Coming into Saturday’s contest with the Bacone Warriors, the Roadrunners had been unable to score in the second quarter in previous games. Through three games, the Roadrunners had only been able to muster three total points. The three points came in the first game against Northeastern State.
That all changed in front of a homecoming crowd of 33,517 as the Roadrunners scored 34 points in the second quarter en-route to a 54-7 drubbing of the Warriors.
“This was a great win for us because we needed it,” Head Coach Larry Coker said following the game. “This was a great building block for our team.”
The Warriors, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member, looked out of sorts in the second quarter as the Roadrunners scored in many different ways including the first interception ever returned for a touchdown in school history.
The pick-six occurred with the Roadrunners riding a 21-0 lead when linebacker Steven Kurfehs intercepted a pass from Warrior quarterback Michael Cook and took it 45 yards to the north endzone of the Alamodome.
“I wasn’t completely expecting it,” Kurfehs said of the interception. “I caught it, took off running and hoped no one would catch me.”
No Warrior caught Kurfehs, or the Roadrunners as the pick-six wrapped up a wild five minutes of play in which they scored 21 points to break open what had been a close 7-0 game after one quarter.
The Roadrunners set records left and right on the Warriors. By the 6:38 mark of the second quarter, the Roadrunners had scored more points than in any of the three previous games when Evans Okotcha ran 39 yards for the touchdown that gave the Roadrunners a 35-0 benefit at the expense of the Warriors.
The second quarter did not just belong to the offense or defense. The special teams got in on the act as place kicker Sean Ianno knocked in two field goals in the final three minutes of the second quarter to give the Roadrunners 41 points in the half, the most they have had in any half this year.
“[Ianno] has gotten better,” Coker said. “I think his confidence was there today.”
With the game over at halftime, the second half saw fewer points as the fans began making their way to the exits midway through the third quarter. The Roadrunners tacked on two more field goals and another touchdown before the Warriors scored a meaningless touchdown to put the final tally at 54-7 in favor of the Roadrunners.
The Roadrunners improve to 2-2 on the season. The Warriors fell to 1-4 on the season. The Roadrunners will travel to Huntsville to face Sam Houston State Saturday at 6 p.m.
