Box Score BOX SCORE

Israel Valentin's 97-yard touchdown on the game's opening kickoff set the tone for Henderson State as the Reddies rolled to a 49-14 win over East Central, Saturday at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The win makes the Reddies 8-0 for the first time since 1975. That year, Gerald Ford was serving as the 38th President of the United States, Saturday Night Live made its debut, and Muhammad Ali beat Joe Fraser in the "Thrilla in Manila". Henderson State also takes over sole possession of first-place in the Great American Conference as Harding took to the road to beat previously unbeaten Ouachita Baptist by a score of 34-14.

Valentin, who also returned an opening kickoff earlier this season against Arkansas Tech, ended the game with 140 all-purpose yards including 43 yards receiving with a touchdown grab.

“Izzy really got everyone excited with the kickoff return and that was big for us,” said HSU Head Coach Scott Maxfield. “It is good to come out and play well in front of the home crowd on Homecoming.”

Henderson State took a 20-0 lead in the first quarter as Kevin Nichols had a pair of rushing touchdowns of 1 and 3 yards.

East Central, 3-5 and 1-4 on the year, got on the board to begin the second quarter as Spencer Bond hit LaQuan Harper for a 39-yard score in the second period to make the score 20-7.

The Reddies scored three more times before the half as Kevin Rodgers hooked up with Valentin for a 38-yard score and then set the Henderson State career touchdown passing record when he connected with Elliot Hebert from 12-yards out.

Rodgers surpasses Nick Hardesty who had 43 career touchdown passes in 18 games for the Reddies from 2009 to 2010. The sophomore from Rockwall, Texas has now run his total to 45 career touchdown strikes in 15 games for an average of three touchdowns per game.

HSU place-kicker Charles Gonsalves closed out the half with a 32-yard field goal to give the Reddies a 35-7 lead at the break.

There was little excitement in the third quarter as the Reddies' offense sputtered until Rodgers went deep and hit Robert Jordan for a 78-yard touchdown with 8 seconds remaining in the quarter to increase the Henderson lead to 42-7. Had the Reddies not scored in that third quarter it would have been only the third time all season that the Reddies would have failed to score any points in a given quarter.

Starting running back Jarvis Smith closed out the scoring for the Reddies with a 1-yard plunge midway through the final period of play.

Statistically, Rodgers went over 300 yards passing for the sixth time this season completing 29-of-41 passes for 378 yards.

Jordan led the Reddie receivers with six catches for 120 yards, while Labroderick Barnett had five receptions for 85 yards.

Keaton Stigger led the Reddie defense with eight tackles including two for lost yardage, while Maxie Graham and Jeremy Williams both had seven stops.

Henderson State totaled 464 yards of offense, while East Central was limited to 257 yards.

The Reddies will travel to Magnolia, Ark. next Saturday to face Southern Arkansas in another pivotal GAC tilt. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 6:00 pm. The Muleriders will be coming off of a victory themselves as they defeated Southern Nazarene 47-14 and improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the GAC.