September 21st, 2026 1:57pm
Week Three is in the books, and the GAC is starting to take shape. Three teams remain undefeated, while three others picked up their second win of the season on Saturday. We also saw our first in-state matchups of the season, and as expected, there were some really good games across the conference, including a couple that came down to the final minutes.
Henderson State 35 – Arkansas-Monticello 24
Henderson State remains unbeaten, but it took until the fourth quarter for the Reddies to finally put some distance between themselves and Arkansas-Monticello.
UAM wasted no time getting on the board, going 88 yards in just three plays on its opening possession to jump out to a 7-0 lead. The Reddies responded with 14 unanswered points, but the Weevils continued to hang around. UAM pulled within four, 28-24, early in the fourth quarter and had Henderson State right where it wanted them.
Austin Ledbetter and the Reddie offense answered with another touchdown to make it 35-24, and the defense took over from there. UAM reached Henderson State territory twice more, but came away empty both times. The Reddies intercepted a pass at their own 11-yard line before stopping the Weevils on downs at the HSU 27 to close out the win.
Ledbetter turned in another strong performance under center, earning GAC Offensive Player of the Week honors in the process.
Oklahoma Baptist 55 – Northwestern Oklahoma State 37
Oklahoma Baptist's offense had no trouble finding its rhythm Saturday, putting up 55 points on the road against Northwestern Oklahoma State in a weather-shortened game. It was the most points the Bison have scored since 2021, but this one was far from decided early.
Northwestern cut the Oklahoma Baptist lead to just one point, 21-20, with 7:22 left in the second quarter. The Bison answered with 17 of the next 20 points, creating enough separation to take control of the game.
Brady Bricker had a big afternoon through the air, completing 30-of-36 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. Devan Daniels gave the Bison another weapon on the ground, averaging 12.9 yards per carry on his way to 116 yards and two touchdowns. Justin Pascone also scored twice rushing.
After a rough outing against Henderson State last week, Oklahoma Baptist bounced back in a big way and moved to 2-1 on the season.
East Central 35 - Southern Nazarene 24
Southern Nazarene had East Central right where it wanted them heading into the fourth quarter. The Crimson Storm stayed with the Tigers throughout the afternoon, taking the game into the final quarter tied at 21-21 and giving SNU a real chance to pull off one of the bigger upsets of the week.
East Central scored early in the fourth to regain the lead, but SNU answered and drove deep into Tiger territory. The Crimson Storm reached the nine-yard line but could not find the end zone, settling for a field goal that made it 28-24.
That ended up being the closest SNU would get. East Central got the ball back with 7:09 left and put together a 13-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that ate up more than five and a half minutes. It was the kind of drive that takes the air out of a comeback attempt, and the Tigers finished off the 35-24 win to stay unbeaten at 3-0.
SNU came up short, but the Crimson Storm showed they are capable of making things interesting against a team that entered the week unbeaten.
Southeastern Oklahoma State 27 - Southwestern Oklahoma State 21
After trailing 17-0 at halftime, SWOSU came all the way back to take a 21-17 lead in the fourth quarter, but Southeastern Oklahoma State had one more answer.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive before following it with a four-play, 60-yard scoring drive to cut the deficit to just three, 17-14, heading into the fourth quarter.
A fumble recovery from GAC Defensive Player of the Week Keshaun Jackson deep in Savage Storm territory on the first play of the fourth quarter gave SWOSU another opportunity, and the Bulldogs found the end zone two plays later to take their first lead of the night, 21-17.
Southeastern cut the lead to 21-19 after a blocked punt turned into a safety, then had a field-goal attempt blocked with 2:18 remaining.
With SWOSU still holding the lead, the Bulldogs gave the ball back to Southeastern with 1:35 left. The Savage Storm then went 80 yards in just 86 seconds, scoring the game-winning touchdown to complete the comeback and move to 2-1.
SWOSU has now lost two of its three games in the final seconds and will really need a win against Oklahoma Baptist to avoid falling to 0-4 to start the season after a successful 6-5 campaign last year.
No. 2 Harding 52 - Southern Arkansas 21
Harding did not exactly come flying out of the gates for the second straight week, but once the Bisons found their rhythm, Southern Arkansas had a hard time keeping up.
The game was still within one score at 10-7 when Harding's Jordan Mays came up with a fumble recovery at the Harding 35-yard line. That gave the Bisons a chance to add to their lead before halftime, and the offense took advantage, turning the takeaway into seven points to make it 17-7 at the break.
That was really the turning point of the game.
Harding went on to score 35 of the next 42 points, steadily pulling away from the Muleriders and turning a close game into another convincing win. Southern Arkansas found the end zone late, but the Bisons had already done more than enough to put the game away.
Harding moves to 3-0 on the season and has won all three games by a pretty wide margin, but the Bisons will face their biggest test of the season so far next week.
Ouachita Baptist 34 – Arkansas Tech 17
Arkansas Tech's perfect start came to an end Saturday, as Ouachita Baptist controlled the game from start to finish.
The Tigers' defense set the tone early, allowing just one first down in the opening quarter before Ouachita took a 13-3 lead into halftime. The Wonder Boys, who had won their first two games by a combined 11 points, struggled to get much going offensively and never really found a way to change the momentum.
Arkansas Tech finally found some life midway through the fourth quarter, putting together a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to 27-10. Any thoughts of a comeback were quickly put to rest, though, as Ouachita returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.
The Wonder Boys added a late score, but Ouachita had already put the game away and went on to win 34-17.
The Tiger defense held Arkansas Tech to just 3-of-12 on third and fourth downs, and Ouachita has now won back-to-back games on the road after opening the season with a loss.