ARKADELPHIA -- Right call, right player.
Senior wide receiver Donatella Luckett scored on a 3-yard reverse with 17 seconds remaining to give Harding a 28-24 comeback victory over Henderson State before a large homecoming crowd on a balmy Saturday afternoon at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.
The loss ended Henderson's 30-game regular-season winning streak and 27-game Great American Conference winning streak. The Reddies entered ranked No. 4 in NCAA Division II in the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 poll.
Trailing 24-21, Harding kept its conference and playoff hopes alive with a 10-play, 46-yard drive that began after junior cornerback Trendall Stevenson's fumble recovery with 4:36 remaining.
Harding, behind its relentless running game, converted the game-winning score on third and goal following a timeout to discuss strategy.
Senior quarterback Keenan Kellett carried right on an option play, then pitched to Luckett, an NFL prospect who was split right. Luckett took the pitch, swept around left end and found the front corner of the end zone after eluding two defenders near the line of scrimmage to stun an announced crowd of 7,264.
Bisons Coach Ronnie Huckeba said he believed the play -- a standard in his Double-Slot scheme -- could work because of backside overpursuit, influenced by the initial motion.
"We felt like it would be a good call," Huckeba said. "I learned a long time ago, when you get down into critical situations in a game, you think about players, not necessarily plays. I felt like that guy could get into the end zone, and he did."
Henderson's final chance ended with junior safety's Vanard Placide's interception near the Harding 10 as time expired.
Harding (6-1, 6-1 GAC) trailed 24-13 at halftime but controlled the second half with an eye-catching display of keep-away. Henderson (7-1, 6-1) only had possession for 6:09 of the game's final 30 minutes.
The Bisons finished with a 43:58-16:02 advantage in time of possession and limited the Reddies to 115 total yards in the second half.
Henderson, averaging 500.7 total yards per game, hadn't been shut out in the second half in 31 games.
"We really didn't give up any big plays, so we made them drive the football," Reddies Coach Scott Maxfield said. "They executed and played a good football game. We made too many mistakes offensively. I don't know if we had a first down, hardly, in the second half."
The Bisons needed 78 attempts to rush for 333 yards. They entered with an NCAA Division II-best 405.2 per-game average.
Senior fullback Romo Westbrook ran 23 times for 93 yards.
Henderson senior quarterback Kevin Rodgers completed 23 of 36 passes for 290 yards and 3 touchdowns. He threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Darius Davis on the game's second play from scrimmage.
The Bisons finished with a 379-356 advantage in total yards.
Harding drew within 24-21 after freshman slotback Zach Shelley ran 11 yards for a touchdown with 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter to cap a 13-play, 83-yard drive. Kellett then threw for two points to senior fullback Alapeti Magalei.
Harding's first possession of the game, 72 yards in 17 plays, ended with senior John Gay's 22-yard field goal with 5:38 remaining in the first quarter.
Gay also kicked a 33-yard field goal with 2:24 left in the first quarter to make it 7-6.
The Reddies took a 14-6 lead when Rodgers threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Dustin Holland with 13:40 left in the first half.
Harding's first-half touchdown came 15 seconds later with senior Ahmad Scott's school-record 97-yard kickoff return.
Harding was within 14-13 after the return, but Henderson followed with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to junior wide receiver Corey Chappell at 11:12 and freshman Houston Ray's 32-yard field goal to make it 24-13 with 39 seconds left in the first half.
The Reddies lost a fumble at the Bisons' 39 in the first half and, leading 24-21, were stopped on downs at the Harding 17 with 12:55 remaining the game.
Henderson, the two-time defending GAC champion, hadn't been beaten in the regular season since a 28-3 loss at South Alabama on Oct. 29, 2011. Henderson's only other GAC loss was in the league's inaugural season, 17-13, at home to Southwestern Oklahoma on Sept. 17, 2011.
Harding, No. 23 in the AFCA Top 25, was coming off a 31-28 overtime loss to league-leader Ouachita Baptist.
"Hats off to Harding," Maxfield said. "Coach Huckeba and their staff did a great job. They've got a good football team. They deserved to win today."
Sports on 10/26/2014