BETHANY, Okla. – No. 21 Harding rushed for 356 yards and held Southern Nazarene to only 51 total yards in a 42-0 Great American Conference victory Saturday at SNU Football Stadium. It was Harding's third shutout in the last two seasons and its first on the road since a 34-0 blanking of Northwestern Oklahoma last season.

Harding improved to 2-1 with the victory and dropped Southern Nazarene to 1-2. Harding has won all four meetings against Southern Nazarene in Bethany.

Harding scored six rushing touchdowns by five different players. The first two came on Harding's first two possessions.

Harding drove 56 yards on its first possession and took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard Preston Paden TD run. A 64-yard drive on Harding's next possession resulted in a 1-yard Romar Reades TD. Harding converted two fourth downs on the 15-play drive and held a 14-0 lead with 13:26 left in the second quarter.

Harding opened the second half with the ball and on the third play from scrimmage, Tristan Tucker took a pitch from Paden, broke two tackles and raced 69 yards down the right sideline to give Harding a 21-0 lead with 13:44 left in the third quarter.

Southern Nazarene's best field position of the game came on a fumbled punt, but the Crimson Storm went nowhere, and Frank Herbert blocked a field-goal attempt that was recovered by Chris Wein and returned to the 50-yard line. Paden scored on a 31-yard TD run to give Harding a 28-0 lead with 2:44 left in the third.

Harding's fifth score came after the Bisons had 4th-and-3 at the SNU 45. Harding faked the punt, and up-back Shedrick Robinson took the snap and plowed forward for 26 yards. Two plays later Taylor Bissell scored from 15 yards out on a pitch to the left, breaking a tackle and reaching the end zone for the first time in his career.

Jesse Honnas scored Harding's final touchdown, also the first of his career. He scored from 7 yards out with 2:24 left in the game.

Defensively, Harding held Southern Nazarene to only five first downs, 45 rushing yards and 6 passing yards. The Crimson Storm completed only 4-of-18 passes and converted only 1-of-13 third downs.

Harding is back at home next Saturday to take on Oklahoma Baptist. The teams kick off at 6 p.m. at First Security Stadium.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Tristan Tucker led Harding with 118 rushing yards, a career high. It was his second 100-yard rushing game of the season.
• Harding had 11 different players record a rushing attempt in the game. Preston Paden rushed for 54 yards and Cole Chancey had 47.
• Southern Nazarene quarterback Jacob Spady entered the game with 220 rushing yards in two games, but had only 11 yards on nine carries and was 3-of-14 passing for -4 yards.
• Harding's defense had a season-high nine tackles for loss, including two each from Devyn Comer and Jordan Allison.
• 10 of Southern Nazarene's 11 possessions went for 11 yards or fewer, including five drives for negative yardage. The Crimson Storm had only two drives of more than four plays and went 3-and-out eight times.
• Harding did not allow a passing first down for the 21st time in program history. The last team to have no passing first downs against Harding was also Southern Nazarene in 2016.
• Southern Nazarene's five first downs were the fewest since Harding also allowed five in a 35-7 win at East Central in 2016.
• The 51 yards allowed were the fifth-fewest in program history, third-fewest in a road game and second-fewest in a GAC game. The last time Harding allowed fewer than 51 yards was a 42-yard effort at Southern Nazarene in 2014.
• The last time Harding allowed one or fewer third-down conversions was also in the 2014 game against Southern Nazarene when the Crimson Storm went 0-for-10 on third down.
• The last time Harding forced 10 punts was in a 42-7 victory over Arkansas Tech in 2016.
• Harding had tackles made by 26 different players.
• Redshirt freshman Nick Andrews made his first career start at defensive tackle.