Indoor football returned to the BOK Center on Saturday, as the Tulsa Oilers IFL team opened the home part of their schedule with a 45-31 win over San Antonio.
The Gunslingers opened the scoring with a touchdown run by Malik Henry with 12:20 left in the first quarter. The Oilers used a two-play drive to tie the game, as Max Novak grabbed his first touchdown catch of the season, on a pass from TJ Edwards, to even the game with 10:40 left in the first quarter.
San Antonio scored on a field goal to take the lead before Tulsa Edwards connected with Sheldon “JuJu” Augustine in the back left corner of the endzone for a score to make it 14-10 Oilers with 3:19 to go in the first quarter.
Tulsa’s defense stopped San Antonio on fourth down early in the second quarter and the Oilers had the ball on their own 11-yard line. The next drive was capped by a nine-yard keeper by Edwards into the end zone, with 6:23 left in the half to extend the Oilers’ lead to 21-10.
The Oilers extended their lead just before halftime when Edwards completed a pass to Muhammad Rodgers, from 14 yards out, and Rodgers bounded into the end zone to make it 28-10 going into halftime.
Tulsa extended its lead early in the third quarter as Rio Ramirez kicked a 25-yard field goal giving the Oilers a 31-10 advantage. The Gunslingers responded with a touchdown of their own before Tulsa would end the third quarter with a touchdown catch by Augustine again and an interception by Kaytron Allen in the endzone to conclude the third quarter with the Oilers leading 38-17.
San Antonio attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter as both teams began trading scores. Edwards scored another touchdown for the Oilers to put the game away late in the fourth.
Tulsa has this weekend off, before hosting the Green Bay Blizzard on May 3. Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at the BOK Center.
TULSA OILERS HOCKEY
The Oilers are in the midst of the first round of the ECHL playoffs. Tulsa split the first two games of the best of seven series at Kansas City, this past weekend. The Oilers won the first game, 4-2, and lost game two, 3-2 in overtime.
Tulsa hosted game three of the series on Tuesday and will play game four of the best of seven series tonight at 7:05 p.m. at the BOK Center. Tulsa will also host game five on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
TU WOMEN’S TENNIS LOSES CHAMPIONSHIP
Fourth seeded Tulsa women’s tennis team played the No. 6 seed Memphis in the American Athletic Conference women’s tennis championship match, in Memphis on Sunday. The home squad came away with 4-2 victory to claim the conference title.
Memphis improved 10-13 on the season and the Golden Hurricane finished the season with a 19-8 overall record.
Tulsa had quite a run in the tournament, with a 4-0 shutout over Temple (7-13) in the first round, a 4-3 win over Wichita State (13-10) in the quarterfinal and a 4-3 marathon victory in the semifinal over the tournament’s No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic (16-1), who was previously the only undefeated women’s team in the nation.
TULSA BEACON RADIO
Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national level guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. My guest this week will be Tulsa author, publisher and networking expert Peter Biadisz. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.