For the first time since 2004, the Bison football team has started the season 3-0. The team has outscored their opponents 125-30, and tomorrow will face off against East Central University for the second conference game of the season.
“It’s going to be a really tough game,” Head Coach Ronnie Huckeba said. “East Central has one of the best defenses in Division II, not just in the GAC.”
East Central has a record of 2-2 but has allowed an average of only 52.5 rushing yards per game from their opponents. The Bisons’ defense is also strong this year, but their average allowed rushing yards is nearly twice that number.
“Our defense is going to go out there and play hard, and it’s going to come down to who makes the least mistakes,” Huckeba said. “If the teams are evenly matched, then that’s what it always ends up coming down to.”
Senior quarterback Kelvin Martin has 283 passing yards for the season so far. Like Huckeba, Martin is expecting a difficult match up this weekend.
“We’ve had an uptempo week of practice,” Martin said. “We know we’re headed into a battle so we’ve been extremely focused on details.”
Last weekend, Harding outscored Southern Nazarene University 42-13. The Bisons rushed for 446 yards, fifth-highest total in program history, on a school-record of 79 rushing attempts and scored five touchdowns on the ground.
Junior D’Nico Jackson-Best is the first player this season to rush for more than 100 yards in a game. He finished the Southern Nazarene game with 103 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns. So far this season, in only three games, Harding has an incredible 1,157 yards gained rushing.
Despite these successes, Huckeba said everything about the football program is really what makes the team successful.
“I would have a hard time pinning [our success] down to one thing,” Huckeba said. “Our offense, defense, and specialty teams are all doing great. This is a veteran team in a lot of spots, we have a lot of three year starters on defense, but we only have one senior starting on offense.”
For this week, Huckeba is keeping focused on Saturday’s game.
“I’m not going to let myself get distracted by other rivals; East Central is way too good a team for us to think about anyone but them right now,” Huckeba said.
