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Harding University Athletics

46
Ark.-Monticello UAM 2-3 , 2-3
56
Winner Harding HU 2-3 , 2-3
Ark.-Monticello UAM
2-3 , 2-3
46
Final
56
Harding HU
2-3 , 2-3
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
UAM Ark.-Monticello 6 12 14 14 46
HU Harding 14 0 14 28 56

Game Recap: Football | | by Scott Goode (9/30/17)

Harding Football Runs Past Arkansas-Monticello, 56-46

SEARCY – Harding rushed for 474 yards and seven touchdowns and overcame an 11-point second half deficit to defeat Arkansas-Monticello 56-46 Saturday in Great American Conference action at First Security Stadium.

Harding improved to 2-3 overall and in the GAC with the win and ran its winning streak to seven games over Arkansas-Monticello (2-3, 2-3).

Harding's 474 rushing yards were a season high and the most since the Bisons rushed for 506 yards last season against Southwestern Oklahoma.

The game was highlighted by a pair of outstanding individual efforts. Harding freshman running back Cole Chancey rushed 23 times for 157 yards and four touchdowns, and Arkansas-Monticello senior wide receiver Jalen Tolliver had 12 receptions for 245 yards and five touchdowns. His receiving yardage total was two yards short of the GAC record and his five touchdowns tied the conference mark.

How it Happened
With 8:31 left in the third quarter, Tolliver scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a 20-yard pass from Cole Sears that gave the Weevils a 32-21 lead.

Harding scored touchdowns on each of its five offensive possessions. The Bisons drove 71 yards on seven plays on its first drive, and senior slot back Zach Shelley score on a 1-yard run to cut the UAM lead to 32-28 with 4:43 left in the third.

Following a UAM punt, Harding went 50 yards on seven plays with senior slot back Grant Kimberlin scoring from 11 yards out, giving the Bisons the lead 35-32 with 14:08 left in the game. Harding led the rest of the way.

After another UAM punt, Chancey scored on a 4-yard run to cap an 8-play, 55-yard drive, and Harding led 42-32 at the 7:23 mark.

Tolliver scored his fifth touchdown of the game on a 39-yard pass from Sears with 6:03 left in the game.

Harding tacked on a bruising 48-yard touchdown run by Chancey with 5:06 left, and Chancey scored for the fourth time on a 1-yard run with 2:53 remaining.

Facts and Figures
Chancey rushed for 157 yards, and Kimberlin had 122 rushing yards. It marked the 21st time two Harding players rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game and the first time since Park Parish (153) and Shelley (133) rushed for more than 100 yards last season against Southwestern Oklahoma.

Chancey became only the fifth Harding player to rush for four touchdowns in a game. The last was Parish against Arkansas-Monticello in 2015.

Harding blocked two kicks in the game for only the seventh time in program history. Dra Smith blocked an extra point on UAM's first touchdown, and Dylan Hendricks blocked a punt.

UAM's six touchdown passes tied for the most in a game by a Harding opponent.

The teams combined for 1,042 total yards. Arkansas-Monticello had 507, including 344 passing yards. Harding had 535, its highest total of the season.

Shelley had 94 rushing yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. He became only the 11th Bison with more than 3,000 all-purpose yards in his career.

Harding had 36 minutes 5 seconds time of possession. The Bisons have won the time-of-possession battle in all five games this season and in 20 of its last 22 games.

UAM quarterback Cole Sears was 22-of-31 for 338 yards and five touchdowns with one interception.

The 102 points scored in the game was the highest point total in a game at First Security Stadium since 2008 when Delta State defeated Harding 56-49. The highest-scoring game ever at First Security Stadium was a 62-55 Harding victory over Arkansas Tech in 2007.

Up Next
Harding will play the first of two consecutive road games Saturday at noon against Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The Bisons have won three of the last five meetings with the Tigers.

 









 
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