The Bisons have been rolling the last few weeks. After a 70-42 statement win on the road against Southern Arkansas University, they followed it up this past weekend with a 47-21 win over the University of Arkansas-Monticello, further cementing their claim as the team to beat in the Great American Conference (GAC). Despite the recent string of victories, head coach Ronnie Huckeba is not getting ahead of himself in regards to where his team is at.
“I think we’ve gotten better but have we reached our potential; no,” Huckeba said. “We still haven’t played our best game yet. We’re pleased with how we’ve come along but we aren’t satisfied. Our mindset is that we have to take this one game at a time.”
While Huckeba may not have seen the team play their best game altogether yet this year, he, and many others, have already seen several standout games from junior quarterback Park Parish. In his first year at the helm of the Bisons offense, Parish has been on a tear in the first four games. His 12 rushing touchdowns have already put him in position to break the Harding single-season record of 17, and his five total scores in the UAM game last Saturday helped to win him the GAC Offensive Player of the Week award.
“All the guys did an incredible job blocking, faking and dominating when they had the ball,” Parish said. “We had several guys who were running all over them, so that makes it a lot easier for me when my number gets called. All the credit goes to them.”
The Bisons will need everyone to continue playing at that high level as they face rival Ouachita Baptist University (OBU) on the road this Saturday in a highly anticipated showdown of two of the GAC’s top teams from 2014. Last season OBU defeated the Bisons with a 31-28 overtime win, but Huckeba said that this year and last year are two different situations and have been treated as such.
“We’re always excited to play OBU regardless of what happened the year before,” Huckeba said. “This is a trophy game and right now they have it, so we want to go get it back.”
The Bisons kick off against OBU at 11 a.m. in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in a game that can be seen live on the American Sports Network.
