After three straight trips to the Midwest, Harding plays the most important football game in school history today deep in the heart of Texas.
The Bisons face host Texas A&M-Commerce (formerly East Texas State) in the NCAA Division II semifinals. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium with the winner facing Indiana, Pa., or West Florida for the national title Dec. 16 in Kansas City, Mo.
Harding is seeded No. 3 and Texas A&M-Commerce No. 2 in the semifinals after second-place finishes in the Great American and Lone Star conferences, respectively. Harding is 11-3 after an 0-3 start and Commerce is 12-1 with eight straight victories.
Harding enters as the NCAA Division II leader in rushing touchdowns (51) and rushing yards (4,868, second in program history). The Bisons have rushed for more than 300 yards 10 times this season and for 200 or more yards in 27 straight games.
Senior Zach Shelley averages 8.7 yards per carry in his Harding career, highest among active players at any level in the NCAA (minimum 2,000 yards). The Marlin, Texas, native ranks fourth at Harding in career rushing yards (2,669) and fifth in career rushing touchdowns (22). Harding freshman Cole Chancey has 1,239 rushing yards, third in a Bison single season.
Bison junior linebacker Sam Blankenship has 123 tackles, the most in a season since the NCAA standardized tackle stats in 2000. Lake Hamilton product Gavin De Los Santos (6-3, 285) is a three-year Harding starter and twice an all-conference honoree at offensive tackle.
Harding has won the time-of-possession battle in all 14 games and ranks second in Division II at 35:24 per game. In the last six games, Harding has converted 58 percent of its third downs and held its opponents to a 31-percent success rate.
Commerce has completed 69 percent of its passes, third in Division II, and has held six opponents below 10 points in a game. Quarterback Luis Perez leads D2 in passing yards, passing touchdowns and passing yards per game.
Harding, by contrast, has not completed a pass in two of its three playoff games.
First-year head coach Paul Simmons is in his 12th season at Harding and had been the Bisons' defensive coordinator since 2010. He was a three-time All-America defensive end and linebacker at the school, succeeding the retired Harding alum Ronnie Huckeba as head coach after the Bisons won the 2016 GAC title and reached the playoffs.
The Bisons are 8-1 on the road this season and 14-2 on the road in the last two years. Since winning its regular-season finale at Arkansas Tech, Harding has downed Indianapolis, Ashland (Ohio) and Ferris State (Michigan) in the playoffs. Tristan Parsley's 20-yard field goal as time expired gave Harding a 16-14 quarterfinal victory over Ferris State, which defeated Great American Conference champion Ouachita Baptist in the first round.
Sports on 12/09/2017