WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The battle for the Paul Sharp Cup did not disappoint on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldog Football team put up a valiant effort against Ouachita, falling 26-21 to the #6-ranked Tigers, who have now won 20 consecutive games against Great American Conference opponents.
 
SWOSU went on top 21-20 with 11:47 to play when Tyler Marr found Donnell Hawkins in the back corner of the end zone to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the contest. Ouachita would answer with 7:02 to play, hitting on a 28-yard touchdown pass that made it 26-21, which is where the score would stay after SWOSU cornerback Jalen Carr intercepted the two-point conversion attempt in the end zone.
 
The Bulldogs got behind the chains early on their next drive and had a false start that set up a 3rd and 11, which saw a Tyler Marr pass for Justin Bailey fall incomplete and forced SWOSU to punt it back over to Ouachita with 5:10 to play. From that point on, Ouachita would run the ball on 10 consecutive plays, gaining three first downs and running out the clock as they crossed into the red zone.
 
"I'm very proud of our guys effort today, but in the end we made too many mistakes to beat a good football team and Ouachita is a very good football team," SWOSU Head Coach Chet Pobolish said. "Coming into the game, I think the guys in our locker room were the only people who thought that we were going to be in this game and at the end we had a chance to win. Now we have to keep building on this because we have another tough game coming up next week."
 
SWOSU totaled 309 yards of offense, rushing for 120 and throwing for 189 while possessing the ball for 23:09 in the game. Ouachita ran 75 plays and finished with exactly 400 yards of total offense, including 259 yards rushing, which allowed them to control the clock for nearly 37 minutes of play.
 
Ouachita scored first and took a 7-0 lead with 5:13 to play in the first quarter, but SWOSU put together a 10-play scoring drive at the end of the first to tie it at 7-7 on an eight-yard scoring strike from Marr to Jared Rayburn. The combination would strike again midway through the second quarter when Marr heaved a deep ball in Rayburn's direction and he hauled it in and carried a Tiger defender into the touchdown to finish off a 68-yard touchdown that made it 14-14.
 
Ouachita kicker Gabe Goodman would connect on a 43-yard field goal just before halftime to give the Tigers a 17-14 lead at the break and they extended the lead to 20-14 on a 33-yard field goal from Goodman with 4:02 to play in the third. SWOSU's next drive ended with Marr's fourth-and-goal touchdown pass to Hawkins, which gave the Dawgs their lone lead at 21-20.
 
Marr finished 12-of-22 for 189 yards and three touchdowns while Tristian Houston led the Dawgs with 37 rushing yards on eight attempts. Rayburn made a huge contribution in his return after missing one game, catching five passes for 127 yards and two scores.
 
SWOSU was led in tackles by the starting safety duo of Javotrick Dotrey and Braden Sweet, who had 11 tackles apiece. Dalton Cooper had nine stops while CJ Jennings and Jared Young had eight apiece and combined for four of the Dawgs five tackles for loss.
 
The Bulldogs, now 2-2 (2-2 GAC) on the year, head to Magnolia, Ark., next Saturday for a GAC matchup with Southern Arkansas.