MAGNOLIA, Ark. - "Home is where the Muleriders are." That was the theme of the week as Southern Arkansas University celebrated its 108th Homecoming. On Saturday afternoon inside Wilkins Stadium at Rip Powell Field, home was often the end zone as the Muleriders notched nine trips to paydirt, highlighted by seven rushing scores, and the most rushing yards in a single game since 2000 to handle Oklahoma Baptist 63-24 in Great American Conference Week 6 action. SAU improves to 5-1 in year two under head coach
Brad Smiley as the Muleriders matched last season's win total with the victory.
The Muleriders scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, before capping the final 15 minutes of play with a trio of touchdowns which included the first career scoring efforts from true freshman running back
Arkez Gomez and redshirt freshman linebacker
Philip Joest. Gomez concluded a career-high rushing day with a 46-yard sprint with just over four minutes to play and 33 seconds later, Joest jumped a pass and carried it 42 yards to the front pylon of the northwest corner for a pick-6 and the finishing touches of an overall dominant day.
SAU allowed just three first-half points and scored four times to lead 28-3 at the intermission. Senior quarterback
OB Jones ended a 71-yard drive with a 51-yard scoring rush to open scoring and a little over five minutes later he connected with junior running back
Jariq Scales on a three-yard pass to make it a two-possession game halfway through the first quarter. The Jones-to-Scales connection was set up by a recovery from sophomore
Hunter Hewitt on a fumbled handoff exchange by OBU. Hewitt led with five tackles including one for a loss. Ten other Muleriders delivered three or more tackles in the win.
After the Bison found the scoreboard on a 31-yard make from the foot of Luke Watkins, Scales and Jones traded one-yard scoring plunges with the latter's coming on the final play of the first half. Oklahoma Baptist scored on its first drive in the second half after recovering a fumble inside the SAU35, but the Muleriders responded as junior
Kadyn Roach accelerated for a 58-yard rushing score to place SAU up 35-10 less than two minutes into the third quarter.
SAU's second turnover of the quarter saw Tainique Taylor glide in for a 78-yard pick-6 as Oklahoma Baptist would manage to get within 18 points of the lead. Taylor entered the game tied with SAU's
Melvin Smith Jr. for passes defended in the GAC. It was Taylor's second interception of the season, while Smith Jr. recorded two pass defenses including a redzone interception to end a potential OBU scoring drive late in the third quarter. Smith Jr. leads the GAC in passes defended with 11.
Smith Jr.'s interception followed Jones' third rushing touchdown of the day and gave SAU possession with 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter. If a 41-17 advantage with 15 minutes to play wasn't enough to put the game away, the Muleriders engineered a fourth quarter scoring drive that covered 91 yards in 16 plays and took 10:18 to execute, the longest scoring drive in SAU's GAC history, as sophomore quarterback
Judd Barton turned the corner on a ten-yard carry for his second career rushing score and the first of three fourth quarter Mulerider touchdowns in a span of just 1:47.
Gomez led a rushing attack that placed himself and two other teammates over 120 yards on the ground. The collegiate rookie finished with 123 yards on 14 carries and the aforementioned score. Jones followed with his second-consecutive game of 100+ rushing yards as he tallied 121 yards on 15 rushes with three touchdowns; his second game this season with three touchdowns on the ground. Junior
Kadyn Roach averaged 10.9 yards per carry as he totaled 120 yards with a touchdown.
Junior running back
Jariq Scales recorded 17 touches for 87 yards and found the end zone both on the receiving end of a Jones pass and on the ground as he moved his season TD total to six. Scales continued his run through the Southern Arkansas record book as he became just the third running back in program history to reach 3,000 yards rushing and in the process moved into second on the program's all-time rushing list. Barton totaled 19 yards on a pair of attempts, while
Cordrick Dunn turned eight carries into 30 yards.
Senior
Jacob Berry and sophomore
Zay Woods each broke up passes on Saturday. Both delivered three tackles as Oklahoma Baptist threw 36 times with 17 completions for 198 yards. SAU held OBU under 300 total yards and for the fourth time this season the unit held an opposing rushing attack under 100 yards. The Muleriders forced at least three turnovers for the third time this season.
Jones completed ten of his 14 passes to eight different receivers. Scales led with three catches and sophomore
D'evin McDonald led with 27 yards on two catches. Junior
Matthew Whitten made a spectacular grab hauling in a sideline pass with his line of sight nearly upside down to convert a third down on SAU's third scoring drive of the game. Redshirt freshman
Hayden Nitz made all nine of his PATs to continue a perfect campaign at 29-for-29.
Southern Arkansas totaled 592 yards on 80 plays which included 477 yards on the ground on 65 rushes. The rushing total is the most for SAU since November 11, 2000 when the Muleriders ran up 685 yards on the ground on 65 carries in an 86-27 win at Henderson State. The Muleriders held the football for more than 16 minutes than OBU highlighted by the former's first fourth-quarter scoring drive. SAU cashed in on all five redzone trips, was an impressive 12-of-15 on third down and converted its lone fourth down attempt.
SAU's 63 points on Saturday are its most since the 2014 season finale: a 66-42 Battle of the Timberlands win at Arkansas-Monticello on November 15.
Southern Arkansas looks to Week 7 and a return trip to Arkadelphia to take on nationally-ranked Henderson State. Both teams enter at 5-1 overall and tied for third in the GAC. It will be the 87th meeting all-time between the two longtime Natural State foes. HSU leads 48-37-1. Kickoff from Carpenter-Haygood Stadium is set for 2 p.m. Live coverage links are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
