We hope you enjoy reading the second installment of our five-part Homecoming Highlights series where we take a trip down memory lane and highlight a homecoming game(s) as part of Southern Arkansas University's Virtual Homecoming Week. Former and current Mulerider student-athletes and Mulerider fans: we want you to share your favorite SAU memories with us. Let us know on Facebook or email sausid@saumag.edu to be featured.
 
1990 | Oct. 20 vs. Arkansas Tech | W, 26-21
 
Over 5,500 fans packed inside Wilkins Stadium to witness the first Homecoming game of the new decade. Trailing 6-0 after a pair of Wonder Boy field goals from inside 30 yards, Mulerider return Cedric Hafford electrified the home crowd with a 99-yard return; the second-longest such return in program history, to give Southern Arkansas the 7-6 lead after a successful PAT from John Shelton.
 
SAU would tack onto their lead as John Launius found Robert Johnson on a 20-yard pass play for a score and the Shelton PAT put SAU out front 14-6 heading into the intermission.
 
Tech would answer with touchdowns in the first five minutes of both the third and fourth quarters as they led 21-14. However, in the game's final eight minutes the Muleriders put together back-to-back drives that combined for 170 yards in 25 plays.
 
It resulted in Robert Upshaw finding the endzone from one yard out with 7:45 to play and after the blocked PAT, the Muleriders trailed 21-20. However, three plays into the ensuing Tech drive and with the Wonder Boys driving, Heath Nix recovered a fumble to set the Muleriders up at their own 25. On 2^nd and 9 from the 13, Launius scored to put SAU out front 26-21; a lead the defense would hold onto as they forced Tech over on downs to end the game.
 
1992 | Oct. 24 vs. Arkansas Tech | W, 31-29
 
The Muleriders entered the '92 homecoming tilt with Arkansas Tech winless in their previous seven trips to the field, but a quick start coupled with a 22-yard field goal by Jeff Tannehill earned Southern Arkansas its first and only win of the 1992 season.
 
Southern Arkansas carried an impressive 28-0 lead into the intermission as consecutive touchdown passes from Cody Scarborough to Val Morris staked SAU to a 14-0 lead moments before Shane Humphreys returned a blocked punt 22 yards for the three touchdown advantage. Midway through the second quarter, Antonio Moffett added a one-yard tote to the scoring ledger as the Muleriders' 28-0 halftime lead would carry into the fourth quarter.
 
However, the final 15 minutes of play would get interesting. Tech scored on a short run and successfully made the two-point try with 13:27 to play. Less than two minutes later, a defensive score cuts the Mulerider lead to 28-15 as Greg Bohannon ran 36 yards on a fumble return.
 
The scoring would continue for ATU as Allen Lane scored on a five-yard carry to bring the Wonder Boys to within six of the Southern Arkansas lead at 28-22 with 4:35 to play. An interception on the next drive set Tech up to take the lead and they would as Lane found John Westbrook for 41 yards to tie the game at 28 before the PAT capped a 29 point quarter for the Wonder Boys and resulted in a late lead with 3:05 to play.
 
Scarborough went to work. He connected on passes of 8, 5, 12, 7 and 16 yards to Morris during that final drive as he went 6-for-9 for 53 yards to position Tannehill for the win.
 
1995 | Oct. 14 vs. Ouachita Baptist | W, 21-20
 
A 12-play, 70 yard drive by the Ouachita offense that ate up over 6:45 of game time late in the fourth quarter found the endzone, but Southern Arkansas blocked the extra point and with 2:41 remaining in regulation, the Muleriders held on to a tight 21-20 lead.
 
The lone second half touchdown for SAU came with 2:04 to play in the third quarter as Julian Frazier plunged in from two-yards out for the finishing touches on a scoring drive that covered 77 yards in a dozen plays and took over seven minutes to fulfill.
 
The two teams combined for 28 points in the second quarter alone with SAU's coming on a pair of touchdown passes from Cody Cox to Greg Williams and Keith Wright of 21 and 49 yards, respectively.
 
1997 | Oct. 18 vs. Northwestern Oklahoma State | W, 20-14
 
The final seventy seconds of the first half in Southern Arkansas' 20-14 homecoming win over Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday evening at Wilkins Stadium proved beneficial for the home team as the Muleriders scored on the ground with 1:09 remaining in the second quarter to break a 7-7 tie, before capitalizing on a Ranger turnover on the ensuing possession by adding six points through the air to take a 20-7 lead and the momentum into the halftime break.
 
Redshirt freshman halfback Kevin Little's (Shreveport, La.) one-yard touchdown plunge served as the aforementioned tie-breaking score and capped an eight play, 63-yard drive that covered 3:47 of play. Moments later, junior defensive lineman Edward Henderson (Monroe, La.) pounced on a loose football at the Northwestern Oklahoma 20-yard line setting Southern Arkansas up with a chance to push its lead to two scores before the intermission.
 
The turnover proved costly for the Rangers as sophomore signal caller Adam Pendergrass (Van Buren, Ark.) found classmate split end Drew Cone (Van Buren, Ark.) for an 18-yard scoring toss with 37 seconds left in the half. It was Pendergrass' second touchdown of the night as he opened scoring and closed out the first quarter with a 13-yard run that put SAU out front 7-0.
 
1999 | Oct. 23 vs. West Alabama | W, 30-24
 
Defenses of both teams buckled down in the second half after 41 total points were put on the scoreboard in the first 30 minutes of play that ended with Southern Arkansas carrying a 24-17 lead into the half.
 
A four-yard run from quarterback Tim Barrington opened scoring less than six minutes into the game and capped an 80-yard opening drive for the Muleriders' wishbone attack. At the 2:30 mark of the first quarter, Adam Pendergrass hit Brent Barrington on a 14-yard strike to make it 14-0 after consecutive PAT makes from Jason Williams.
 
West Alabama would score three times in the second quarter, including back-to-back touchdown runs to tie the contest at 14. A 47-yard field goal from the leg of Williams with 2:33 to play pushed SAU back up 17-14 after Ernest Pressley recovered a fumble on a UWA punt return to set the Muleriders up with great field position.
 
Trouble struck again for the Tigers as quality special teams play led to another scoring drive. On the ensuing kickoff, Eddie Key pounced on a loose football as SAU, with a three-point lead, began that drive at the UWA25. On 3^rd and 12 from the 16, Pendergrass connected with Drew Cone to put the Muleriders up 24-14. A late field goal from 42 yards out from the Tigers cut its deficit back to one possession at 24-17.
 
A big pass play from UWA tied the game at 24 with 8:06 to play in the third quarter, however early on in the fourth quarter Southern Arkansas pushed ahead 30-24 as Santario Morris hit paydirt from three yards out. The PAT failed as did two second half field goal attempts by the Muleriders, but the Southern Arkansas defense tightened down in the final 30 minutes of play as UWA managed just 134 yards in seven second half drives on 24 plays.
 
Of the homecoming games that the Muleriders lost during the decade of the 1990s, three of the four defeats were one possession games, including a 26-25 loss to Delta State on Halloween 1998.