Football 11/4/2021 2:12:00 PM Scott Goode (11/4/21)

#10 Harding vs. Southwestern Okla. -- GAME NOTES

No. 10 Harding Bisons (8-1, 8-1) vs. Southwestern Okla. (0-9, 0-9)
Nov. 6, 2021 • 2 p.m. • Searcy, Ark. • First Security Stadium

Game Story
The 10th-ranked Harding Bisons, riding an NCAAD2-best 12-game home winning streak, welcomes Southwestern Oklahoma to Searcy for Senior Day 2021. Harding will honor 13 seniors and two managers before the game.

Harding enters the game ranked No. 2 in the second NCAA Division II Super Region 3 Rankings. The top seven teams in the super region advance to the playoffs.

Harding has won 12 straight home games, seven straight GAC games, and four straight over Southwestern Oklahoma.

The Bisons are coming off a 73-14 road victory over Northwestern Oklahoma Saturday in Alva. The Bisons rushed for a school-record 689 yards on 63 carries. Jahlen Spicer, Blake Delacruz and Will Fitzhugh (all freshmen) rushed for more than 100 yards. Southwestern lost its 11th straight, 15-14 at home to Arkansas Tech on a field goal with eight seconds remaining.

With its victory last week, Harding remained at No. 10 in the AFCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll to No. 10. Harding is ranked No. 3 in the D2Football.com Poll, No. 3 in the NCAA Power 10 and No. 6 at MasseyRatings.com.

Harding leads NCAA II with 396.8 rushing yards per game. The Bisons have eclipsed the 300-yard rushing mark in eight of nine games this season and in 16 of their last 17 GAC games.

Senior fullback Cole Chancey needs 101 rushing yards the rest of the season to become the first Harding player ever with three 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

Chancey is tied with Youngstown State's Jaleel McLaughlin for the active lead in career rushing TD (61). Chancey has scored a rushing TD in 15 straight GAC games. He has a career high 19 rushing TD in 2021, two off the school record of 21 by Park Parish in 2016.

Harding ranks second nationally in 3rd-down conversion percentage (55%). In the first two games of the season, Harding was 7 for 21 (33%) on 3rd down, but has converted 47 of 76 (62%) of third downs in the last six games.

Harding leads Division II in time of possession (34:21) and has won the TOP battle in 58 of its last 62 games dating to 2016.

Harding leads the GAC in fewest penalties (31), fewest penalties per game (3.44), fewest penalty yards (311) and fewest penalty yards per game (34.56).

Up Next
Harding plays its final regular season game on the road against Arkansas Tech in Russellville. The Bisons have won four straight in the series and three of the last four in Russellville. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.

The Coaches
Paul Simmons is in his fourth season as head coach at Harding. He has a 38-10 overall record and led Harding to the NCAA II Playoffs in each of his first three seasons, including a spot in the national semifinals in 2017. He is in his 15th season at Harding and had been Harding's defensive coordinator for the previous seven seasons. Simmons was a three-time All-American defensive end and linebacker at Harding from 1992-94.

Chet Pobolish (Emporia St. '00) is 6-25 in four seasons at SWOSU.

Series History
Harding and Southwestern Oklahoma are meeting for the 16th time with the Bisons leading the series 10-5. Harding has won the last four. The Bisons hold an 8-2 lead in Searcy, with Harding winning the last six (last loss, 1999).

Home/Road Records
Harding is 4-0 at home this season and in the midst of a school-record 12-game home winning streak, dating to a 7-3 loss to Ouachita Baptist on Oct. 6, 2018. Southwestern is 0-4 on the road this season and has lost nine straight road games (last win, 35-17 at Southeastern Okla., Sept. 5, 2019).

Last Meeting
Harding's offense eclipsed 500 total yards for the second straight game and defeated Southwestern Oklahoma 45-14 on Oct. 19, 2019, in front of a packed First Security Stadium Homecoming crowd.

The win extended several streaks for No. 21 Harding. The Bisons won their sixth straight overall, their fourth straight over Southwestern Oklahoma, and their sixth straight on Homecoming. The Bulldogs lost their fifth straight.

Harding scored the first 45 points of the game with two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters. Junior slot back Tristan Tucker, who had a team-high 97 rushing yards in the game, scored the first TD on a 37-yard run.

Junior fullback Cole Chancey scored twice on runs of 1 and 3 yards, sandwiched around a 42-yard Grant Ennis field goal. Chancey's second score gave the Bisons a 24-0 lead with 3:41 left in the second quarter.

Harding Rushing Total vs. Northwestern Oklahoma
After an audit of Saturday's game stats, the NCAA corrected Harding's final rushing total to 689 yards, a new school and conference record. The old mark was 566 yards against Southern Arkansas in 2015. Harding also broke a school record with 10 rushing TD.

The 689 rushing yards were the most in an NCAA II game since Colorado Mesa rushed for 708 yards against New Mexico Highlands in 2016.

Harding had three players--Jhalen Spicer (151), Blake Delacruz (130) and Will Fitzhugh (116)--rush for more than 100 yards in a game for the third time in program history and the first since Tristan Tucker (119), Cole Chancey (118) and Preston Paden (100) vs. Okla. Baptist in 2018.

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Players Mentioned

#34 Cole Chancey: RB; 5' 11"; Senior

#26 Blake Delacruz: RB; 5' 8"; Freshman

#84 Grant Ennis: K; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#27 Will Fitzhugh: RB; 6' 0"; Freshman

#11 Preston Paden: QB; 5' 11"; Senior

#10 Jhalen Spicer: RB; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#34 Cole Chancey
: 5' 11"; Senior
: RB

#26 Blake Delacruz
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: RB

#84 Grant Ennis
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: K

#27 Will Fitzhugh
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: RB

#11 Preston Paden
: 5' 11"; Senior
: QB

#10 Jhalen Spicer
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: RB