Arkansas Tech accepts bid to Live United Bowl
GAC Communications
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech University has accepted an invitation to play in a postseason football bowl game for the second time in the last three years.
The Wonder Boys (8-3) will face the Pittsburg State University Gorillas (7-4) in the 2017 Agent Barry Live United Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Arkansas High School in Texarkana. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
General admission tickets ($10 adults/$4 students) are available for purchase at the Agent Barry Live United Bowl website. Gates will open at 10 a.m. on game day.
Arkansas Tech finished tied for second in the Great American Conference standings during the recently completed 2017 regular season. The Wonder Boys have secured three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2004-06.
Pittsburg State won its final five games of the regular season, including a 20-10 victory over two-time defending NCAA Division II national champion Northwest Missouri State on Oct. 28 that ended the second-longest winning streak in Division II history at 38 games.
The Gorillas finished tied for fourth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association standings.
The 2017 Agent Barry Live United Bowl will mark the first football meeting between Arkansas Tech and Pittsburg State since Sept. 13, 1986. The all-time series between the two programs is tied 4-4-2. The Gorillas won the four most recent meetings. The Wonder Boys’ last win over Pittsburg State was a 25-13 victory in Russellville on Oct. 2, 1939.
The Dec. 2 contest will mark the first postseason game between the two programs.
The bowl selection represents the 11th time in the 103-season history of Arkansas Tech football that the Wonder Boys have earned a place in the postseason.
Arkansas Tech appeared in the Rice Bowl in 1957 and 1958, the Great Southwest Bowl in 1960 and the AIC Bowl in 1968. The Wonder Boys qualified for the NAIA National Playoffs in 1971 and 1994, and they earned a place in the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
Tech’s most recent postseason appearance was a 51-35 win over Eastern New Mexico University in the 2015 C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl. It was the Wonder Boys’ first postseason win away from home since Dec. 6, 1957, when Arkansas Tech defeated what is now known as the University of Arkansas-Monticello 19-7 in the Rice Bowl at Stuttgart.
Tech has an all-time postseason football record of 5-8.