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Harding University Athletics

2016 football vs. OKBU - story
Harding rushed for five touchdowns in a 38-7 victory.
7
Okla. Baptist OKBU 0-1 , 0-1
38
Winner Harding HU 1-0 , 1-0
Okla. Baptist OKBU
0-1 , 0-1
7
Final
38
Harding HU
1-0 , 1-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
OKBU Okla. Baptist 0 7 0 0 7
HU Harding 7 7 7 17 38

Game Recap: Football | | by Scott Goode (9/3/16)

Harding Football Rolls to Victory over Oklahoma Baptist in Season Opener

SEARCY – Harding rushed for 389 yards and five touchdowns and held Oklahoma Baptist to only 41 yards in the second half in a 38-7 Great American Conference victory Saturday at First Security Stadium. Harding has now won the last nine times it has opened the season at home.

Harding's five rushing touchdowns came from five different players, as Zach Shelley, Park Parish, Dwayne Carter, Brandon Gates and Romar Reades each scored.

Harding led 14-7 at halftime, controlled the ball for more than 22 minutes and rushed for 270 yards in the second half. Oklahoma Baptist, whose longest rushing play of the game was a 9-yard scramble, had only two first downs and six rushing yards after halftime.

Harding has won 13 of its last 15 season openers and seven of its last eight. It was Harding's second straight season-opening victory over Oklahoma Baptist. Harding won 20-19 last season in Shawnee.

Records
Harding opened the season 1-0 and now leads the series 2-0. The Bisons are now 21-3 against Oklahoma schools in GAC games.

Oklahoma Baptist fell to 0-1. The Bison were 2-10 last season, their first in the GAC.

Scoring Plays
Harding 7, Okla. Baptist 0 – 2:15, 1st Quarter – Zach Shelley 28-yard run. 3 plays, 41 yards, 1:15 (Key play: Harding took over at the OKBU 41 after Dylan Hampton stuffed Oklahoma Baptist's Isaiah Mallory on 4th-and-1).
Harding 14, Okla. Baptist 0 – 5:43, 2nd Quarter – Park Parish 5-yard run. 11 plays, 50 yards, 5:36 (Key play: Michael Latu 10-yard run on 2nd-and-8 at the OKBU 24).
Harding 14, Okla. Baptist 7 – 1:17, 2nd Quarter – Isaiah Mallory 5-yard run. 1 play, 5 yards, 0:03 (Key play: Oklahoma Baptist took over at the HU 5 following a Harding fumble).
Harding 21, Okla. Baptist 7 – 9:57, 3rd Quarter – Dwayne Carter 8-yard run. 10 plays, 72 yards, 4:57 (Key play: Park Parish's 22-yard run on the second play of the drive).
Harding 28, Okla. Baptist 7 – 13:09, 4th Quarter – Brandon Gates 16-yard run. 12 plays, 54 yards, 6:06 (Key play: Park Parish's 5-yard run on 3rd-and-3 at the OKBU 24 to keep the drive alive).
Harding 31, Okla. Baptist 7 – 6:12, 4th Quarter – Tristan Parsley 33-yard field goal. 10 plays, 46 yards, 5:37 (Key play: Eric Simmons' 19-yard run to the OKBU 14).
Harding 38, Okla. Baptist 7 – 2:35, 4th Quarter – Romar Reades 33-yard run. 3 plays, 54 yards, 1:21 (Key play: Brandon Gates' 15-yard run on second down).

Team Stats
Harding held Oklahoma Baptist to only nine first downs and no rushing first downs. It was only the second time in program history that Harding held a team without a rushing first down. The other was against Southern Nazarene in 2014.

Harding had 25 first downs, 22 rushing.

Harding outgained Oklahoma Baptist 439-181 and averaged 5.9 yards per play.

Harding punted on its first two possessions and did not punt again in the game.

Harding was 0-for-5 on its first five third downs but converted its next seven straight. Oklahoma Baptist was 3-for-15 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth down.

Individual Stats
Zach Shelley led Harding in rushing with eight carries for 71 yards. The Bisons had eight rushers carry for 20 yards or more.

Quarterback Park Parish was 2-for-6 for 50 yards and rushed 13 times for 59 yards. His second-quarter touchdown was the 25th of his career, nine off the school record of 34 set by Alan Dixon from 1970-73.

Andrew Dather had both Harding reception for 50 yards.

Isaiah Mallory led Oklahoma Baptist with 23 rushing yards on 11 carries. Quarterback and Searcy native Dezmond Stegall completed 18-of-34 passes for 123 yards. He also rushed four times for 15 yards. Josh Pettijohn had seven receptions for 66 yards.

Senior linebacker Daylan Skidmore led Harding with eight tackles. Junior linebacker Sam Blankenship had two tackles for loss. Brynden Pitzer led Oklahoma Baptist with 11 tackles.

Next Week
Harding travels to Bethany, Oklahoma, for its first road game of the season against Southern Nazarene. The Bisons hold a 4-0 series lead over the Crimson Storm and have won the two games in Bethany by a combined score of 100-13. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.
 

 

by Jeff Montgomery

Posted by Harding Sports on Saturday, September 3, 2016
 


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