Despite breaking records and rushing yards, the Bisons fell to the Ouachita Baptist Tigers 31-27 in the Homecoming game on Saturday, making a conference win impossible for Harding.
The game was tied 10-10 at halftime, and by the end of the third quarter the Bisons had taken a 20-17 lead. The fourth quarter put the Tigers in the lead 24-20 but only for a few minutes.
Freshman Donatella Luckett returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, his second kickoff return for a touchdown of the season. Luckett is the first player in Harding history to return more than one kickoff for a touchdown in his career.
He was named the GAC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this year, the first coming from his other kickoff return in the Northeastern State game.
Despite Luckett’s kickoff return, the Bisons fell 31-27.
“I don’t feel like there was anything in particular as far as us losing that game,” Kelvin Martin, junior quarterback, said. “It was a game that consisted of two really good teams and one of us had to lose. Unfortunately that was us. The bottom line is, that they made the plays when they needed to be made and we didn’t.”
Senior running back Kale Gelles made his fair share of plays Saturday. Gelles had 102 yards on the ground, making him only the fourth Harding player ever to rush for over 2,000 yards in a career.
Junior linebacker Aaron Gillaspie said he thinks that the team has some weaknesses, but overall played a good game.
“On defense we are in the right place,” Gillaspie said. “We just have to execute the plan and tackle better.”
Gillaspie received the John Prock Most Valuable Player Award after leading the Bisons in the Homecoming game with 13 tackles.
“I was really surprised, I didn’t even know about the award,” Gillaspie said. “I was happy to get it, but it would have been much better if it went with a Harding victory.”
The team has two more GAC games before the end of the season versus East Central University and Southern Oklahoma State University.
“The game plan for the rest of the season is to finish strong,” Martin said. “We will honor God by using the gifts he has given us and give 100 percent at it.”
Senior running back Jeremy Holt agreed with Gillaspie and added his own input.
“I think we’ve worked hard, but sometimes we need to execute better as a team,” Holt said. “To fix it I think we need to continue to work hard at practice and focus on the basic fundamentals to do the little things right.”
The Bisons are now 2-2 in the conference and ranked fifth. Harding’s next game is against East Central, which is ranked third in the conference. The Bisons’ final game is against Southeastern Oklahoma state, which is ranked ninth.
