Bisons nip Reddies, tie HSU, SAU for record

SEARCY — A two-point loser to Ouachita Baptist in the season opener, Harding earned a split with Arkadelphia schools in Saturday night’s 14-13 victory over Henderson State at First Security Stadium.

Harding improved to 3-1 with its third-straight victory after a 16-14 road loss to OBU, which at 4-0 leads the Great American Conference. Henderson State dropped to 3-1 after its five-game winning streak in Searcy was snapped, the visiting team winning the last eight games in the series.

Harding junior fullback Cole Chancey carried 38 times for 166 yards, his 1-yard plunge in the third quarter putting the Bisons up

14-10. Temo Martinez kicked a 30-yard goal with 8:05 left, making it

14-13, but the Reddies had only 15 offensive plays in the second half. A run-oriented attack helped Harding control the ball for almost

24 minutes after halftime and 40:20 overall.

The Bison held Richard Stammetti, the GAC’s leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns, to 139 yards through the air. Completing 12 of 127, Stammetti had no TD passes and was intercepted twice, junior defensive back V’Onte Williams grabbing an overthrown ball to preserve Harding’s fourth-quarter lead.

Chancey bettered his career high of 165 yards against Ashland in the 2017 NCAA Division II playoffs. He is the first Harding player to carry 38 times in a game since Mike Vanlandingham’s school-record

40 carries against Henderson State in 1978.

Harding scored first on Tristan Tucker’s 4-yard run with 3:21 gone in the first quarter. Martinez kicked a 31-yard field goal in the first quarter and Loran Moragne ran 31 yards for a 10-7 Reddie lead with 13:03 left in the second.

Harding will host Southern Nazarene Saturday at 6 p.m. HSU will host Northwestern Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. for the annual Hall of Honor game.

OBU-SWOSU

WEATHERFORD, Okla. — Going out of state for the first time this season, Ouachita Baptist came from behind to beat Southwestern Oklahoma State 26-21 here Saturday for a 4-0 Great American Conference record.

Brayden Brazeal passed 28 yards to Justin Dean for a touchdown with 7:02 left, the two-point conversion attempt failing. The Tigers thus erased a 21-20 Southwestern lead on Tyler Marr’s 4-yard pass

to Donnell Hawkins and Ryan Buchanan’s tiebreaking PAT at

11:47. Southwestern forced two ties with touchdown passes of

8 and 68 yards from Marr to Jared Rayburn. OBU led 17-14 at halftime on Gabe Goodman’s

43-yard field goal and 20-14 on Goodman’s 33-yard boot with

4:02 left in the third quarter. Brockton Brown ran three yards and Brazeal passed 25 yards to Keemo McKnight for first-half OBU touchdowns. The Tigers play Southeastern Oklahoma at noon Saturday at Cliff Harris Stadium in Arkadelphia. Southwestern Oklahoma (2-2) goes to Magnolia for a 2 p.m. kickoff against Southern Arkansas.

SAU-Arkansas Tech

RUSSELLVILLE — Southern Arkansas picked up its first win against Arkansas Tech in Russellville since 2007 as the Muleriders toppled the Wonder Boys 35-14 in Thone Stadium Saturday to move to 3-1 on the season.

The Muleriders have just nine road victories over the Wonder Boys since 1970 as they became the first of the two teams to win the series on the road since the 2007 win.

SAU true freshman O.B. Jones picked up a pair of touchdowns while carrying seven times for 42 yards, and Kor’Davion Washington added two more scores on 19 touches for 154 yards. The Muleriders scored three times in the final 6:17 to secure the win.

The Muleriders scored first with SirCharles Perkins running the ball in from the 11 to cap an eight-play, 68-yard drive, and the Wonder Boys managed to knot the score with 1:44 left in the half as Christian Cole capped a six-play, 48-yard drive with a

2-yard run.

The two teams traded scores — SAU in the third and Arkansas Tech in the fourth — before the three-touchdown run by the Muleriders to secure the win. The Wonder Boys struggled with penalties, committing six for 55 yards to just two for 10 by the Muleriders, as they were held to 328 yards.

Wallace Foote led the Wonder Boys with 16 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown, and Mason Cunningham had 14 carries for 59 yards. Devin Olloway led the receivers corps with four catches for 49 yards.

SAU will host SWOSU at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the Wonder Boys host Oklahoma Baptist at

6 p.m.

NWOSU-UAM

ALVA, Okla. — Arkansas-Monticello suffered its second shutout of the season as Northwestern Oklahoma State cruised to a 28-0 win Saturday.

The Boll Weevils (2-2) were outgained by just 72 yards, but four turnovers proved to be too much to overcome as the Rangers

(2-2) scored at least once in each period. NWOSU’s Jacob Peyton ran the ball in from the 7 with

2:38 to get the game going before the Rangers pushed out to an 18-0 halftime lead after two kicks and a conversion attempt failed.

The Rangers’ fourth touchdown of the night came on a 15yard pick-six with 13:39 left in the third period, and Conner O’Neal kicked a 24-yard field goal with

6:50 remaining to set the final. Rangers quarterback Trent Easley was 16-for-23 passing for

160 yards and two touchdowns while being sacked three times with Denzel Davis leading the receivers with six catches for

50 yards and a touchdown, and Gavin Garner had two catches fro

47 yards. Peyton led the Rangers on the ground with 11 touches for

85 yards, and Calion Baker had 12 carries for 59 yards.

Weevils quarterback Demilon Brown was 7 for 12 for 52 yards and one interception, and Jeremy Hampton had three catches for 27 yards. Brown also led the team on the ground with 11 rushes for 86 yards, and Alex Day had 11 carries for 61 yards.

NWOSU will travel to Arkadelphia to face Henderson State at 2 p.m. Saturday, and UAM will host East Central at 3 p.m.