Dallas Hardison's 6-yard touchdown run on the last play of the game lifted No.14 Henderson State to a 29-28 win over Southern Arkansas, Saturday at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.

The homecoming crowd of 4,129 witnessed one of the greatest comebacks in Henderson history as Hardison orchestrated a 15-play, 94-yard drive in the final 1:40 to lead the Reddies to their sixth straight win and 7-1 on the season.

With Henderson trailing 28-23 in the fourth quarter, things looked grim for the Reddies as Hardison was intercepted by Quan Warren who returned the ball to the Reddie 25.

Southern Arkansas, 5-3 on the year, drove the ball down to the Reddie 6 and faced 4^th-and-2. The Muleriders opted to go for the first down but Michael Nunnery was stopped by Josh Davis one yard short, giving the ball back over to the HSU offense.

Without a timeout, Hardison worked the sidelines with numerous short passes to Corey Chappell and Mark Czaus.

After Hardison converted a 4^th-down on a six yard run, he hit JaVante Mack on a 28-yard crossing route down to the SAU 38.

Under pressure, Hardison later found Joseph Snapp for a 20 yard gain down to the Mulerider 12.

The junior from Bentonville would then try to connect with Czaus in the end zone, but SAU's Chris Wilson would be called for a defensive hold which would move the ball down to the 6.

With 6 seconds remaining, Hardison tried to hit Chappell on a crossing route but was nearly picked off by Q'Niko Thomas.

The Reddies had time for one more play as 3 seconds remained. With Henderson in a five receiver set and the field spread, Hardison was flushed out of the pocket but saw daylight to his left and raced for the pylon crossing the goal line as time expired. The Henderson faithful flooded the field while Hardison was lifted on the shoulders of his Reddie teammates.

"Dallas made some great plays in that final drive," said HSU's Scott Maxfield. "I knew he was disappointed after the interception but when the defense held and we got the ball back, Dallas went to work. It was one of the greatest drives I have ever been a part of."

The Reddies scored on their opening possession of the game moving the ball 69 yards on 16 plays with Houston Ray finishing the drive with a 20-yard field goal to put Henderson on top 3-0 with 7:01 left in the opening quarter.

Jaquan Cole rushed for 23 yards on the drive and had three receptions for 22 yards.

Southern Arkansas also scored on its opening drive as the Muleriders drove 73 yards on 13 plays with Michael Nunnery plunging in from 1-yard out to make the score 7-3 just before the end of the first quarter.

The big play of the drive came on 3^rd-and-12 from the Reddie 27 when quarterback Barrett Renner was chased out of the pocket and picked up 17 yards to keep the drive alive.

Henderson would regain the lead early in the second quarter when Cole scored on a 1-yard run.

The Reddies benefitted from an errant punt by Tanner Hudson which failed to cross the line of scrimmage with Cameron Sonnier catching the ball and being tackled at the SAU 7.

Henderson had the Muleriders stopped on their next possession, but Hudson's punt was mishandled by Darion Gray with SAU's Gabriel Joslyn recovering on the Reddie 20.

It took SAU three plays to score as Renner hit William McKnight for an 8-yard touchdown to put the Muleriders on top 14-10 with 9:10 left in the half.

SAU would make the score 21-10 late in the half as McKnight rushed in from the 5-yardline to cap off an 11-play, 78-yard drive.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jacoby Lewis returned Bradford Grems kick 75 yards to the SAU 18.

The Reddies would have to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Ray to make the score 21-13 at the break.  

The only scoring in the third quarter came on a 42-yard field goal by Ray to make the score 21-16.

Southern Arkansas would again put together another lengthy drive covering 82 yards on 17 plays with Renner hitting Garrett Turnbull for a 2-yard score to put the Muleriders up 28-16 with 14:26 remaining in the game.

Henderson would quickly move the ball down field on its next possession with Cole scoring his second touchdown of the game from 5 yards out to cut the deficit to 28-23 with 11:21 to play.

The Reddie defense would come up big on SAU's next possession as Kenrick Burns forced and recovered a Tevin McDonald fumble at the SAU 7.

However, Henderson was stopped short of the goal line on all four attempts and the Muleriders would take over on downs with 8:43 remaining.

SAU would later be forced to punt before Hardison was intercepted which would then set up a finish for the ages.

Hardison would finish the game completing 21-of-36 passes for 229 yards while rushing for 28 yards on 10 attempts including the game winner.

Cole led the Reddie ground game with 73 yards on 22 carries and a pair of scores, while also having seven receptions for 43 yards.
Chappell had 55 yards on two receptions, with Snapp having 42 yards on three catches.

Defensively the Reddies were led by Josh Davis and Lawson Schulz who both had 12 tackles, while Ilya Petrosyan had 7 stops including 3 tackles for lost yardage.

Henderson State ended with 345 yards of total offense, while Southern Arkansas compiled 346 yards.

Renner finished the day completing 28-of-42 passes for 256 yards to lead SAU.

Henderson State will play its final home game next Saturday as the Reddies to play host to Southern Nazarene for Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.