Fire and water don't mix, but the Firestorm from Arizona Christian had no problem with Saturday afternoon's rain showers as the visitors from Phoenix walked away from Greg Sherwood Memorial Bulldog Stadium 40-27 winners over Wayland Baptist.
After spotting Arizona Christian two early touchdowns, the Pioneers fought back to tie the game at 27-all midway through the third quarter. But the Firestorm – as the intensity of the rain slowly increased – finished with a frenzy, scoring a touchdown and kicking two field goals to close out the first Sooner Athletic Conference game of the season.
The game started with a thud for Wayland (1-2, 0-1 SAC) when ACU freshman defensive lineman Anthony Nicastro – on Wayland's first play from scrimmage – intercepted a batted pass and returned it 22 yards for the first points of the day.
The Pioneers were set up to answer when
Mitchell Parsley hooked up with running back
Jerrell Peterson for a 39-yard completion to the ACU 31. But the Pioneers turned it over on downs, and it didn't take the Firestorm long to move it the other way. ACU drove 75 yards in six players, with the payoff coming on a 12-yard run by Aidan Quinn.
The Pioneers got on the board some five minutes into the second period when sophomore receiver
Skyler Whitten hauled in a 29-yard pass from Parsley as Whitten was falling on his back in the end zone.
ACU field goal kicker Nestor Niguera, a 5-foot-4, 255-pound freshman, then went to work, kicking the first two of his four field goals before halftime. Niguera first booted a 49-yarder, then after Parsley and
De'Sean Johnson hooked up on a 10-yard TD pass, Niguera put three more points on the board with a 27-yard field goal with no time left on the clock. That capped an impressive drive that saw the Firestorm take possession at their own 45-yard line with only 48 seconds left. A 26-yard pass on 3
rd-and-1 set up ACU at the Wayland 20, then a Pioneer facemask negated a sack by
Manny Arguijo and set up the Firestorm at the 10 with 1 second left.
ACU added to its 20-14 halftime lead by scoring on its first second-half possession, a 2-yard run by Quinn. The Pioneers answered immediately with a 7-play, 73-yard drive that featured a 26 yard pass to
Daniel Hurn and 22-yard run by Johnson, who on the next play carried the ball the final six yards to the end zone.
WBU made a huge play when senior Jaquavious Dean recovered a Firestorm fumble at the ACU 34-yard line. Two plays later, the Pioneers were in the end zone again when Parsley threw back to Hurn in the flat, where he turned it upfield and outraced defenders for a 24-yard TD. The extra point kick by
Kaleb Thornton tied it at 27 with 6:38 left in the third.
The Firestorm put up what turned out to be the winning points on their next drive when Higuera booted a 49-yard field goal one play after
Casey Buck recorded a nine-yard sack back to the 32-yard line.
ACU made it a two-possession game with a touchdown that came after two near turnovers. The first was on a 3
rd-and-14 pass that Wayland freshman
Derrick Campbell appeared to have intercepted before ACU receiver Jon Cole came up with it for a 34-yard gain.
Wayland couldn't jump on a fumbled ball on the next play before the next step saw Tyler Duncan loft a 30-yard pass to Cole for the game's final TD with 9:08 left.
The Pioneer offense went 4-and-out, but the WBU defense held and Higuera made his only mistake of the game, just missing a 50-yard field goal. It didn't much matter, though, as WBU again went 4-and out, and this time it led to a 45-yard Higuera field goal that capped the scoring with 1:47 showing.
The game was remarkably close statistically, with Wayland finishing with two more first downs (24-22) and the Firestorm holding just a three-yard edge in total offense (418 yards to 415).
Parsley completed passes to 11 different receivers, winding up 26-of-48 for 339 yards and three TDs. Johnson ran a dozen times for 53 yards and caught five passes for 80 more steps. Hurn hauled in eight passes for 107 yards.
On defense, Arguijo was credited with a team-high 10 tackles (9 solo) with one sack and two pass break-ups. Wayland's defense came up with six sacks.
The Pioneers play the SAC's other Arizona member, 23
rd-ranked Ottawa, next Saturday, Sept. 28, at 9 p.m. (Central) in Surprise, Ariz. The Spirit (2-0), with wins over Doane, Neb. (48-7) and Western New Mexico (38-31), hosted Texas Wesleyan on Saturday night in their conference opener. Ottawa led at the half, 21-16.
The Pioneers will be looking to avenge last season's 75-14 loss to Ottawa.
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