ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State will leave the confines of Carpenter-Haygood Stadium at GeoSurfaces Field for the last time this season when it heads to Bethany, Oklahoma to take on the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm. Kickoff from SNU Football Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
STORYLINES: SETTING THE SCENE
With their win over Arkansas Tech, the Reddies secured their third consecutive winning season and their tenth since the formation of the Great American Conference in 2011. This Saturday, HSU will look for its fourth straight victory over Southern Nazarene. Henderson has never lost to the Crimson Storm in Bethany and leads the all-time series, 8-1.
 
Southern Nazarene comes into this weekend's matchup riding its first two-game winning streak since 2018 after defeating Northwestern Oklahoma State at home, 27-21. With three games remaining, the 3-5 Crimson Storm are one win away from tying their highest win count in a season since joining the GAC. SNU has already matched its win total from the last two season combined.
 
REDDIES REPORT: OFFENSE
Henderson's offense was operating like a well-oiled machine in the victory over Arkansas Tech as Andrew Edwards threw for 302 yards, three touchdowns and one interception on 19-of-28 completions. Running back Korien Burrell and wide receiver Xavier Malone ran for 144 yards on the ground and recorded 207 yards through the air, respectively.
 
Saturday was the first time in the Scott Maxfield era that HSU has produced a 300 yard passer, a 200 yard receiver and a 100 yard rusher in the same contest. Malone's 207 yard receiving performance was just the ninth 200-yard receiving game in program history, of which the senior wide out has been responsible for two of those outings.
 
In addition to Burrell's 144 rushing yards, he also found the endzone twice after failing to find pay dirt over the past five games. The sophomore back now has seven touchdowns on the year and is averaging 91.5 yards per game on the ground, both of which are Top-10 in the GAC. The Beaumont, Texas native has 732 yards on the season and is 276 shy of passing Tommy Hart for the tenth most single-season yards in program history.
 
Behind Malone, the number two receiver for Edwards has differed game-to-game. Over the last four contests, three different receivers have finished as HSU's second leading receiver. Saturday, it was redshirt freshman Cameron Jackson, who tallied three catches for 58 yards, including a long of 37 that set up Burrell's second touchdown of the game. On the year, tight end Mike Benning is backing up Malone with 223 yards on 15 catches.
 
Thanks in large part to the connection of Edwards and Malone, who have teamed up for eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer this season, HSU's offense has thrived on big plays, with Edwards' 10.27 yards per attempt holding at second among Division II leaders. Collectively, Henderson has the fourth ranked passing offense in the conference at 239.4 yards per game – 44th in DII.
 
REDDIES REPORT: DEFENSE – SPECIAL TEAMS
For the second straight outing, the Henderson defense held its opponent under 20 points as the Reddies now boast the fourth best scoring defense in the league at 22.8 points per game. HSU's top-ranked rush defense has had a lot to do with that after only allowing 120.6 rushing yards per game, which is ranked 43rd in the country.
 
In addition to the minimal yardage allowed per contest, Henderson has only given up five rushing touchdowns on the ground this season, which is the fewest in the league and tied for 11th in the nation. Four of those five came against Arkansas-Monticello and Harding.
 
Through eight games, the Reddies have displayed some of their best defensive stands deep in their own territory. Henderson is third in the GAC and 24th in Division II in red zone defense, allowing opponents to score on just 68% of their trips inside the 20. Of the 25 ventures into the red zone, the opposition has scored a touchdown less than half the time.  
 
Leading the defensive effort is sophomore linebacker Jakob Neel, who paces the Reddies with 46 total tackles while also registering 4 tackles for loss. Redshirt freshman defensive end Gary Lewis continues to wreak havoc in the opposing backfield with his GAC-best nine tackles for loss. Lewis is also tied for fourth in the conference with four sacks.
 
Henderson has tightened up its secondary over the last several weeks as cornerbacks Darrick Rose Jr. and Cameron Thomas are first and second in the league with nine and eight total passes defended, respectively. Rose is also tied for sixth with a pair of Henderson's five interceptions on the year.
 
Catrell Wallace, after being named the GAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Henderson's upset victory over then-No. 12 Harding, earned himself the conference's Special Teams Player of the Week after HSU defeated Arkansas Tech. Wallace blocked the Wonder Boys' punt on their first drive of the game to give the Reddies the early momentum swing.
 
Punter Tristan Heaton has only sent away 23 punts this season, but is averaging 39.6 yards per boot, including landing nine inside the opponent's 20 yard line. As a team, Henderson has punted the fourth fewest times of anyone in the league, yet currently holds the fourth most yards per punt.   
 
SCOUTING SOUTHERN NAZARENE
The Crimson Storm come into Saturday's matchup off a home victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State, 27-21. The win over the Rangers marked the first two-game winning streak for SNU since 2018. Of Southern Nazarene's three wins this year, two of them have come on the road while one has come from within SNU Football Stadium.
 
Quarterback Gage Porter has established himself as one of the best running quarterbacks not just in the GAC but the entire country. Porter has 1255 yards on the ground this season, which is the most of any signal caller in Division II and third among all runners in the nation. The Elk City, Oklahoma native has ran for over 100 yards in every game but one this season, including two 200+ yard outings.
 
When Porter is not carrying the rock, junior running back Angel Ramirez occupies the ball-carrier duties. Ramirez has 440 yards on 64 carries – over 100 less than Porter - and three touchdowns, all of which are second on the team. Ramirez also has four catches out of the backfield for 24 yards and one score.
 
In an offense that scarcely throws the ball, sophomore wide receiver Asa Robertson leads the SNU receiving corps with 177 yards on 12 receptions despite having not caught a pass in the Crimson Storm's last three games. As a team, Southern Nazarene is averaging just over 115 yards per game through the air.
 
Defensively, SNU is allowing 40.8 points per game and 482.9 yards per game, both of which are 12th in the league. In the running game, the Crimson Storm have allowed the most rushing touchdowns of anyone in the conference while allowing the fourth most yards on the ground per game (251.6). As a unit, they have allowed less than 190 rushing yards once this season.
 
Junior defensive back Elijah Calhoun leads the Crimson Storm defense with 71 tackles, including 35 assisted take downs. Calhoun also leads the squad with four pass break-ups and one interception. Sophomore defensive lineman Marcus Sowell paces the team and is tied for 12th in the league with five and a half tackles for loss.
 
THE COACHING MATCHUP
Henderson St. head coach Scott Maxfield has now extended his HSU coaching wins record to 123 after defeating Arkansas Tech as he is now 123-61 in his time with the Reddies. In what will be the last road game of the regular season for Henderson, Maxfield can uphold his streak of having never lost more than two true road games in a single season with a win Saturday.
 
Head coach Dustin Hada is in his second full season at Southern Nazarene, where he is 4-15 after going 1-10 in his opening campaign. Prior to being named the head coach, Hada served as the Offensive Coordinator for SNU. Before making the move to Bethany, Hada spent time at Northwestern Oklahoma State as the Associate Head Coach.
 
THE LAST MEETING
Henderson St. held the Crimson Storm offense to three points after recording just 241 yards of total offense as HSU ran away with the 34-3 victory inside Carpenter-Haygood Stadium on the eve of Halloween. The Reddies were sporting a 24-0 lead until an SNU field goal right before halftime stood in the way of an HSU shutout.
 
The Henderson rushing attack picked up 170 yards on the ground while former-quarterback Adam Morse accounted for 330 total yards. Henley Bland, Mike Benning and Xavier Malone were the top three receivers on the day as they combined for 210 yards on 15 receptions.
 
Defensive back Deldric Sheilds earned himself GAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after tallying four and a half tackles for loss in the outing. Former-HSU linebacker Jake Chatman claimed one of his two pick-sixes on the year, returning his takeaway of SNU quarterback Jarvis Davis 62 yards to the house.     
 
WHERE TO LISTEN
The game will be broadcast and available by the Henderson State Sports Network on KDEL 100.9 FM and KVRC 1240 AM in Arkadelphia, KWPS 99.7 FM in Hot Springs, KYXK 106.7 FM in Gurdon, and KZYP 104.1 FM/1310 AM in Malvern. Coverage begins one hour prior to kickoff.