Arkansas St. 21, Tulsa 19

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) _ New Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts lamented two days before the Tulsa game that his Indians did not know how to celebrate. <br><br>That changed Saturday night after the Indians

Sunday, September 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) _ New Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts lamented two days before the Tulsa game that his Indians did not know how to celebrate.

That changed Saturday night after the Indians held on to defeat the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 21-19 before 15,363 fans at Indian Stadium.

In fact, after defensive tackle Corey Williams sacked Tulsa quarterback Tyler Gooch on the Hurricane's final play, he raced into the end zone and drew a penalty for excessive celebration.

Williams had sacks on the final two Tulsa plays and finished with a career-high four for the game.

``Defensively, I think they played hard and played with some effort,'' said Tulsa coach Keith Burns, former defensive coordinator for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Williams made the sacks on the final Tulsa possession after the Golden Hurricane (0-2) had trimmed ASU's lead to 21-19 with 6:45 left in the game. Tulsa started that final drive on its own 14, and the Indians then sacked Gooch on three of the last four plays, including an 11-yard loss by Williams on their final snap.

``Corey was around the football more than just on those sacks,'' ASU coach Steve Roberts said. ``When you work hard like he did tonight, great things are going to happen.''

Williams wasn't the only standout for Arkansas State (1-2). In his first start, Antonio Warren rushed for 193 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Warren, a sophomore who sat out last year, scored on runs of 10 and 2 yards as the Indians ended a five-game losing skid and extended Tulsa's woes to a nation-leading 12 straight losses.

``We were hoping we'd be able to do this,'' Roberts said. ``We were hoping we'd be able to line up and give the football to our backs and let them make plays for us.

``I'm so proud of them. They put a lot of passion in it. If you look at the game itself, it was an overall team effort. It was so positive in almost every phase of the game.''

While Warren's running revived an ASU ground attack that had averaged just 66 yards in its first two games, it was the Indians' defense that saved the night.

Tulsa quarterback Tyler Gooch tossed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to keep the Golden Hurricane in the game. His last throw, a 19-yarder to Caleb Blankenship, brought Tulsa to within 21-19 with 6:45 left in the game.

Arkansas State then managed only two first downs, but had to punt away with 1:55 left. The Indians' defense then sacked Gooch on three of the Hurricane's final four plays to hand new coach Steve Roberts his first victory in Jonesboro.

On first down, Courtney Todd and Les Echols collared Gooch for a 4-yard loss. After a 7-yard completion, Williams sacked Gooch for 1 and 11 yards on the final two plays to the delight of the crowd.

Tulsa, after recovering an Arkansas State fumble at midfield, drove for a 27-yard field goal from Brad Devault with 7:58 left in the first half. After a 50-yard kickoff return by James Hickingbotham, the Indians responded with a 49-yard scoring drive capped by Elliot Jacobs' 2-yard run.

Warren rushed for 111 yards in the first half, but the Indians' offensive mistakes kept it at 7-3 score at the half. ASU lost a fumble at the Tulsa 5, turned the ball over on downs at the Tulsa 32, lost a fumble at the Tulsa 40 and had a long field goal attempt blocked on the final play of the half. Arkansas State punted just once in the half.

The Indians opened the second half with a 63-yard drive finished by a 10-yard scoring run by Warren. With ASU in the shotgun formation, a high snap resulted in a safety and made it a 14-5 game with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

The Hurricane followed that with a 49-yard drive that ended with Gooch's 2-yard TD scramble.

Warren again keyed an ASU drive and scored from the 2 with 9:04 left.

Tulsa scored its final TD on the pass to Blankenship. \