Box Score BOX SCORE

In one of the most exciting games of the season to date, Henderson State was able to hold off Southern Arkansas by defeating the Muleriders by a score of 44-36, Saturday night in Magnolia, Ark.

With the win, the 9^th-ranked Reddies claimed at least a share of the Great American Conference title and improve to 9-0 on the season and 7-0 in league play. The 2012 Reddies are only the sixth team in 105 years of Henderson State football to record nine or more wins in a season.

Saturday night's matchup between the Reddies and Muleriders featured the two best quarterbacks in the league and the two signal-callers lived up to the billing. Henderson's Kevin Rodgers had a career-high 518 yards passing as he completed 32-of-46 passes, while SAU's Tyler Sykora ended the game with 411 yards on 33-of-55 attempts.

Henderson State took the early lead opening the game with a 32-yard field goal by Charles Gonsalves on its opening possession to cap off a 7-play, 41-yard drive.

On SAU's first possession, the Muleriders took the ensuing kickoff and drove it down to the Reddie 3-yardline before Chris Brown fumbled with Jeremy Williams recovering the loose ball on the one-yardline.

On the very first play from scrimmage following the turnover, Rodgers hit Robert Jordan for a 79-yard strike down to the Mulerider 20-yardline. Three plays later, Rodgers found Jordan in the end zone for a 6-yard score to increase the Reddie lead to 10-0 with 7:02 left to play in
the first quarter.

SAU got on the board with 4:45 left in the period as Sykora orchestrated a 7-play, 71-yard drive finishing with a 9-yard scoring strike to Rafael Thomas.

After Gonsalves missed a 31-yard field goal wide to the right, Sykora again moved the SAU offense down the field with ease as the junior from Hot Springs found Paul Walker-Hall from 14-yards out for the go-ahead score.

Henderson State then answered on its next drive as Kevin Nichols scored on a 1-yard dive. The point after by Gonsalves was unsuccessful and the Reddies led 16-14 with 12:06 left in the first half.

The Reddie defense, which had been playing some of its best football over the last few weeks, then came up with a monster play as Vince Thompson intercepted a Sykora pass and raced 44-yards for a score to give Henderson a 23-14 lead with 10:17 remaining in the second quarter.

Henderson would extend its lead to 29-14 when Rodgers found Darius Davis racing down the sideline and connected with the sophomore from Frisco, Texas from 38 yards out. The Reddies would take that margin into the locker room.

The second half began with the Muleriders moving quickly down the field on its first possession of the half.  On that drive SAU, 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the GAC, cut into the Reddie lead as they moved the ball 73 yards on 8 plays and ending with Sykora hitting Chris Terry for a 10-yard score. Jacob Carpenter's point after failed and the score stood at 29-20 with 11:21 left in the third quarter.

On Henderson's first possession of the half, the Reddies were able to move the ball down to the SAU 8 with the help of a 20-yard pass from Rodgers to Davis. Henderson, however, had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Gonsalves to make the score 32-20 at the 9:04 mark in the third quarter.

After moving down to the Reddie 35, the SAU offense faced a 3^rd-and-15. Sykora managed to find Jack Brown for a 34-yard pick up down to the Reddie 1.  Carlos Brown then scored from there to make the score 32-26. On the point after, Carpenter's kick was blocked by Keaton Stigger and the Reddies' Ricardo Mendez scooped up the football at the 2-yardline and went the distance which resulted in two-points for Henderson.

With the Reddies leading 34-26, Rodgers struck again with an 18-yard pass to Dustin Holland for a touchdown. Gonsalves converted on the point after and Henderson led 41-26 with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter.

Southern Arkansas was unable to move the ball on its next possession and the Reddies looked as if they were about to put the game away. Rodgers connected with Jordan for 51 yards to move the ball deep into SAU territory. The drive would come to an abrupt halt, however, as Jarvis Smith fumbled the football and DeMario Thomas scooped up the loose ball and went 67 yards for the score, cutting the Henderson lead to 41-33 with 13:34 left in the game.

With 6:32 remaining in the game, Henderson State began what resulted in the biggest drive of the game.

The Reddies took over on its own 27-yard line and moved the ball down to SAU 21 with the big play being a 23-yard pass from Rodgers to Holland to keep the drive alive on a third down play.

Southern Arkansas was able to hold and force the Reddies to attempt a 38-yard field goal.

After missing a pair of extra-points and a 31-yard field goal earlier in the game, Gonsalves redeemed himself by splitting the uprights and putting the Reddies on top 44-33 with 2:14 left to play.

Southern Arkansas then moved the ball down to the Reddie 10, but the Henderson defense forced Carpenter to kick a 27-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining in the game.

The Muleriders then attempted the on-side kick and recovered the football, but SAU was called for illegal procedure and had to attempt the kick again. On the second attempt, Holland received the kick for the Reddies and returned the ball 20 yards down to the SAU 39. As SAU was now out of timeouts, the Reddies set up in victory formation and Rodgers took a knee to end the game.

Rodgers utilized 10 different receivers with Jordan having 173 yards on 7 catches, while Holland ended the night with 6 receptions for 96 yards.

The two teams combined for 1,073 yards of offense with the Reddies ending the night with 562 yards and SAU with 511 yards.

The Reddies will have an open date next week before finishing the regular-season on November 10^th when Henderson meets Ouachita Baptist in the Southern Bancorp Battle of Ravine at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium. Kick-off for the most unique rivalry in college football is scheduled for 3 p.m.