Hezekiah Harris accounted for 5 touchdowns Saturday in leading the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders to a 49-10 victory over the University of Arkansas at Monticello in Hud Jackson’s final game as the Boll Weevils’ coach.
The Muleriders (8-3 overall and Great American) dominated the 100th Battle of the Timberlands and beat the Boll Weevils (2-9) for the fourth year in a row. The Weevils, who have lost six straight, were hoping to send Jackson out a winner, but the Muleriders hampered their efforts by intercepting UAM five times.
Jackson announced last Sunday that he would step down after 15 years at the helm but remain as athletic director. He finished 50-104 as the Weevils’ 25th head coach.
SAU was apparently motivated by the opportunity to try and earn a convincing enough victory to move from No. 10 to No. 8 in the Super Region Four rankings. That would qualify the Muleriders for a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs. (The 32-team field, which will include 16 conference champions, will be announced at 5 p.m. Sunday.)
Harris did his part in the audition, completing 18 of 31 passes for 4 touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 79 yards and the other score.
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SAU totaled 520 yards, the third time this season UAM has given up at least that many in 2025. The Muleriders ran 75 plays in 30 minutes, 30 seconds, owning the ball 1 minute longer than UAM, which had 293 yards on 67 plays.
But a prototype of the season for UAM — which trails the Battle series 62-37-1 — has been losing opportunities because of turnovers. The 5 interceptions — 3 of them thrown by Tavion Faulk and 2 by Austin Wadsworth — gave the Weevils 30 for the season. Three of the interceptions set up scoring drives for SAU.
Cooper Sanders’ 2-yard and Jacob Trussell’s 13-yard receptions gave the Muleriders a 14-0 halftime lead. After a 55-yard kickoff return by Sanders to start the second half, Arkez Gomez was on the receiving end of a 41-yard TD pass for Harris.
Ford Stinson put UAM on the board with a 28-yard field goal to make it 21-3, but Harris then rushed 6 yards for a TD and threw a 34-yard scoring pass to Jacob Trussell. Katrevion Thomas’ 5-yard carry put SAU ahead 42-3 early in the fourth quarter.
Faulk, who needed just 99 yards to reach 2,000 passing for the season, was held to 53 yards on 6 of 15 completions. Wadsworth took over in the second half and threw 10 for 19 for 98 yards and a 4-yard completion to Joshua Dixon with 7:48 left in the game.
Torey Lambert completed the scoring with a 6-yard TD run for SAU.