MAGNOLIA, Ark. – And the home-winning streak is stretched to six games as the Muleriders send the East Central Tigers back to Ada with their second loss of the year. Southern Arkansas starts 2-0 for back-to-back seasons heading into week three against Ouachita Baptist. Not only that, but the Blue & Gold will see the Tigers out of Arkadelphia come into Wilkins Stadium for the first time since 2013.
 
The Muleriders completed another tight victory after a strong half of play to give SAU enough of an advantage to hold on to for the triumph.
 
The week one Great American Conference Offensive Player of the Week, Judd Barton, may not have seen the same numbers he produced in Durant over a week ago, but the junior's performance proved to be plenty for the Muleriders at the end of the day.
 
Jariq Scales led the group in rushing as he toted the ball ten times for 75 yards and a long of 31 for touchdown.
 
Receiving the majority of Barton's yards was senior Cole Williams as the Lone Star native brought in one grab for 36 yards.
 
Four names on the defensive side that flew around the field were Philip Joest, Gavin Roe, Hunter Hewitt, and Dawson Scott as the four recorded 7+ tackles on the night in which the two linebackers each accounted for five solo take downs with Joest tacking on one more assisted tackle. Scott recorded one of the two sacks by the Mulerider front seven as he dropped the Tiger offense 13 yards back. The Southern Arkansas secondary played an outstanding contest as Melvin Smith Jr, Zay Woods, and Mekhi Davis all recorded an interception with Smith Jr.'s going 29 yards to the crib.
 
The first half play from Southern Arkansas made it look as if this contest would have been over in no time when the Muleriders jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in just under a minute to begin the outing thanks to a 65-yard opening return by true sophomore running back Arkez Gomez to bring SAU to the East Central 33-yard line.
 
Senior halfback, Jariq Scales, made quick work of the starting field position as in two rushes the preseason standout tacked on 33 yards and a touchdown with 14:09 to go in the first quarter.
 
Nearly just as fast as the Kyle Washington-commanded offense scored, the Dionte Dean-led defense halted the Tigers to a three-and-out to give the Muleriders the ball back.
 
While the offensive drive may not have a two-play drive such as before, the group made quick work of the ECU defense once more as senior running back Kadyn Roach capped off the drive with a four-yard rush to the house on a fourth and four play.
 
Tigers next chance at pulling this game in reach started to show sparks of that as they crossed into Mulerider territory for the first time of the night, but eventually stalled out and were forced to punt.
 
They do not just call them special team 'special' for no reason though, as East Central's best offense of the night came from their special teams' play. The punt from ECU's Reece Conner managed to pin Southern Arkansas down to their own that saw the Muleriders go three-and-out which was then followed by blocked punt number one of two for the evening to put the Tigers in motion on the SAU five.
 
East Central however could not do anything with the miracle-like starting field position and was stopped on a fourth and one as defensive back Braeden Wade came off the edge like a heat-seeking missile to pressure the Tiger QB, Sergio Kennedy, into throwing a bad ball for a turnover on downs.
 
The stop however came on the Muleriders' one-yard line still going back to the back-to-back significant punt team plays by ECU. On the first play of the new drive, the ball was handed off the to Roach, but the senior had nowhere to go with the rock and was tackled in the endzone for a safety gifting the Tigers two points and possession of the ball.
 
Now up 14-2, the SAU defense still had the hold the ECU offense as the group had not been able to truly move the ball on the D yet. Defensive back Mekhi Davis made sure to get the ball back to the Blue & Gold as the senior out of Houston, Texas made an insane grab before going out of bounds on a throw that Kennedy planned to throw away.
 
After a pair of stalled out drives, East Central got set to punt the ball back to Southern Arkansas where Scales was sitting back to return and he did just that to the East Central 17 on a 39-yard return.
 
Once again, off a successful special teams return play, Scales in two plays to it to the crib for the score… now 21-2.
 
East Central needed something, and they needed it fast as the team from the Sooner State began their drive and just two plays later saw #24 Melvin Smith Jr. in the endzone on a pick six play to increase the Mulerider advantage to 28-2.
 
It is at this point that most groups would fold, but the East Central bunch never budged.
 
After a long and methodical six-minute drive, the Tigers added three points to their total to bring the score to 28-5.
 
The play that shifted the momentum back in East Central's favor came in the next Southern Arkansas drive. As said before, the ECU special teams group was living up to its name as they blocked their second punt of the night and then returned the ball for touchdown, the Tigers' lone touchdown in the first half.
 
Neither teams' offense could managed to get things working after this until the East Central offense made the finish to the 2024 Southern Arkansas University home-opener exciting with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the fourth quarter with seven minutes left.
 
The Muleriders managed to hang on to what lead they had left and ran the clock out to move on to 2-0 in 2024 heading into Family Day next Saturday when Ouachita Baptist comes to town for the first time in over a decade.