The most anticipated game of the year was all everyone expected and more, as the 82nd Battle of the Ravine was determined on the final play of the game. The Henderson State Reddies fell short against Ouachita Baptist when quarterback Roch Charpentier was intercepted near the goal line on the last play of the game by Denszell Brown, sealing a 43-36 victory for the Tigers.

Down by as many as 13 points in the second half, the Tigers rallied for a thrilling victory in the Coleman Dairy Battle of the Ravine Thursday night in a Gulf South Conference game at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.

Ouachita scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:13 remaining on a Lance Parker 2-yard run and the Tiger defense forced a pair of interceptions, including Denszell Brown’s first collegiate interception as time expired to give Ouachita the victory and snap a two-game Henderson State winning streak in the rivalry.

OBU’s Julius Pruitt set a school record 250 receiving yards on 10 catches with a season-high and collegiate high four touchdowns. Jeremy Young, who became the all-time single-season leader in kick return yards, also had 10 catches for 111 yards as the Tigers won seven games for the first time since the 1985 season.

Parker, who was 28-of-44 in the air, finished with a career-high 415 yards, along with four touchdowns.

KJ Johnson finished with 64 yards on 23 carries to pace the Tiger ground game.

Mikhail Lindsay and Terrence Garrett led the Ouachita defense with six tackles.

It was senior night in Arkadelphia, as Henderson State honored 20 senior players before the game, and seniors Greg Godfrey, Bernard Palmer, Garett Manning and Nick Finley played extremely well in their final home game.

Godfrey caught 10 passes for 117 yard and two touchdowns, while Palmer rushed for 53 yards and two touchdowns and Manning caught eight passes for 138 yards.

Finley recorded 15 tackles, including seven solo stops, with two tackles for lost yardage. The senior from Malvern also recorded a sack and forced a fumble.

Henderson State used its second drive and went 76 yards in nine plays as Charpentier, who was 37-of-58 for 438 yards, connected with Godfrey for a 16-yard pass to give the Reddies a 7-0 lead with 6:04 in the first half.

Ouachita took advantage of a Charpentier interception as the Tigers went 86 yards in 12 plays with Parker connecting with Pruitt for a 34-yard touchdown to tie the contest at 7 with 12:32 left in the second quarter.

The Tigers broke the 7-all tie with 7:57 remaining in the first half as Zach Wright booted a 42-yard field goal.

On its next possession, Henderson State was driving into OBU territory, but OBU’s Bryan Church sacked Charpentier for a big loss, forcing Henderson State to punt. Justin Putnam’s punt pinned OBU inside its own 5-yard line.

HSU forced OBU to punt after three plays from deep in its own territory, giving the Reddies excellent field position, and Henderson State capitalized as Charpentier threw his second touchdown pass of the night to Godfrey, this time covering 19 yards, and Henderson State took the lead 14-10.

After the OBU drive was ended by an interception by senior Mykiro Shelly, HSU led 14-10 entering the second half.

The second half started out as well as could be imagined for Henderson State, as senior Finley forced an OBU fumble on its first possession of the half and the fumble was recovered by HSU’s Gary Dancer inside Tiger territory. Charpentier took advantage quickly, finding freshmen receiver Elliot Hebert on the first play of the drive for a touchdown, giving Henderson State the 21-10 advantage with 13:57 left in the third.

The Tigers cut the margin to 21-13 after a Wright 37-yard field goal with 8:09 left in the third and trimmed the deficit again to 21-16 after Wright’s 19-yard field goal with 1:38 remaining in the quarter.

Henderson State put together a 77-yard, 7-play drive with the big play Charpentier to Garett Manning for 28 yards. Bernard Palmer punched it in from the 1-yard-line, and the Reddies converted the 2-point conversion to grab a 29-16 advantage with 14:13 remaining.

Ouachita answered the Henderson State drive as the Tigers marched 57 yards in just five plays with Parker connecting with Pruitt for a 15-yard touchdown to cut the Reddies lead to 29-23 with 12:10.

The combination of Parker to Pruitt worked again and helped the Tigers pulled even at 29 with a 64-yard touchdown with 9:23. The extra point attempt by Wright was wide left.

Henderson State received the kickoff looking to again take the lead in the back-and-forth game, and the Reddies did that when Palmer broke a 37-yard touchdown rush, his longest of the season, giving Henderson State the lead 36-29 with 6:40 to play in the game.

Jeremy Young’s 55-yard return on the ensuing kickoff set up Parker’s 30-yard touchdown pass with a spectacular catch by Pruitt to tie the game at 36.

Ouachita forced a Henderson State punt and the Tigers marched 67 yards in five plays as Parker scored on a 2-yard run to give Ouachita its first lead of the night, 43-36 with 3:13 remaining.

The Reddies were driving for the potential game-tying score, but Jamerson Tolbert intercepted Charpentier in the end zone with 1:13 left.

But OBU was forced to punt, and the Reddies again had the ball with 46 seconds remaining. Charpentier drove the team down the field, and found Manning with two straight first down completions. The quarterback then found Manning again to move the ball inside the OBU 20-yard line, but a late offensive passing interference call moved the Reddies back 15 yards. Charpentier was intercepted by Denszell Brown on the last play of the game as he attempted to find a receiver near the goal line to give the Tigers a thrilling 43-36 victory.

One key stat was the Reddies being penalized 130 yards while OBU was just flagged for 39 yards in penalties.

OBU ends the season 7-3 and 5-3 in the GSC, while the Reddies end 5-5 and 4-4. With the OBU win the series which began in 1895 is again tied 38-38-6.