Chris Nieto nailed 3 of his 4 field goal attempts Saturday night.
Goodwell, Okla.—Saturday night meant only one thing for the OPSU Aggie football team—game night and there's nothing like playing the home opener under the lights in front of all the Aggie football fans.
Just prior to the 7 p.m. kick-off, the Aggies won the coin toss and chose to kick off first to start the game against the Lindenwood University Lynx, an NAIA team from Belleville, Ill. that is playing its first year of football.
Both offenses struggled early in the first quarter getting things going, but with 5:31 on the first quarter clock, quarterback Caleb Holbrook connected with Justice Patterson on a dump pass to the right side and Patterson hoofed it 65 yards for the first score of the game for the 7-0 Aggie lead following the point after kick. The Lynx answered right back with a 2-yard touchdown run set up by an 80-yd pass completion from quarterback Kerry Gibson to wide receiver Harvey Binford. The score was all tied up at 7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started off with a 19-yard field goal by Aggie kicker Chris Nieto to take the lead 10-7. The Aggie defense played strong for the entire second quarter, causing three punts and a turnover on downs. Nieto added two more field goals before half to push the lead to 16-7 and that's what it would remain going into halftime.
The Aggies came out of halftime with the lead and the big M—momentum. OPSU received the second half kickoff and had a three and out on their opening drive. However, defensive back Justin Fogle picked off an errant pass from Gibson and set up the Aggie offense with great field position. Two plays later, Holbrook scrambled for an 11-yard touchdown rush to put the Aggies ahead 23-7. Lindenwood responded with a great drive of their own that resulted in an 11-yd touchdown completion from Gibson to Mason McGrew. They failed on their two-point conversion attempt and the Aggies still led 23-13. OPSU's one negative play in the game was a costly fumble that the Lynx capitalized on four plays later with a 27-yard touchdown from Gibson to Binford and Lindenwood was now down just 3 points behind with a score of 23-20 going into the final quarter.
Less than one minute into the fourth quarter, Lindenwood tied the ball game up with a 34-yard field goal and now the Aggies were on their heels looking to respond. However, the rest of the fourth quarter was a defensive battle from both teams. At the end of regulation, OPSU and LUB were all tied at 23 and this game was going into overtime. On the Aggies first possession of the overtime, Patterson found a gap and the endzone with a 22-yard touchdown run that put the Aggies ahead 30-23. On Lindenwood's possession, they were unable to find the endzone and the game came to an end as the Aggies won thrilled the crowd with a 30-23 win in their first home game of the season. The Aggies also won on the stat sheet with 389 total yards on offense compared to Lindenwood's 378. Patterson was the leading rusher with 22 carries for 130 yards. Holbrook completed 14 of 28 passes for 218 yards and 1 touchdown pass. Patterson was also the leading receiver with two receptions for 65 yards. Chris Nieto was 3 for 4 on field goals connecting from 28 yards twice and once from 19 yards out.
First year head coach Gaskamp and the Aggies pulled out their first victory of the season and their record now is 1-1. The first win is always the toughest, and it is great to get it out of the way early in the season. OPSU heads to Denver, Colo. next weekend to take on Cole College on Saturday, September 15.
###
