The Voice

News

Op/Ed

Reader's Forum

A&E

Sports

Free Box

Morgue

e-mail

Faculty/Staff

Student

Resources

WebCT

Faculty/Staff directory

   One week after picking up their first win of the season in a 27-6 victory over Ouachita Baptist, coach Gwaine Mathews and the University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevils (1-2, 1-0 GSC) will shoot for their second win of the season on Saturday as the Boll Weevils travel to Searcy to face Harding.

   The Weevils will look to avenge a 32-14 defeat at the hands of the Bisons from the 2005 season.

   The Boll Weevils relied on a complete team effort to pick up their first win this past week, and both John L. Williams (Jr., Gainesville, Fla.) and Anthony Rodriguez (Sr., Franklin, La.) earned Gulf South Conference Player of the Week honors for their play on offense and special teams, respectively.

   “Whenever you can run the football, play good defense, and commit zero turnovers, you’ll win more games than you’ll lose,” said Mathews. “Defensively, there’s just not much to say. They get into the red zone twice and don’t get a touchdown. That’s the first time we haven’t given up a touchdown since 2001. We really stepped up and I think this is the tip of the iceberg for our defense.”

   Mathews will look for his defense to step up and slow down the fifth-best scoring offense and most prolific passing offense in the Gulf South Conference this season. The Bisons feature Kyle Wess, the leading rusher in the GSC, who averages 98.7 yards per game, and David Knighton; who leads the GSC with 282.7 passing yards per game.

   “Harding’s a good football team,” said Mathews. “They’re second in the GSC in total offense, but in defense they’re at the bottom. We match up well against them, and I think we’re deeper. I like our chances.”

   Once again, Mathews will turn to his defense with the hopes that they will be able to slow the Harding offense. The Bisons offense racked up 424 yards in their opener against Southwest Baptist and then followed up with 318 yards in a loss to Missouri Southern before being held to 288 yards against North Alabama.

   “I challenged our players Saturday at halftime,” said Mathews. “I told the defense that if they are as good as I think they are, then we needed to keep playing the kind of defense we played in the first half. At Southern Arkansas we didn’t – we played good defense for three quarters and fourteen minutes, but in the last minute they didn’t do what we had done all game. This time they responded. I’m thinking we’ll step up again this week.”

   A 6 p.m. kickoff from First Security Field in Searcy is scheduled. The game will be carried live on KWRF-FM 105.5 in Warren and KXFE-FM 106.9 in Dumas, as well as online at www.uamsports.com.
.

    Have a comment? Please e-mail us.