Harding University Athletics

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – A dominant first half set up No. 2 Harding for an historic afternoon at Thone Stadium.

Harding shutout Arkansas Tech 56-0 to conclude its regular season at 11-0. The Bisons won their sixth football conference championship, third outright Great American Conference championship (also 2016 and 2021) and will await word from the NCAA on its Division II Playoff path. Harding was the No. 1 seed in Super Region 3 in the most recent rankings. The NCAA will announce the playoff Sunday at 5 p.m.

It was Harding's fourth shutout of the season, the first time ever that the Bisons had four shutouts in the same season. Harding tied a school record with -27 rushing allowed.

Harding scored touchdowns all kinds of ways in the first half—an interception return, three rushing touchdowns, a punt return, and a 44-yard pass on the final play of the first half. The Bisons led 42-0 at the break.

After punting on its first possession, Harding took the lead when senior Zach Strickland stepped in front of a pass and returned it 25-yards for a TD.

Harding scored rushing TDs on its next three drives, the third of which came after a Braden Jay blocked punt set up the Bisons at the Tech 15-yard line. Chauncey Martin scored Harding's first rushing TD from 9 yards out, with Cole Keylon adding scores from 7 yards and 4 yards. Harding led 28-0 with 5:31 left in the second quarter.

Ty Dugger hauled in a Tech punt at the 36-yard line later in the second quarter and returned it 64 yards for a TD, giving Harding a 35-0 lead with 2:38 left.

Harding forced a punt on Tech's next possession, and Keylon hit Jay with a 44-yard TD pass over the middle with no time left in the half.

Jhalen Spicer added a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter to make it 49-0, and Andrew Miller's 4-yard TD in the fourth quarter ended the scoring.

TEAM NOTES

• Harding extended its school-record winning streak to 15 games.
• Harding's shutouts came against Southwestern Oklahoma (64-0), Northwestern Oklahoma (62-0), Southeastern Oklahoma (55-0) and Arkansas Tech (56-0).
• Harding's defense also "allowed" -27 rushing yards at West Georgia in 2002.
• Harding's defense has seven touchdowns this season, with a school-record tying five interception return TD and two fumble return TD.
• Keylon's TD pass to Jay was Harding's eighth of the season, the most since Harding had 12 TD passes in 2014
• Arkansas Tech had only 117 all-purpose yards, the fewest ever by a Harding opponent
• Harding was 7 of 13 on third down and held Arkansas Tech to 2 of 13 on third down
• Harding scored five touchdowns on its five red-zone trips ... Arkansas Tech never made it to the red zone
• Harding scored five rushing TD and has 62 for the season, breaking the school record of 61, set in 2016
• Harding broke the single season scoring record of 533 points in 2016 ... Bisons have now scored 552 points.
• Harding had a season-high six sacks, the most since HU had six vs. Southwestern Oklahoma in 2017.
• Harding finished the regular season with eight passing TD and only six passing TD allowed ... HU last had more passing TD than its opponents in 2008 (27-24).

• Zach Strickland became the 13th different Harding player with an interception this season ... it was his second career interception return for a TD ... he became only the seventh Harding player with two or more career interception returns and the first since Jacory Nichols had three from 2016-19
• Chauncey Martin scored his fourth TD of the season
• Cole Keylon scored two rushing TD, his third straight game with multiple rushing TD
• Ty Dugger's 64-yard punt return TD was Harding's first since Corey Bassett's 69-yard punt return TD vs. Southeastern Okla. in 2016
• Jhalen Spicer scored his fourth TD of the season, and Andrew Miller scored his fifth ... Miller led HU in rushing for the second time this season
• Gage Price had two sacks in a game for the first time in his career

• Tech leads the series 31-27, but Harding has won seven straight for the first time in the series ... HU has won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
• Harding's shutout was the fourth in the series with three of those coming in the last five meetings.
• Saturday's game was Harding's largest margin of victory in the series.