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Harding University Athletics

2023 Football postgame story vs. Lenoir-Rhyne.jpg
14
Lenoir-Rhyne LRU 13-2 , 8-1
55
Winner Harding HAR 14-0 , 11-0
Lenoir-Rhyne LRU
13-2 , 8-1
14
Final
55
Harding HAR
14-0 , 11-0
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
LRU Lenoir-Rhyne 0 7 0 7 14
HAR Harding 14 20 14 7 55

Game Recap: Football | | Scott Goode (12/9/23)

Harding Dominates Lenoir-Rhyne with Record-Breaking Rushing Performance, Advances to NCAA DII National Championship

SEARCY – After a pair of one-point victories in its first two NCAA Division II Playoff games, No. 3 Harding put its national semifinal game away early Saturday and set an NCAA single-season rushing record in the process.

Harding scored six rushing TD, returned a kickoff for another score and even threw a TD pass in a dominant 55-14 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at a sun-drenched First Security Stadium.

The Bisons, now 14-0 for the first time in program history, will play for the NCAA Division II national championship next Saturday in McKinney, Texas, against Colorado School of Mines. Kickoff is at noon Central Time and ticket information will be announced Sunday or Monday on HardingSports.com.

Harding scored touchdowns on four of its five possessions in the first half, including two from junior fullback Blake Delacruz, and led 28-0 on Braden Jay's 1-yard TD run with 1:34 left in the half.
Lenoir-Rhyne answered with a 75-yard TD drive that took only 80 seconds off the clock and cut Harding's lead to 28-7 with 14 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Braden Jay fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 11-yard line and raced 89 yards, picking up a crushing block from Chauncey Martin along the sideline, for Harding's first kickoff return TD of the season. With a missed extra point, Harding led 34-7 at the break.

The Bisons dropped the hammer early in the second half with a 65-yard TD pass from Cole Keylon to Roland Wallace to give the Bisons a 41-7 advantage.

Leading 48-7 after a Martin 17-yard TD run, Harding redshirt freshman fullback Andrew Miller rushed for 5 yards on 2nd-and-7 to give the Bisons 338 rushing yards for the game. With those 5 yards, Harding surpassed 5,563 rushing yards, the NCAA Division II single-season record set by Lenoir-Rhyne in 2013. The Bisons have 74 rushing TD, also the most by a Division II team since at least 2008.

Miller scored Harding's final TD on a 1-yard plunge with 9:10 left.

The Bison offense rolled up 431 rushing yards and 500 total yards, and the Bison defense held Lenoir-Rhyne, who rushed for more than 300 yards in its last game against Valdosta State, to -3 rushing yards and 336 total. Lenoir-Rhyne ran only nine running plays.

Individually, Delacruz led the way with 147 rushing yards on 21 carries and two TD. Keylon rushed for 108 yards on 15 carries with one rushing TD and one passing TD.

Harding had 6.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, an interception by Troy Wiseman and a blocked field goal by Ty Dugger. Linebacker Clark Griffin had two of Harding's three sacks, including one on an attempted reverse pass. Defensive end Tirrell Johnson had 2.0 tackles for loss, including Harding's other sack.

Harding will be playing for the national championship for the first time in its football history, which dates from 1924-31 and from 1959 to present.

TEAM NOTES
  • Harding had two 100-yard rushers for the fourth time this season and the 34th time in program history.
  • Harding's -3 yards allowed rushing tied for eighth in program history and the Bison defense's second negative rushing yardage performance of the season.
  • Harding scored six or more rushing TD for the seventh time this season ... HU also went over 400 rushing yards for the seventh time.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
  • Blake Delacruz has 1,296 rushing yards, sixth most in an HU single season ... he has 21 rushing TD, tied for second in an HU single season ... he has 2,196 career rushing yards, ninth at HU and 32 TD, fourth at HU ... it was his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and seventh of his career.
  • Cole Keylon had a season-high 108 rushing yards ... it was his third career 100-yard game ... it was the fifth time this season he had both a rushing TD and a passing TD.
  • Braden Jay's 89-yard kickoff return tied for the seventh-longest in program history, matching Kendale Allen's return in 2022 at Southern Nazarene.




 
Gallery: (12-9-2023) 2023 Football vs. Lenior-Rhyne

 
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