The Bisons ended their 2011 football season with a 16–9 win over Southeastern Oklahoma in a home game that honored the team’s 13 seniors.
Harding scored all of its points in the first half, capped off by an Eddy Carmona 42–yard field goal into the wind.
Harding (4–7, 3–3) rushed for 259 yards on 55 carries.The defense held Southeastern Oklahoma State to 272 yards with three forced fumbles, six tackles for a loss, three sacks and one interception.
Although the Bisons led the Great American Conference statistically in total offense and total defense, the win–loss column was not in their favor.They started off strong this season with a 63–14 win over Southern Arkansas but then the losses began to pile up.
Harding faced a long and difficult stretch in its schedule beginning with Henderson State. The Bisons committed four turnovers and Henderson State was able to score two defensive touchdowns.Harding had three tough road games against national playoff teams.The Bisons had critical turnovers against North Alabama in a game Huckeba feels they could have won.
Harding turned the ball over five times against another good team, West Alabama.
“You can’t turn the ball over and win on the road,” said Bisons football Head Coach Ronnie Huckeba. “There’s no way.”West Georgia also scored two defensive touchdowns against the Bisons.Huckeba said the cause of the turnovers was “a mental thing.”
Huckeba referred to the Ouachita Baptist game a “barn burner that we had a chance to win but didn’t get it done.”
Huckeba said that he “had fully expected to be in the national playoffs this season. Although that didn’t work out for the Bisons, he said he thinks that in a lot of ways this “was a great year.” Huckeba said he believes the players have learned life lessons from playing through adversity and setbacks.
“In 20 years I will see what impact these guys have on society, their marriages and their churches,” Huckeba said.
The Bisons have 10 players who earned All-GAC honors.First team honorees include senior running back Kale Gelles, senior all-purpose back Jeremy Holt, senior offensive lineman Garrett Taylor and senior kicker Eddy Carmona.Second team honorees are junior offensive lineman Tory Day, junior defensive end Josh Aldridge and junior linebacker Aaron Gillaspie.Honorable Mention went to senior wide receiver Tyler O’Quin, junior cornerback Roderick Cohn, and junior safety Jasper Bodiford.
“We had a group of guys that gave us tremendous effort and we will never forget them,” Huckeba said.
With next season still faraway, the Harding football coaches have already started the recruiting process for next season’s team.The Bisons are scheduled to open the 2012 season on Sept. 8 at home against Missouri S&T.
