Arkansas Tech University’s path to a winning football season runs through the Loveliest Village on the Ouachita River.
The Wonder Boys (3-4) will take on the nationally 19th-ranked Henderson State University Reddies (6-1) at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia on Saturday, Oct. 24. Kickoff for the Great American Conference matchup is set for 1 p.m.
Live coverage of the ATU-HSU game will be available beginning at 12:30 p.m. Saturday on KCJC 102.3 FM, www.rivervalleyradio.com/river-country and www.arkansastechsports.com.
Arkansas Tech has four games remaining on its 2026 schedule, and it must win at least three of them in order to finish above .500 for a second consecutive season.
It would be incorrect to suggest the Wonder Boys will yield to anyone in the GAC, but the final game of the season will be in Searcy against nationally second-ranked Harding University. The Bisons have won 22 consecutive GAC games, and they are 39-1 against GAC competition since the beginning of the 2023 season.
That reality creates a sense of urgency for the Wonder Boys to get the job done over the next three weeks. They buoyed their hopes for a winning season with a 37-27 victory over Southern Arkansas University on Saturday.
Two fourth-down stops by the Arkansas Tech defense in the second half led directly to touchdowns as the Wonder Boys defeated the Muleriders for the first time since 2017.
“It’s been a three- or four-week journey of getting (the ATU defense) lined out and in the right spots,” said Roy Thompson, ATU head football coach. “They’ve been working hard on the fundamentals of good defense, and on Saturday they got a chance to show off. I thought we had some really good run fits and tackled a little bit better. All those things added up to being able to make those fourth-down stops.”
Arkansas Tech rushed for 370 yards against Southern Arkansas. That performance, combined with the Wonder Boys’ 361 rushing yards the previous week against East Central University, gave Arkansas Tech back-to-back 300-yard rushing games for the first time since October 2015.
“We sat down a couple of weeks ago and talked about how to get back to running the football the way we want to,” said Thompson. “We have to get two Tech bodies on one body from the other team. We moved some guys around positionally on the offensive line, and we’re playing some new running backs. All of those things together have made a huge difference.”
Henderson State dropped a 46-16 decision at Harding on Saturday for its first loss of the season. The Reddies lead the GAC in total offense (493.7 yards per game) and passing offense (272.9 yards per game), but HSU starting quarterback Austin Ledbetter has missed the last two games.
Defensively, the Reddies are tied for the GAC lead in takeaways (14). They have intercepted eight passes and recovered six fumbles through the first seven weeks of the season.
“(HSU) has an aggressive defense,” said Thompson. “They play a lot of man-to-man, and the one thing they do that most man teams don’t do is they never lose leverage. When you run the ball (against HSU), there are a lot of people in the box and around the box because those man defenders are getting pulled in by the blockers. Henderson runs to the ball really well, they play extremely fast and they tackle really well. They’re sound.”
Talk to you on the radio.
Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU director of university relations and radio play-by-play voice for ATU football and basketball.
