WEATHERFORD, Okla. -- After almost two years the Great American Conference is playing football again and Henderson State will finally return to the field when the Reddies travel to Weatherford, Okla., to face Southwestern Oklahoma State tonight.
The Reddies will look to compete for a conference title after they finished the 2019 season with a 9-3 record and their only two regular season losses were to No. 22 Harding and No. 5 Ouachita Baptist. HSU has not been in the Division II playoffs since 2015, the last time the Reddies won a GAC title.
The Reddies have a stacked offense heading into tonight's game against the Bulldogs. One of the league's standouts and most impressive offensive talents on the roster, HSU is returning starter and preseason All-American receiver L'Liott Curry. In 2019, Curry caught 84 passes for 1,167 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The receiving talent does not stop there. Redshirt senior Chase Lodree caught 40 passes for 666 yards in 2019 en route to Second Team All-GAC honors.
Curry and Lodree will be catching passes from a new quarterback this season, senior Adam Morse. Morse transferred from Division I program Lamar in 2019 and won the starting job in fall camp.
The HSU defense proved a hard hitting force in the 2019 season as the Reddies ranked third in scoring defense only allowing 19.8 points per game. The team also led the league with 14 interceptions and were fifth in total defense allowing 360.4 yards per game.
The Reddies have important players returning on all three levels of the defense, including junior linebacker Jake Chatman who led the team in tackles in 2019 with 62.
HSU is returning all of its starters on special teams, including the team's return men. Punt returner Braden Boykin led the GAC and finished sixth in Division II with a punt return average of 16.3 yards during the 2019 season.
SWOSU ended its three previous seasons with a 3-8 record. The Bulldogs do have a talented receiver in Abilene Christian transfer Torin Justice, but the Bulldogs averaged only 20.9 points and 335.2 yards per game two years ago.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
NO. 13 TIGERS SET OUT FOR FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TITLE
ARKADELPHIA -- The No. 13 Ouachita Baptist football team kicks off its season when Oklahoma Baptist travels to Cliff Harris Stadium today.
With three straight GAC titles, the Tigers are on an extreme hot streak, having won 27 straight conference games. OBU finished the 2019 season with an 11-1 record and not surprisingly, the Tigers finished first in the GAC preseason coaches poll.
OBU is returning five All-GAC players including right tackle Anthony Chairez, defensive end Dameyun McDonald, kicker Gabe Goodman, linebacker Austin Guymon and tight end Hunter Swoboda.
Going into their first game after almost two years, the Tigers are rather thin on experience in the backfield. Junior TJ Cole is the only running back on the roster with a collegiate carry, while three freshmen, Isaac Edwards, Xaylon Falls and Kendel Givens will join Cole in the backfield.
The Bison finished the 2019 season with a 7-4 record and were picked to finish fourth in the league's preseason poll.
OBU will have to watch out for Oklahoma Baptist's Preston Haire. Haire was the 2019 GAC offensive player of the year, leading the league in passing yards with 3,041 and touchdown passes with 26.
Haire will be able to target receiver Josh Cornell who tallied a GAC second best 1,054 yards in 2019.
While having a couple of high-powered offensive weapons, the Bison defense struggled in 2019 allowing the second-most points per game in the GAC at 33.1.
Kick off from Cliff Harris is set for 6 p.m.
ARKANSAS TECH LOOKS AHEAD TO PROMISING SEASON
RUSSELLVILLE -- Looking to build on a 3-9 2019 campaign, the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys start their season at home by welcoming Southeastern Oklahoma State to Russellville.
The Wonder Boys started 2019 rough under then first-year head coach Kyle Shipp as Tech crawled to an 0-6 start.
However, Shipp started to turn things around, winning three-straight games and almost won four on the bounce before narrowly falling 31-30 to East Central.
Arkansas Tech is hosting a Savage Storm team that went 1-10 in 2019. Although SEOSU had a dismal record, the Savage Storm did boast the second-best passing offense in the GAC, averaging 252.5 yards per game.
The downfall of the Savage Storm offense was its league-worst 123.5 rushing yards per game, and the team struggled to score points, averaging just 20 points per contest.
The Wonder Boys finished eighth in the GAC preseason coaches poll, and will return five starters on the offensive side of the ball.
Running back Caleb Batie, wide receiver and All-GAC Honorable Mention Drew Wade and wide receiver Trey Smith highlight three players returning for the Wonder Boy offense.
The Tech offense will look to break down a middle of the pack Savage Storm defense that allowed 376.7 yards per game in 2019. The Wonder Boys managed to score 24.1 points per game in 2019 and were middle of the pack in both pass and run offense.
Arkansas Tech returns six starters on the defensive side of the ball this season, including safeties Darryn Cain and Tyrus Fort who combined for 115 tackles in 2019. In the last season played, the Wonder Boys took down the Savage Storm in Russellville 38-20 behind 421 yards of offense.
Looking at the all-time series, Arkansas Tech has dominated SEOSU in Russellville as the Wonder Boys hold a 9-1-1 record over the Savage Storm at home.
Kick off from Thone Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
MULERIDERS KICK OFF MCCARTY ERA IN ALVA
ALVA, Okla. -- Southern Arkansas will kick off the Mike McCarty era tonight in Alva, Okla., as the Muleriders take on the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.
Since 1911, first-year Mulerider head coaches are 9-10 in their debut with McCarty leading the 104th SAU football team. SAU is 15-9 in season openers since becoming a part of the NCAA in 1996 with an 8-5 record of openers on the road. They are 6-3 to start their nine seasons in the GAC, having won five of the previous six.
The Muleriders were picked fifth in the league's preseason poll, the fifth straight season the team was picked in the top five.
SAU was fifth in scoring offense in 2019 behind returning senior quarterback Hayden Mallory, who was third in pass yards average with the league's second-best efficiency rating. Mallory will have a handful of familiar faces to target with Dekendrick Bender, Desmond Jones, Micah Small and Brock Price all returning. Freshmen Jariq Scales and Blake May get the nod at tailback.
Brock Floyd provides stability in the Mulerider secondary with Del Krisoffer Wade and Onyei Orupabo adding experience on the back end. Veterans Demoni Boyd and Deno Rogers return to help anchor the defensive line.
Austin Wilkerson returns to handle SAU's placekicking responsibilites, having nailed 15 of 16 field goals and a perfect 44 PATs.
NWOSU comes into tonight's season opener picked to finish ninth off a 4-7 2019 campaign. The Rangers finished the previous season with back-to-back wins over Southern Nazarene and SWOSU.
All-GAC honoree Sunday Deng returns to the offensive line for NWOSU.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Ranger Field.