The 25th ranked Harding Bisons defeated Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday 57-7. This is the Bisons’ fourth win of the season, and they are still undefeated at 4-0.
Senior quarterback Park Parish scored the first touchdown of the game on the opening drive. After a missed extra point, the score was 6-0, and remained that way through the end of the first quarter. Parish would run for two more touchdowns in the second quarter. Freshman running back Romar Reades would also run for three touchdowns in the game.
“I think it’s all in the details that coach (Ronnie Huckeba) has us go through every day,” Reades said. “Coach puts more pressure on us to do the small things right, and I think that is what the offense has that has made us so successful in what we do.”
The defense had a historic night on Saturday. They held the Boll Weevils to -25 yards rushing on 23 attempts. The only game in Harding history where the defense allowed fewer rushing yards was in 2002 when they held West Georgia to -27 yards.
“Our defense set the tone from the very first play,” Huckeba said. “From then on, our defense had control of the game.”
The defense, led by senior Daylan Skidmore and junior Isaiah Jefferson, had a total of nine tackles-for-loss, five of which were sacks. They also recovered a fumble and had two interceptions, one by Jefferson, and another by freshman Jacory Nichols, his first collegiate interception.
“Catching that first interception was like a big obstacle that I stepped over,” Nichols said. “I just need to keep grinding every week, keep getting better and keep listening to my teammates.”
Huckeba said that it has been nice to see the freshmen come in and do a good job at filling in spots that he needed them to fill as true freshmen coming into this program.
“This is a really talented freshman class at a lot of different positions,” Huckeba said. “Our philosophy, for the most part, is to redshirt all of our freshmen. But we had Jacory and Romar, plus a couple of defensive linemen that we needed to play this year.”
Nichols and Reades have both been involved with the team from the very beginning of the season, Nichols in the kick return and secondary, and Reades on the offense as one of the running backs.
“When I first got here, I just took everything in, and learned from the upper classmen,” Reades said. “I am just going to continue to do my job and learn from those guys and just keep doing what I’m doing.”
The Bisons are now 4-0 and ranked 20th in the nation. They will play Ouachita Baptist University on Saturday, Oct. 1 at home. The game begins at 6 p.m.
