With no time left on the clock, sophomore kicker John Gay booted the Southern Arkansas Muleriders from their undefeated status, as the Harding Bison football team remained undefeated as they beat Southern Arkansas 23-20 to improve to 5-0 in 2012 and 3-0 in the GAC.
Harding came into the game leading all of Division II in rushing yards for the second straight season. The Muleriders came prepared for the Harding triple option attack as the Bisons struggled to get any sort of offense going in the first half. Southern Arkansas held the Harding offense to just 57 yards of total offense in the first half and took a 13-2 lead into halftime as the only points scored by Harding came off of a blocked extra point attempt that was returned by Roderick Cohn.
“A lot of times guys will play a completely different defense against us than they have played all year,” said head football coach Ronnie Huckeba. “It’s all because of the style of offense we play and how well we play it.”
The Muleriders had 235 yards of total offense going into halftime as they led three different drives longer than 50 yards against the Bison defense.
Coming into the game, Huckeba said he knew that the Mulerider offense had the potential to have early successe against the Bison’s defense.
“They will definitely present a challenge to us; they will be by far the best offense we have faced so far this year.” Huckeba said.
The Bisons came out strong to start the second half as the defense held Southern Arkansas to just two yards of offense in the third quarter. As for the offense, they returned the second half kickoff to midfield and then had their longest drive of the game to that point as they took the ball down to the SAU 14-yard line as Gay made a 31-yard field goal to make it a one possession game.
After an SAU punt, Harding drove the ball 74 yards down field as senior quarterback Kelvin Martin found sophomore running back Donatella Luckett for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
“We knew we were going to have to make plays and that’s exactly what we did as a brotherhood,” senior defensive lineman Ty Powell said. “We put each other on each other’s backs and carried ourselves to an spectacular victory.”
Southern Arkansas tied it up with 1:17 left in the game after a one-yard touchdown.
Harding faced a fourth down with 32 seconds to go in the game when Martin threw the ball to junior wide receiver Alex Rachal who could not hold onto it. But the Muleriders were called for pass interference, putting the Bison in field goal range where Gay kicked a 44-yard field goal for the win.
The 23rd-ranked Bisons come back home on Saturday to face off against their toughest opponent of the year so far, Henderson State. The Reddies come to Harding ranked 12th in the country and boast a 6-0 record after they beat Arkansas Monticello 71-0 last week.
This season, Henderson State averaged 60 points per game.
The biggest battle will be the Harding secondary, who gives up less than 110 passing yards per game, against the Henderson State passing attack which comes into the game averaging 360 passing yards per game.
Tailgating starts at 4 p.m. and kickoff is at 6 p.m.
