Harding shuts out UAM from end zone, wins 63-3

MONTICELLO — The first time a No. 1-ranked team in Division II football visited Willis “Convoy” Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium went by before the University of Arkansas at Monticello could score a touchdown.

Harding University needed all of one quarter to score 35 points and kept UAM out of the end zone all night in a 63-3 win Thursday. The Bisons have won 22 straight overall, dating back to 2022, and beat the Boll Weevils for the 13th time.

“We knew what we were coming into,” Weevils Coach Hud Jackson said. “They’re a good football team; not going to take that away from them. Did we play well? No. Did we think we had a great game plan? Yes. We get in a situation where the speed of the game for some of our guys, unfortunately, was too fast, and you get to a point where trying to find some positives. … We’re not going to make excuses. We practiced hard. We felt pretty good about the plan we had.”

It’s the third straight year UAM (2-1) has been unable to extend a 2-0 start, something it last achieved in 2000 (started 4-0). The last time the Weevils won 3 in a row was 2021.

Harding (3-0) last scored 35 points in a quarter on Oct. 15, 2016, against Southeastern Oklahoma State University in a 63-17 win in Searcy. On Thursday, the defending NCAA champion Bisons capitalized on two interceptions, both by Ty Dugger.

The junior defensive back from Harding Academy picked off an underthrown pass from Demilon Brown on the Boll Weevils’ second drive, and Harding scored two plays later on a 33-yard Blake Delacruz carry.

Dugger again intercepted Brown, who had thrown three interceptions before engineering a 29-point turnaround last week at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and took it back 40 yards to make it a 21-0 Bisons lead. Dugger picked off two passes against Southeastern last season.

Brown also tossed three interceptions against Harding, but completed 9 of 20 for 79 yards.

Braden Jay and Andrew Miller each totaled two touchdowns. Miller rushed six times for 78 yards, leading a Harding attack that rushed 51 times for 433 yards.

“I think we just lay the stones in practice by practicing like it’s a game and being super-intentional with every single rep in practice, considering that correlates to how we play in games,” Miller said. “We don’t let getting up high in the game slow us down. We don’t play down to an opponent. We just keep going and keep fighting.”

Tyler Reed ran 17 times for 73 yards to lead UAM, which gained 104 of its 191 yards on the ground.

Harding’s first touchdown was on Jay’s lone carry, a 37-yard scamper, on its first possession. That was after Delacruz ran on each of the first 5 plays for 28 yards. Delacruz finished with 61 yards on six carries.

The Bisons, who threw for 132 yards through two games, scored on Cole Keylon’s first two pass attempts. Their second offensive drive for a touchdown was covered in a single play — a 70-yard toss to Jay with 3:34 left in the first period. On the second play of Harding’s next drive, Keylon fired to Dane Romberger for a 53-yard score and the 35-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the frame.

Keylon completed three out of four passes for 145 yards Thursday.

UAM, which earned nine first downs in the first half to Harding’s 23, made the Bisons punt for the first time on their sixth drive of the game. Their fifth drive ended on a 1-yard carry by Miller with 5:50 left before halftime, after Miller caught a third-and-long pass down to the UAM 1.

Miller’s second touchdown was on a 69-yard jaunt in the third quarter to put the Bisons up 49-3.

Senior defensive lineman Theron Bellard returned a fumble 35 yards to the UAM 5 midway through the third quarter. That set up a Dylan Duhon 22-yard field goal to end the Bisons’ shutout.

A 95-yard kickoff return by Royal Williams after Miller’s second score was called back for holding, another sign of the Weevils’ unlucky night. Sophomore Josh Strickland Jr. rushed 28 yards for a touchdown with 15 seconds left in the quarter.

Senior running back Jimmy Citty powered into the end zone from 4 yards out to close the scoring.

Harding outgained UAM 578-191 in total yards. Harding went into the game allowing 103 yards per game.

“We did not do a good job staying disciplined in the moment,” Jackson said. “When that happens, you get in trouble. Their offense gets a lot of credit, but I said this as well: Their defense is pretty good, and it starts up front.”

NEXT UP …

UAM will visit 16th-ranked Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia on Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Harding will host 17th-ranked Henderson State University in Searcy on Sept. 28, with kickoff at 7 p.m.