RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech football team completed a rather rare Clark County sweep as the Wonder Boys beat Henderson State, 17-6, on a rain-soaked Homecoming Saturday afternoon out at Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium.
Earlier this season, the Wonder Boys beat Ouachita Baptist on the road, 28-23. It is the first time that Tech has beat both Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist in the same season since 2007.
While not appealing to what might have been a great homecoming crowd, steady rain that persisted throughout much of the game provided the Wonder Boys an assist in being able to mitigate the high-powered Henderson passing game.
Coming into play, the Reddies ranked first in the GAC in passing offense at 274.6 yards per game. On Saturday, Henderson was limited to just 110 yards passing and were 17-of-33 through the air.
With the conditions were not conducive to throwing the ball, the Reddies did have some success on the ground, running for 195 yards on 36 carries, but the Tech defense did its job and kept the Reddies out of the endzone as the Reddies managed just a pair of second-quarter field goals.
Obviously playing in the same exact conditions as Henderson, the Wonder Boys were also limited in their passing attack, going for just 106 yards, but they were more efficient in their passes, going 9-of-15 to average 11.8 yards per competition.
The Wonder Boys also had the only passing touchdown of the game as
Carter Hensley found
Jared Long from 12 yards out with 1:25 to go in the third quarter. That score put Tech up 10-6 as it built on the 28-yard field goal from
Logan Tymeson back in the second quarter.
After that touchdown, the game reached the fourth quarter.
Henderson would have the ball at the start of the period and got to the Tech 23-yardline before a tackle for loss by
Caleb Arnold and
Vershaud Richardson on third down forced Henderson to attempt a 41-yard field goal. The kick would miss, keeping the score 10-6, Tech, and more importantly, giving the Wonder Boys a ton of momentum.
The offense then cashed in on that momentum and scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to go up 17-6. That drive was capped by a 20-yard touchdown run by
Bryson Roland. Earlier in the drive, Roland had a huge 23-yard pass reception that converted a 3
rd-and-4 from the Tech 30-yardline.
Not only did that Roland touchdown put Tech up by two scores, but it also ate up just over five minutes of game clock.
The Reddies would then get the ball back with 7:24 left on the clock trailing by 11. Henderson would work the ball down the field on that drive and got the ball down to the Tech 14-yardline. From there, however, all the Reddies did was go backwards as Richardson sacked Andrew Edwards on 2
nd-and-7 back to the Tech 25-yardline.
The Richardson sack also came right at the two-minute timeout. The Reddies then got flagged for intentional grounding on the next play, putting them all the way back to the Tech 47-yardline where it was suddenly 4
th-and-40. Henderson elected to take their final timeout on that penalty to avoid the 10-second runoff on an intentional grounding penalty.
That set up essentially the final play of the game as the Reddies had to at least convert that 4
th-and-forever play or score a touchdown to inch closer. Edwards would take a shot into the endzone on that play, but was unable to complete it as
Diego Sanchez broke up the heave attempt, giving the ball back to Tech with 1:35 to play and Henderson without any timeouts left.
The Wonder Boys then got into victory formation and kneeled down three times to allow the clock to expire.
Tech will now prepare for a second-straight home game next Saturday, November 1. That day, the Wonder Boys will take on Southern Nazarene. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. That game is also Military Appreciation Day.
