GREAT AMERICAN CONF.

Visiting Harding powers past SAU

MAGNOLIA -- Southern Arkansas first-year Coach Mike McCarty was on the receiving end of the Harding football experience Saturday night at Wilkins Stadium.

It wasn't a pleasant one.

Harding, reeling after a 32-31 road loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State last week, threw everything but the sideline water coolers at the Muleriders in a 37-6 victory.

"I told the offense, 'Guys, we need you guys to have the football the entire first half," Harding Coach Paul Simmons said, "and they did."

The Bisons set tone in the first quarter while playing without their three starting linebackers -- Shedrick Robinson (injured) along with Dylan Hendricks and Carl Glass.

Hendricks and Glass sat out the first 30 minutes because they were ejected for targeting in the second half of last week's loss to Southeastern Oklahoma.

The Bisons responded by holding the ball for 25 of the first quarter's 28 plays, and had the ball for 14:08 of the game's first 15 minutes.

Senior fullback Cole Chancey, the GAC's all-time leading rusher, scored on the first play of the second quarter to put the Bisons up 17-0.

Harding finished the night with 30 first downs, 442 yards rushing on 73 carries, 1 completed pass, a 27-yard touchdown on fourth down, and possessed the ball for 42:03 of the game's 60 minutes.

"I've coached a pretty good while," Simmons said. "To me, let's just say this was a powerful night."

The difference between simply winning and winning in a rout was Harding's ability to recover two onside kicks by senior kickoff specialist and punter Cameron Scott -- the first with 5:12 to play in the first quarter, and the other on the first play of the second half.

The first onside kick came after Grant Ennis' 25-yard field goal that made it 10-0 Harding.

Junior receiver Michael Cendrick recovered the kick, standing all by himself at the Harding 46 in front of the SAU sideline.

The Bisons scored nine plays later on the run by Chancey (27-144, 2 TDs), all part of Harding's back-to-the-wall outlook.

"To steal a possession on an onside kick is a back-breaker," Simmons said. "I told our guys during the week, 'We are not going to leave a single bullet in our holster.' "

McCarty said it was a humbling experience for the Muleriders (2-1, 2-1 GAC) but not a crippling one.

"I really truly believe, and I'm not just coachspeaking, that we got outcoached and we can do a better job," McCarty said. "Overall, they did what they did, and it wasn't a mystery and we still couldn't slow them down."

Not covering the onside kicks, the second one starting the second half with Harding up 20-6, was a slap in the face but it was not the deciding factor in the game, McCarty said.

"They saw a weakness that we didn't address, obviously, properly enough, and they took advantage of it," McCarty said. "They did a good job, and we didn't do a good job. It's a good football team that did an excellent job of making us look poorly coached at times."

Simmons said it was a matter of winning a game the Bisons needed to win if they wanted to remain involved in GAC championship race.

The Bisons have games coming up against Ouachita Baptist (3-0, 3-0 GAC) on Saturday in Searcy and Henderson State (3-0, 3-0 GAC) the next week in Arkadelphia.

"We know what it feels like to lose," Simmons said. "We didn't want to leave anything to chance. We wanted to come out swinging as hard as we could.

"I told the guys, we're not going to be afraid to lose. We're going to play to win."

SAU ended up gaining 294 yards on 46 plays (6.4 ypp) in their 17:57 of ball possession.

Senior quarterback Hayden Mallory (15-23, 187 yards, 1 TD), WR Micah Small (7-122 receiving, 1 TD) and freshman running back Jariq Scales (9-72 yards) left their marks.

"I'd like to think we can do a better job," McCarty said. "I feel like we're still an OK football team.

"I didn't walk away thinking, 'We stink.' "

OUACHITA BAPTIST 38, ARKANSAS TECH 24

ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist University won its 30th consecutive Great American Conference game, defeating Arkansas Tech University on Saturday night at Cliff Harris Stadium. The game was delayed an hour and half because of lightning.

TJ Cole led the Tigers (3-0, 3-0 GAC) with 124 yards and 2 touchdowns on 21 carries. Cole’s scoring runs of 3 and 8 yards helped OBU take a 24-7 lead by halftime.

The Tigers got three rushing touchdowns from Kendel Givens. Givens, who finished with 90 yards on 13 carries, scored on runs of 7, 3 and 10 yards. Grant Allen completed 6 of 9 passes for 116 yards for the Tigers.

For the Wonder Boys (0-3, 0-3), Jack Lindsey passed for 89 yards and a touchdown, while Caleb Batie and Kyren Harrison each had a rushing touchdown.

HENDERSON STATE 58, ARK.-MONTICELLO 18

MONTICELLO — Adam Morse completed 26 of 31 passes for 398 yards with 4 touchdowns to lead Henderson State University in a rout of the University of Arkansas at Monticello at Willis “Convoy” Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium. L’liott Curry caught all four of Morse’s touchdown passes and finished with 10 receptions for 228 yards. Curry’s scoring receptions went for 46 yards in the first quarter, 6 and 19 yards in the second quarter, and 62 yards in the third quarter.

The Reddies (3-0, 3-0) led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter, 30-6 at halftime and 44-12 at the end of the third quarter. Henderson State outgained Arkansas-Monticello 607-354.

Demilon Brown finished 13-of-20 passing for 99 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception for the Boll Weevils (1-2, 1-2). Brown also had 55 rushing yards on 16 carries.

Dorian Manuel also had a touchdown run for UAM.

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