https://ouazspirit.com/sidearmstats/football/summary.
 
The game will end close to midnight in Plainview, but Henderson wasn't too concerned about that after the Pioneers took care of business by winning their only other night game two weeks ago at Texas College.
 
"It's a matter of handling the day to get ready to play," he said. "We did a good job with it (at Texas College). We'll have to come back and do that again."
 
The coach is much more concerned about an Ottawa offense that ranks fourth in the NAIA with 539.4 yards per game, hasn't scored fewer than 34 points in a game all season and is coming off season-high point totals in back-to-back wins over then No. 19 Arizona Christian, 73-28, and Texas College, 63-14. Wayland allows opponents 31.3 points a game.
 
Leading Ottawa's potent offense is sophomore quarterback Austin McCullough (6-2, 170), who in six outings has completed 56 percent of his passes (110-of-195) for 1,919 yards (320 per game to rank fourth in the NAIA) with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions. McCullough threw for six TDs against Arizona Christian.
 
"He is throwing very, very well and does a good job of running their offense at the line of scrimmage," Henderson said.
 
Ottawa has six receivers with double-digit catches, including Brandon McLaughlin (16-512, 9 TDs) and running back Marcelous Chester-Riley (25-401, 5 TDs), who's also getting 50 yards rushing a game.
 
The Spirit average 186 yards rushing an outing with sophomore Shamar Moreland (6-0, 168) responsible for a team-best 79 of those. Moreland, also a dangerous punt and kick returner, averages 10.3 yards a carry, has scored nine TDs and leads the NAIA with 248.6 all-purpose yards a game. In Ottawa's 49-point blowout of Texas College two weeks ago, Moreland accounted for 423 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns.
 
"It will be a challenge for our defense to go there and play against somebody that's that explosive," said Henderson, whose defensive unit is ranked eighth in the NAIA for third-down efficiency (29.2 percent) and 21^st in sacks per game (2.7). "We have to make them work for what they're doing and balance it with clock control" when Wayland has the football.
 
That will be challenge for the Pioneer offense against an Ottawa defense that Henderson said is "built differently than anything we've seen."
 
While junior safety Da'Shawn Holcombe leads the Spirit in tackles with 54, senior linebacker Kenneth Steele Jr. (6-0, 212) is the big playmaker with 52 tackles, an NAIA-best 20 stops for loss and a dozen sacks, which is second in the nation.
 
"He's their one key pass rusher. They're building their defense around him," Henderson said, adding that the Pioneers' offensive line – anchored by senior center Keaton Vawter – will have its hands full as the Spirit look to "disguise" Steele. "We have to keep him from getting to us."
 
As a unit, Ottawa leads the SAC and is tied for eighth in the NAIA by getting 3.3 sacks a game.
 
Even Ottawa's special teams are impressive. Besides Moreland doing his thing on returns, punter Austin Bohn's 46.4-yard average leads the NAIA.
 
What's more, the Spirit – who have played just two road games (losses to No. 14 Langston, 63-56, and Southwestern Assemblies of God, 56-34) – should go into Saturday very well-rested and very well-prepared, having had two weeks to get ready. It will be Ottawa's third straight home game and Senior Night.
 
Henderson understands the Pioneers will have their hands full against the Spirit, but feels they're up to the challenge.
 
"We're finding our personality of who we are. We're a really good defensive team with really strong kicking units and an offense that's learning how we make that fit and make it all work," the coach said. Offensively, we'd like to be able to move the football and score a little farther out and keep our defense off the field.
 
"We've also learned to come in ready to get after it in the first half AND the second half. We didn't have that early in the year."