Henderson State (3-1) vs. Oklahoma Baptist (1-3)
Carpenter-Haygood Stadium | Arkadelphia, Ark. | 1:00 p.m.
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ARKADELPHIA, Ark.  -  The Reddies host Oklahoma Baptist in a game celebrating the Henderson State Hall of Honor's 2024 class. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 5.

STORYLINES: SETTING THE SCENE
Henderson State looks to bounce back in front of its home crowd at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium after suffering its first loss of the season last week. Through eight all-time meetings with the Bison, HSU is a perfect 8-0 with an average margin of victory of 17.4 points.

Oklahoma Baptist searches for its first-ever win over the Reddies. Four of their eight losses to Henderson have been decided by one possession.

REDDIES REPORT: OFFENSE
Quarterback Andrew Edwards paces the GAC in passing yards (863) and completions (68). His 84-yard scoring strike to Cayden Davis against ECU remains the longest completion in the conference this season.

Jeremiah Davis earned GAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his 158-yard, three-touchdown performance against Arkansas Tech two weeks ago. The junior from Montalba, Texas, currently finds himself in the top five on the GAC leaderboards for both rushing touchdowns (tied for second with five) and rushing yards (fifth with 298).

Timieone Jackson continues to lead the Great American Conference with 23 catches. His 187 receiving yards are also the most of any Reddie player and the fifth-most in the league.

Though he has moved to the running back room for the 2024 season, Jalen Abraham remains a key factor in HSU's air attack. The senior from Shreveport, Louisiana, is second on team with 160 yards on 10 receptions, with two of those catches going for touchdowns. Abraham is ranked ninth in the GAC in receiving yards.

In the first four weeks of the season, 12 different players caught at least one pass for the Reddies. Four of those players (Jackson, Abraham, Cayden Davis, and Jody Easter) have more than 100 receiving yards each. Newcomer Bryson Corbin also has a touchdown and is fourth on the team with six receptions.

REDDIES REPORT: DEFENSE
Gary Lewis recorded ten tackles in the loss at Harding - the most of any player for either team. The former Fordyce Redbug leads the Reddies with 28 tackles, including 19 solo stops, seven tackles for loss, and two sacks. Lewis is currently fifth in the conference in tackles for loss.

Cameron Thomas paces the Reddies' secondary with two interceptions. Fellow defensive back Kolbi Crawford returned his only pick of the season thus far for a 43-yard touchdown against Arkansas Tech. Crawford is second on the team with 22 tackles.

Defensive lineman Jamarion Citizen recorded a career-high four tackles against Harding. Half of the Church Point, Louisiana, native's stops were solo efforts.

Both Citizen and Jaylen Powell posted tackles for loss in last week's contest.

REDDIES REPORT: SPECIAL TEAMS
Axel Robertson averaged 44 yards per punt on six attempts at Harding, including a long of 65.

Through four games, Robertson has the second-best punt average in the GAC at 42.6 yards per attempt.

THE OPPONENT: OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Oklahoma Baptist picked up its first win of the year in a 20-10 effort at home against East Central last week. The Bison have not won a GAC game in Arkansas since October 30, 2021: a 44-40 victory over Southern Arkansas in Magnolia.

Quarterback Kenny Rosenthal is eighth in the league with 406 passing yards on 42 completions. His quarterback efficiency rating of 95.2 ranks 11th of 11 qualified passers in the conference this season.

Aidan Thompson took over as the Bison's starting quarterback for the ECU game. The redshirt junior from Abilene, Texas, completed 16 of his 30 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns. He added 30 yards on the ground in the victory.

Charles Whitebear finds himself amongst the GAC's top 10 receivers with 143 yards on 11 receptions in 2024. His longest catch - a 61-yard touchdown against Arkansas Tech - served as his team's first offensive score of the new campaign. He leads all GAC players with four receiving touchdowns after four games.

EJ Moore accounts for more than half of the Bison's rushing yardage this year with 163 yards on 55 attempts.

Scooter Baker is third in the conference with 9.7 tackles per game in 2024. Baker did not appear in OKBU's win against East Central.

Brayden Johnson paces the Bison's defensive unit with 36 tackles (19 solo) and five tackles for loss. The junior from Ringling, Oklahoma, also has a pick and a fumble recovery to his credit this year. Jylun Spence joins Johnson as the only other Oklahoma Baptist player with at least 30 total tackles.

The Bison are third in the conference with five field goals made this season. All five makes belong to Patrick Maxwell, who has also done all of the punting for this season's squad.

OKBU is last in the GAC with 1,529 total yards allowed and 11th in the league with 35.5 points allowed per game through four contests. The Bison have given up the most rushing yards in the conference (918) during that span.

THE COACHING MATCHUP
Greg Holsworth has won three of his first four games as Henderson State's head coach.He is 2-0 at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, with both of those wins having double-digit margins of victory.

Chris Jensen has been the head coach for Oklahoma Baptist in all eight of its previous meetings with HSU. The 12th-year head coach for the Bison has never won a game in Arkadelphia through eight combined tries at Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist.

THE LAST MEETING
Henderson State's offense put up three touchdowns while finishing the day with less than 300 total yards. HSU scored 24 of its 27 points in the first half.

The Reddies tallied 184 yards on the ground. Jeremiah Davis and Frederick O'Donald both posted more than 50 rushing yards apiece. Davis hit pay dirt with a 10-yard score on the first play of the second quarter.

Oklahoma Baptist's Michael Marshall led both teams with 95 yards on seven catches.

HSU's Jakob Neel and OKBU's Scooter Baker both had 10 tackles each.

Kolby King went three-of-three on PATs and made field goals from 33 and 38 yards out.

TICKETS
Tickets for Saturday's game are now available at hsusports.com/tickets. Henderson State students, faculty, and staff receive admission with a Reddie Total Ticket.

LIVE STATS AND ADDITIONAL LIVE COVERAGE
Visit hsusports.com/coverage to view live stats and the game's video live stream, which can also be accessed through the Reddie Athletics YouTube channel.