ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - (RV) Henderson State will play its second-to-last game of the 2023 regular season when it heads to Weatherford, Oklahoma, to take on the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs from Flex-Chem Field at Milam Stadium Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.
 
STORYLINES: SETTING THE SCENE
After a Saturday victory that featured HSU's first safety since 2017, first kickoff return for a touchdown since 2015 and first shutout victory since 2015, (RV) Henderson State will aim for its eighth win of the season this weekend against Southwestern Oklahoma. A win Saturday would give the Reddies their fourth-straight eight-win season – one of three GAC teams to hit such a mark. Henderson is 9-2 against SWOSU in the GAC era and is currently riding a three-game winning streak over the Bulldogs.
 
With its loss Saturday on the road against Southern Arkansas, Southwestern Oklahoma State is 0-9 to start a season for just the second time since the formation of the GAC in 2011. Two years ago, the Bulldogs became just the second team in the league's history to go winless. In order to avoid falling to 0-10, SWOSU will have to do something it has never done: beat Henderson State in Weatherford.   
 
REDDIES REPORT: OFFENSE
Henderson St. put on an offensive clinic Saturday against Northwestern Oklahoma State, scoring touchdowns on each of its first four drives, with each series going for at least 67 yards, leading to a season-high 51 points, 42 of which the offense was responsible for. As a whole, the Reddies accumulated 467 total yards, including 335 passing yards, while averaging 8.5 yards per play.
 
For the second straight week and the fourth time this season, quarterback Andrew Edwards was named the GAC Player of the Week, totaling more touchdown passes than incompletions on the afternoon. The redshirt-sophomore finished with 331 passing yards and five passing touchdowns on 18-of-22 passing, becoming the first HSU quarterback in the GAC era to post a better-than 80 percent completion rate on a minimum of 20 pass attempts in back-to-back games.
 
Edwards' 331-yard, five-touchdown performance now gives him 44 career passing touchdowns, which is second all-time in program history, and 4388 career passing yards - good enough for fifth all-time. With two games remaining in the 2023 regular season, the Bentonville High School product needs six more passing touchdowns and 227 more passing yards to crack into the program's respective Top-5 and Top-10 single-season marks, respectively.
 
As a unit, Henderson is third in the GAC in scoring offense (35.3 ppg), fourth in the total offense (441.1 ypg), fifth in rushing offense (190.6 ypg) and first in passing offense (250.6 ypg). Despite having the top passing attack in the conference – 20th in NCAA Division II – the Reddies have just the sixth most pass attempts in the league and the 40th most attempts in the country at 245.
 
Henderson had nine different pass catchers log at least one reception Saturday against Northwestern Oklahoma State, which is the most players with at least one catch in a single game for HSU since a 34-6 victory against Southern Nazarene back on Sept. 14, 2019. Wide receiver Chris Hatzis led the way this past Saturday with six catches for 91 yards and a score as he remains second in the league with 627 yards on 40 catches and six touchdowns. The Reddies are one of only three GAC teams with three or more receivers with 290 or more receiving yards: Hatzis (627), Timieone Jackson (435) and Jalen Abraham (290).
 
REDDIES REPORT: DEFENSE – SPECIAL TEAMS
The Henderson St. defense was phenomenal last Saturday against the Rangers, holding NWOSU to just 85 yards, which is the fewest yards allowed by an HSU team in the GAC era. The sub-100 total yards led to the Reddies' first shutout victory since 2015 while the defense also recorded its first safety since 2017 on a botched snap on a NWOSU punt that rolled out the back of the endzone.
 
Fred Lewis, Ryan Hampton and Darrick Rose Jr. were responsible for HSU's three takeaways Saturday as Lewis and Hampton recovered two of the Rangers' five fumbles on the afternoon while Rose Jr. claimed an interception. Saturday marked the second time this season Henderson forced three turnovers with the first occurrence coming on the road in Durant, Oklahoma, against Southeastern Oklahoma State in a 38-28 comeback victory.
 
Despite only getting to the quarterback one time, HSU did record seven tackles-for-loss against NWOSU, led by Josh Doyle with two take-downs behind the line of scrimmage. The Reddies are averaging 6.4 tackles-for-loss per game while seeing 3.67 sacks per game, which leads the league and is fourth in the nation. Dylan Ndambuki leads the effort with 6.5 total sacks, which is currently fifth all-time at Henderson for a single season.
 
Henderson ranks Top-3 in the GAC in scoring defense (20.3 ppg, 3rd), total defense (311.4 ypg, 2nd) and rushing defense (131.1 ypg, 2nd. Coming into the season, the biggest need for improvement for the Reddie defense was in the passing game. Since bringing in cornerbacks coach Will Wagner, he and safeties coach Donte' Colum have elevated the HSU pass defense from allowing 245.4 yards through the air per game in 2022, which was 12th in the GAC, to sixth with 180.3 yards allowed per game.
 
Defensive back Cameron Thomas is the first Henderson player to earn the GAC Special Teams Player of the Week honor this season after his 72-yard kickoff return for a touchdown Saturday against Northwestern Oklahoma State. It was HSU's first kickoff return score since 2015. True freshman wide receiver Sekou Konate claimed the other kickoff return in the game for the Reddies, taking it back 13 yards.
 
On a day where Henderson was forced to punt just once, Axel Robertson sent his 48-yard boot down inside the NWOSU 10-yard line. Robertson was also a part of the trio of Reddie kickers to control kickoff duties, with true freshman Colton Brunke-Brown and Kolby King splitting time with the Navarro College transfer.
 
THE OPPONENT: SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Southwestern comes into Saturday's contest off a 41-10 loss to (RV) Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, marking SWOSU's ninth loss of the season. Against the Muleriders, SWOSU gave up 219 yards on the ground while allowing just 110 yards through the air on 20 pass attempts. The Bulldogs were terrific on third down against SAU, allowing them to convert on just three of 12 attempts.
 
Offensively, Southwestern has struggled this season, ranking in the bottom two of the conference in scoring offense (10.9 ppg), total offense (192.0 ypg), rushing offense (75.9 ypg) and passing offense (116.1 ypg). The Bulldogs have been held below 20 points in all but one of their games while scoring fewer than 10 points three times, including a 64-0 shutout against then-No. 10 Harding.
 
Wide receiver Taylor Tosches has shown to be SWOSU's best offensive weapon as he is ninth in the league with 442 receiving yards in nine games. Most recently against Southern Arkansas, Tosches caught five passes for 73 yards in what was his third highest output this season. Tosches best game came of the year against Oklahoma Baptist when he reached the century mark on just four receptions.
 
Running backs Ethane Hyche and Dexter Brown operate as the primary ball carriers for SWOSU. Hyche has seen a team-high 109 carries for 332 yards and four touchdowns while Brown has posted 295 yards on just 52 carries for a 5.7 yards-per-carry average and two scores. 139 of Brown's 295 yards this season came against SAU this past weekend to assist a struggling Hyche as of late, managing just 54 total yards in the last five games.
 
Southwestern has had three quarterbacks play at least six games this season with a fourth making an appearance in three contests. The four have combined to throw 11 interceptions on the year as SWOSU has thrown an interception in all but two games this season while recording at least one turnover in each of its last eight games.
 
The Bulldogs' rush defense has proven to be SWOSU's best defensive unit, allowing 193.3 yards on the ground per game for 10th in the league, while giving up just 4.5 yards per carry, which is sixth. After holding Arkansas Tech to nine points followed by 20 to Oklahoma Baptist, Southwestern has given up back-to-back outings of 32 points and 41 points to Southeastern Oklahoma State and Southern Arkansas, respectively.
 
The statistical leader on the defensive side of the ball through nine games has been junior linebacker Logan Monroe, who is third in the league with 79 total tackles. Fellow linebacker Richard Silva (11.5) and senior defensive lineman RJ Powell (12.0) have inflicted havoc on the opponent's backfield with the duo combining for 23.5 tackles-for-loss and 7.5 sacks. Powell has also recorded two forced fumbles and two pass break-ups.  
 
THE COACHING MATCHUP
Head Coach Scott Maxfield improved to 132-64 all-time at Henderson State after leading his team to its largest margin of victory since 2015 with a 51-0 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State. The win marked HSU's third home win of the 2023 campaign as it now has 14 winning seasons inside Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Maxfield's tenure.
 
Ruzell McCoy is in his first season as the Interim Head Coach at Southwestern Oklahoma State. McCoy spent the previous four years on the Bulldog staff as the defensive line coach from 2019-21 and then the defensive coordinator from 2021-22 before being elevated to interim. McCoy put his first stamp on the SWOSU program as a player, becoming a First-Team All-America linebacker in 2008.      
 
THE LAST MEETING
Last year, Henderson State opened the 2022 campaign at home against Southwestern Oklahoma State where the Reddies won, 30-13. Henderson trailed through the early part of the first quarter, 7-6 after a missed extra-point, but the red-and-gray defense held SWOSU to just two field goals the remainder of the game to claim the 17-point victory.
 
The Reddies' offense was slow starting off to get the 2022 season underway. After securing an opening-drive touchdown, HSU recorded two punts, a field goal and a fumble on its next four drives. With Henderson holding a slim 16-13 lead midway through the third quarter, the offense came alive with back-to-back touchdown drives between the third and fourth stanza while holding SWOSU scoreless from that point on.
 
Henderson's defense allowed just six points to Southwestern's offense with SWOSU's lone touchdown coming on special teams. As a unit, HSU's defense sacked Bulldog quarterback Tylan Morton six times on the evening. Linebacker Jakob Neel totaled a team-high 11 tackles while Cameron Thomas was responsible for three pass break-ups in the secondary.
 
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 will begin approximately 15 minutes before kickoff.