ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Similar to a week ago, Southern Arkansas held a five-point lead with under two minutes left in the game and had to stop their opponents from driving the field and picking up a game-winning score on the final play of the game, but unfortunately this week, SAU had their collective hearts broken as Henderson State's redshirt junior QB Dallas Hardison found the endzone pylon from six yards out on a boot leg scramble play to give HSU a one-point win, 29-28. 
 
The loss drops the Muleriders to 5-3 overall and 5-3 in the Great American Conference, while the No. 14-ranked Henderson State Reddies improved to 7-1 overall and kept themselves on top of the GAC standings.
 
On the defensive series prior to Henderson's last-second score, the Muleriders' D came up with a huge turnover as senior cornerback Quan Warren jumped a route and picked off Hardison at the SAU-30 yardline, taking the ball to the HSU 25-yardline with 5:13 left in the game.
 
Needing to use the clock as their friend, the Muleriders took the ground and leaned on Michael Nunnery to shoulder the load and pick up the tough yards. Following a pair of rushes up the middle for nine yards and timeouts called on both sidelines, Nunnery, with 2:32 left in the game, picked up a huge first down.
 
Nunnery's next two carries would not move the ball as his first went for a gain of one and his second carry lost a yard, making it 3rd-and-10. Before that play, Henderson would use their final timeout with 1:52 remaining.
 
Out of the Henderson timeout, Nunnery's number was called again and he picked up eight yards going over left tackle, bringing the ball to the HSU 7-yardline, setting up 4th-and-2.
 
Now with Henderson out of timeouts, the Muleriders opted to try and seal the win right there as they kept the offensive unit on the field. Nunnery would get the carry once more, but was only able to get one yard as the Reddie defense stood tall, turning the Muleriders over on downs at the HSU 6-yardline with only 1:40 left in the game.
 
Needing to drive the field 96 yards in that 1:40 with no timeouts left, Henderson went to the short passing game near the sidelines to help preserve some clock. On the eighth play of the drive, Henderson got into Mulerider territory as Hardison hooked up with JaVante Mack for 28 yards to take the ball to the SAU-38 yardline.
 
Three plays later, Hardison kept the drive alive as he ran for six yards on 3rd-and-5 from the SAU 33. A false start on the ensuing play backed the Reddies up five yards, but a 20-yard pass and catch to Joseph Snapp brought the Reddies to the SAU 12-yardline.
 
Following an incomplete pass on first down, the Reddies looked to the endzone and SAU's Chris Wilson made a great play on the ball, batting it away for an incompletion, but Wilson was flagged for holding to make it first down for Henderson and move the ball to the SAU 6-yardline.
 
Now with six seconds left, Hardison tried to connect with Corey Chapell over the middle of the field, but Q'Niko Thomas broke the pass up, leaving three seconds on the clock.
 
With the ensuing play likely the final of the contest, the Muleriders needed one more stop, but Hardison's scramble would find the endzone with no time left on the clock, giving Henderson the one-point win, 29-28.
 
In the loss, the Muleriders would rack up nearly 400 yards of offense with QB Barrett Renner accounting for 343 of SAU's 394 total yards. Renner would do most of his damage in the air as he completed 28-of-42 passes for 304 yards with two TDs and one pick. Renner would also show an ability to avoid pressure as he picked up 39 yards rushing on eight carries with most of those being scramble plays.
 
The leading receiver for the Muleriders was Jonathan Weisheit as he caught nine passes for 86 yards. The two passing TDs went to William McKnight and Garrett Turnbull while the two SAU rushing TDs were scored by Nunnery and McKnight.
 
Defensively, the Muleriders were led in tackles by Elgin Moore as he racked up 11 tackles. Davondrick Lison was once more a force on the defensive line as he had a pair of sacks and 2.5 TFL.
 
The Muleriders will now turn their attention to Southeastern Oklahoma as they hit the road to take on the Savage Storm next Saturday. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Durant.