“Players Only” is a special column, written by Harding athletes. In this week’s column: Sophomore Bisons quarterback Preston Paden reflects on his week-one start on the road.
Coming into the game, we knew Henderson State University was not going to lay down and was going to bring all they had against us, which is what we would want from any team. The team and I love competition so we want every game to be as competitive as possible.
The offense started very slow, which can happen sometimes when we do not get a good read on the defense. Our defense does not start games, which is a huge advantage for us. This game, they constantly gave us great field position and turnovers leading to some scores for us.
After the first quarter, our offense started getting into a good groove and popped off some big plays from our explosive backfield. Our sophomore running backs Tristan Tucker, Taylor Bissell, Cole Chancey and Romar Reades all do a great job. Handing the ball of to these guys is a great part of our offense, but the best part, without a doubt, is our offensive line. Those guys lay their body on the line every play to protect the backs and they do a fantastic job. Every play, they blow people off the line and create space for our backs to burst through.
The high of the game was being able to complete my first college touchdown to my roommate, redshirt freshman wide receiver, Taylor Thompson, that being his first career touchdown as well. It was extra special for him since he has to sit out last year with a knee injury in week three.
It felt like a sigh of relief after winning the first game of the year because it is always good to start out 1-0. Now we need to take every game one week at a time and give our best effort throughout the season. We know if we do that, the scoreboard will be in our favor.
