Batesville, AR- Thanks to a last minute ACU touchdown to force overtime, Junior Josh Gonzales drilled a 39 yard game winning field goal to send #22 Arizona Christian past Lyon 26-23 on Saturday night.

After scoring on their opening drive (4 plays, 70 yards in 1:25), ACU found themselves down 13-10 at the break (Gonzales connected on a 34 yard field goal as the half expired), and behind 23-16 with 3:40 to play.  Sophomore Alec Hathcock punched in a touchdown from a yard out with 42 seconds to go for the equalizer.  A missed Lyon field goal to begin overtime allowed Gonzales to split the uprights for the ACU victory.

The comeback gave ACU a victory in their first ever Sooner Athletic Conference football game.

Game Info

• Game score: Arizona Christian 26, Lyon 23 OT
• Records: Arizona Christian- 3-0, 1-0 SAC, Lyon- 1-2, 0-1 SAC
• NAIA Top 25 Rank: Arizona Christian – 22, Lyon- not ranked
• Location: Pioneer Stadium, Batesville, AR

Offensive Stars

• Adam Abbatacola – 21-48, 290 passing yards, 2 touchdown passes
• Rick Smith- 131 all-purpose yards (50 yards receiving, 20 yards rushing, 36 punt return, 25 kickoff return)
• Alias Sturges - 6 catches, 68 yards
• Alan Freeman - 4 catches, 56 yards
• Kendrick Murphy - 3 catches, 52 yards, 1 touchdown
• Isaiah Huston - 3 catches, 49 yards, 1 touchdown
• Alec Hathcock - 8 carries, 24 yards, 1 touchdown

Defensive Stars

• Zhi'irKane James- 9 tackles (5 solo), interception
• Misael Angel - 8 tackles, fumble recovery
• Austin Schleier - 7 tackles
• Isiah Gray - 7 tackles, forced fumble, fumble recovery
• James Bagley - 3 tackles, sack, forced fumble
• Diante Flowers - 2 tackles, sack

Inside The Numbers

• Lyon out gained ACU offensively 436-345
• Scots flagged for 12 penalties/101 yards (ACU- 7/61).  LC penalized on four of five ACU scoring drives
• ACU won the turnover battle 3-2

Thoughts from Coach Bowen

"Tough game for the Firestorm.  A gritty effort to come out on top when things weren't going our way.  The defense really did a great job keeping us in the game when the offense was struggling.  But we scored when we needed to and Josh Gonzales came through with the game winner!"

Up Next

On Saturday, the Firestorm will be back at Shadow Mountain High School to host Texas Wesleyan.  Kickoff will be at 6:30 pm- a half hour earlier than normal.