GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 2025 Record: 7-5 (7-4 GAC)		SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA BULLDOGS 2025 Record: 6-5 (6-5 GAC)
Thursday, September 3 | 7 p.m. Simmons Bank Field at Thone Stadium | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE (GAC SPORTS NETWORK) | LISTEN LIVE | ATU NOTES (PDF)

KICKING OFF
Coming off the program's first winning season since 2017, the Arkansas Tech football team enters the 2026 season looking to build off an upstart 2025 campaign that saw them go 7-5 overall and make an appearance in the Heritage Bowl under first-year head coach Roy Thompson.  
 
Year two under Thompson will see the Wonder Boys get their first opportunity toward that endeavor of continuing an upward ascension on Thursday night as they will be at home against Southwestern Oklahoma, who has like-minded aspirations for 2026.
 
Last season, the Wonder Boys and Bulldogs opened the season against one another, doing so at SWOSU. After a closely-contested first three quarters, the Wonder Boys put the game away in the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion to secure a 32-10 win.
 
SWOSU would go on to finish the year 6-5 to give themselves their first winning season since 2015.
 
In the GAC Football Preseason Coaches Poll, the Wonder Boys were picked fifth while the Bulldogs were picked seventh among the 12-team league.
 
THE SERIES      
This will be the 22nd meeting all-time between Arkansas Tech and Southwestern Oklahoma in a series that dates back to 1968. After that initial meeting in Fort Smith, the two didn't play until 1988, and then played each other six of the next seven years. In 2011, Tech and SWOSU became charter members of the GAC. In that time span, Tech leads the series, 9-5. Overall, Tech also holds a 13-8 lead in the series.

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
LAST SEASON
The Arkansas Tech football team enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2025 as they finally went past the .500 mark after three-straight seasons of falling just one game shy of the achievement at 5-6. Finishing the regular season at 7-4, the Wonder Boys earned an invitation to take part in their first postseason game since 2017, playing in the Heritage Bowl against West Texas A&M.
 
Facing one of the most-prolific offenses in DII last season in that bowl game, the Wonder Boys held the Buffaloes to just 28 points and ultimately fell by a single point, 28-27, as Tech went for a potential game-winning two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown with under 10 seconds to play.
 
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Offensively, the Wonder Boys averaged 25.6 points per game and 345.1 yards of total offense per game in 2025. Their ppg average ranked seventh in the GAC, while their total offense was ninth. Through the air, Tech averaged 180.9 ypg to rank seventh. On the ground, the Wonder Boys averaged 164.2 ypg to rank eighth.
 
Jack Dawson was the primary starting QB at the beginning of the year as a senior for the Wonder Boys before getting hurt in week six. Dawson would throw for 1,050 yards on 75-of-139 attempts with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. Replacing Dawson down the stretch was Carter Hensley, who is entering his redshirt junior season. In his action, Hensley threw for 1,121 yards on 88-of-165 attempts and had eight touchdowns against three interceptions.
 
With Hensley back, the Wonder Boys have some stability at the coveted position, but fall camp also brought come competition for the job with newcomer Lathan Boone vying for the nod alongside returner Dominic Feliciano.
 
On the ground, the Wonder Boys had their first individual 1,000-yard rusher in freshman Bryson Roland. The eventual GAC Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-Super Region 4 selection, Roland rushed for 1,141 yards on 175 carries and nine touchdowns, but he will not be in the mix this season after transferring to the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
 
Despite the departure of Roland, the Wonder Boys have returners Tracy Daniels and Myles West to lean on for experience early on. The two combined for 450 yards and a touchdown on 102 carries. First-year players Renaldrick Myles, Kollin Robinson and Kenneth Waters are expected to compete for carries as well.
 
In terms of receiving, Tech must replace their top pass-catcher in Jared Long. Last season, Long had 477 yards receiving and five touchdowns on 29 total receptions. Counted on to fill that void will be returners Austin Marshall, JD DeCausmaker, Isiah Kendall, De'Rion Crooms and Scout Brazeal. Newcomers Tiquez Mallette and Omyry Hickson round out a talented position group.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Defensively last season, the Wonder Boys allowed an average of 411.2 yards of total offense per game by their opponents and 23.0 points per game. The total defense ranked eighth in the GAC, while their scoring defense was seventh.
 
Individually, the Wonder Boys had seven players end the year with 40 or more stops. Of those, just three returns as Tech will have to replace their top-four tacklers last season. The returner with the most tackles last year is Jonah Brown as the defensive back had 43 total stops. Brown also registered 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, one interception and four pass breakups.
 
Linebacker Julien Lopez was on pace to be one of the team's leading tacklers before suffering a season-ending injury in week six. In six games, Lopez had 38 total tackles with 2.5 for loss, two interceptions and a pair of quarterback hurries.
 
In the backend of their defense, the Wonder Boys return ball hawk specialist Tyrique Jones. Jones tied for first on the team with three interceptions while also tying for the team-lead in pass breakups with six.
 
COACH THOMPSON
Roy Thompson enters his second season as head football coach at Arkansas Tech after spending the previous nine at GAC-rival Ouachita Baptist as the Tigers' defensive coordinator.
 
In his first year at Tech, Thompson led the Wonder Boys to their first winning season since 2017, going 7-4 in the regular season. That breakout year also saw the Wonder Boys make postseason play for the first time since 2017 as they received an invitation to play in the Heritage Bowl Powered by Riot against West Texas A&M.
 
Shortly after being named as the new head coach at Arkansas Tech, Thompson was lauded by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) as the 2024 Division II National Assistant Coach of the Year for his efforts that season while at Great American Conference rival, Ouachita Baptist.
 
On the coaching staff a total of 12 years at Ouachita, Thompson spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the co-Defensive Coordinator before taking over the reins fully starting with the 2018 season. 
 
Over that seven-year stretch (2020 was not played due to COVID-19), Ouachita has had three seasons in which its points allowed per game were under 20.0, ranking it in the top-10 nationally in DII. The other three seasons, the highest points allowed in a season was 20.7 points per game. Over that same stretch, Thompson's defensive unit allowed under 320.0 yards per game four times, ranking in the top-35 nationally.
 
Thompson's time at Ouachita also yielded a ton of championship hardware as well as NCAA postseason experience. Out of the eight seasons played with Thompson on staff, Ouachita won the GAC championship five times and reached the NCAA playoffs each of those seasons as well, with the most recent being in 2024. Of those five conference titles, three saw the Bison go unbeaten in the regular season.

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KNOW YO FOE
LAST SEASON  
Under the direction of second-year head coach Andrew Rice, the Southwestern Oklahoma football team took another step forward following a 3-8 season in Rice's debut in 2024 and turned in a 6-5 record in 2025. That gave the Bulldogs their first winning season since 2015. In the three years prior to Rice taking over, the Bulldogs won only four games total and were coming off an 0-11 season in 2023.
 
THE COACH     
The Bulldogs are coached by Andrew Rice, who is in his third year as the head coach at Southwestern Oklahoma. Overall, Rice has led the Bulldogs to a 9-13 record. Prior to taking over at SWOSU, Rice spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Southern Arkansas. Rice also has spent time as an assistant at the collegiate level at Central Oklahoma and Northeastern A&M College.
 
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE          
Last season SWOSU had the fourth-ranked scoring offense in the GAC at 29.8 ppg and the fifth-ranked total offense with an average of 386.4 ypg. Through the air, the Bulldogs averaged 173.0 ypg to rank eighth in the GAC. On the ground, SWOSU averaged 213.4 ypg to rank third in the GAC.
 
The leading rusher last year was Red Martel. He would rush for 883 yards on 156 carries and led the team in rushing touchdowns with six. Second on the team in rushing a year ago was outgoing quarterback MJ Rivers. Rivers would total 515 yards on 118 carries and scored four touchdowns. Short-yardage QB Braxton Etheridge was also a key figure in last season's rushing attack for SWOSU as he had five touchdowns to rank second on the team.
 
In the passing game, Rivers took a majority of the snaps and ended up ranking fourth in the GAC in passing yards per game with 163.1. Playing in all 11 games, Rivers totaled 1,794 yards and threw for a GAC-best 20 touchdowns. SWOSU will not have Rivers this season as he was a senior last year. With that, the Bulldogs have a had a three-man competition between Reece Deitrick, Braxton Etheridge and Knox Dyson. Etheridge and Dyson were on the roster last year while Deitrick is a transfer from Texas Lutheran where he was the SCAC First Year Player of the Year and Honorable Mention All-SCAC.
 
The Bulldogs had three receivers with at least 300 yards receiving last year and return the top pass-catcher in Baylor Nash. A First-Team All-GAC selection, Nash had 548 yards receiving on 27 receptions and hauled in seven receiving touchdowns.
 
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE          
Defensively, the Bulldogs base out of a multiple scheme and last year ranked sixth in scoring defense, allowing 22.4 ppg. Their total defense ranked fourth in the GAC allowing 336.7 ypg of total offense by their opponents. Through the air, SWOSU ranked second in the GAC with 157.5 ypg. On the ground, the Bulldogs allowed an average of 179.2 ypg to rank sixth in the GAC.
 
Individually, Southwestern Oklahoma had three players end the year with 40 or more stops. Shane Armstrong and Zack Roberts led the team in tackles with 62.0 each. Armstrong also tied for the team-lead in tackles for loss with Matthew Myles at 7.5. Madox Sekyere led the team in sacks with 3.5. Armstrong and Sekyere return.
 
As a unit, the Bulldogs' defense has registered 20 takeaways with 12 being interceptions and eight being fumble recoveries. Roberts and Malcom Murphy tied for the team-lead in interceptions with three. Delmonte Pryor led the team in fumbles forced with three while Kelton Moore led the team in fumble recoveries with two. Moore, Murphy and Pryor return.