Football: No. 23 Harding Rushes for 564 Yards in 49-7 Victory at East Central
October 28, 2018
ADA, Okla. – No. 23 Harding rushed for 564 yards, the second-most in program history and the most by an NCAA Division II team this season, cruising to a 49-7 victory over East Central Saturday in Great American Conference action at Koi Ishto Stadium. Harding rushed for 296 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and 268 yards and four touchdowns in the second half.
With the victory, Harding improved to 7-2 overall and in the GAC, defeating East Central for the seventh consecutive game. It was also Harding's 10 straight GAC road win and the fifth straight time Harding has scored 40 or more points on the road. No other Division II team has scored 40 or more points in five straight road games in the last three seasons. East Central fell to 2-7 overall and in the GAC and scored 10 points or fewer for the sixth consecutive game.
Harding had touchdowns on three of its four first-half possessions with sophomore fullback Cole Chancey scoring from 3-yard and 2-yard TD runs, and sophomore quarterback Preston Paden scoring on a 6-yard run.
East Central had only 102 total yards in the first half, but did have one drive into the Harding red zone. The Bison defense stopped the Tigers on fourth down and took over at their own 3. Harding took that drive to the East Central 2 before a fumble resulted in Harding's only scoreless possession.
Harding scored on all four of its second-half possessions and did not punt in the game. Chancey (1 yard), Malik Mathews (23 yards), Romar Reades (1 yard) and Jesse Honnas (38 yards) scored rushing touchdowns in the second half.
Each of Harding's seven scoring drives were of 50 yards or longer.
East Central's lone score came on a 16-yard pass from Rayjohn Austin-Ramsey to Dilland Gardner with 14:18 left in the game.
Harding had two rushers reach 100 yards. Tristan Tucker had seven carries for 108 to lead Harding, and Mathews had his first career 100-yard rushing game with exactly 100 yards on seven carries.
Harding's defense limited East Central to only 205 yards, 60 rushing and 145 passing.
Harding completed one pass for 33 yards and had 597 total yards, the seventh-best figure in program history.
Harding will host Southeastern Oklahoma Saturday at First Security Stadium. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.
FACTS AND FIGURES
- Cole Chancey's three rushing TD gave him 24 for his career and moved him into fifth in career rushing TD. He had 18 carries for 95 yards and three TD.
- In two games, Chancey has rushed 30 times for 213 yards against East Central.
- Chaney and Tristan Tucker combined to rush for 147 yards on 18 carries in the first half.
- With its fourth-down stop in the second quarter, Harding's opponents are only 2-of-16 on fourth down this season. East Central was 5-of-12 on third downs.
- Harding has now outscored its opponents 104-7 in the first quarter.
- Harding held a 39:10-20:50 time-of-possession advantage, and has had at least a six-minute advantage in every game this season.
- The last time Harding did not punt in a game was its 2016 NCAA Division II playoff game against Central Missouri.
- Harding has had at least two rushers with 100 yards or more three times this season.
- Harding had a 35 first downs, including a school-record 34 rushing first downs. The previous record was 28 against Southern Nazarene in 2016.
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