Harding runs over Lenoir-Rhyne

SEARCY – After a pair of one-point victories in its first two NCAA Division II Playoff games, No. 3 Harding put its national semifinal game away early Saturday and set an NCAA single-season rushing record in the process.

Harding scored six rushing TD, returned a kickoff for another score and even threw a TD pass in a dominant 55-14 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at a sun-drenched First Security Stadium.

The Bisons, now 14-0 for the first time in program history, will play for the NCAA Division II national championship next Saturday in McKinney, Texas, against the winner of Colorado School of Mines and Kutztown, who play later Saturday. Kickoff is at noon Central Time.

Harding scored touchdowns on four of its five possessions in the first half, including two from junior fullback Blake Delacruz, and led 28-0 on Braden Jay's 1-yard TD run with 1:34 left in the half.

Lenoir-Rhyne answered with a 75-yard TD drive that took only 80 seconds off the clock and cut Harding's lead to 28-7 with 14 seconds remaining. Sophomore Braden Jay fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 11-yard line and raced 89 yards, picking up a crushing block from Chauncey Martin along the sideline, for Harding's first kickoff return TD of the season. With a missed extra point, Harding led 34-7 at the break.

The Bison offense rolled up 431 rushing yards and 500 total yards, and the Bison defense held Lenoir-Rhyne, who rushed for more than 300 yards in its last game against Valdosta State, to -3 rushing yards and 336 total.