After back-to-back trips, wins on the road, and extending their road win streak 30 wins, the Reddies returned to Arkadelphia Saturday to face off against East Central University Tigers for their homecoming game. The energy was electric as the homecoming festivities ended and the Reddies took the field. 

East Central took the first offensive possession of the game and put the first points on the board. In just eight plays, they totaled 74 yards on a completed pass for 34 yards for their first touchdown of the evening. The Reddies took the field eager to respond to the commanding display, but they turned over the ball seven plays in to their first possession after a forced fumble that was recovered by ECU. 

The Tigers took the field once again and quickly scored yet again after a short pass for five yards and scoring just seven plays into the possession. Reddies took the field with 3:04 left in the quarter hoping to respond to the back-to-back touchdowns just scored, but their hopes faded away as the clock winded down. The first quarter closed ECU 14 – HSU 0. 

The Reddies continued the campaign that was cut short in the first quarter, but immediately turned over the ball after Evan Lassiter threw an interception and returned for 40 yards to start off the second quarter. ECU intercepted the possession after just four plays with a total of 49 offensive yards. 

The Reddies took the field finally ready to put themselves into this game and marched up the field right into the opposing redzone. However, they came up short and had to settle for a field goal. 

Again, the Tigers continued their streak of dominant possession, but were faced with a defense that was starting to show signs of life, and put together some impressive stops. They forced ECU to settle for a field goal as they had just made them. As the first half ended, the score going into halftime was ECU 24 – HSU 3. 

Coming out of the half, both teams would look to score but would instead put on a defensive display that lasted the entire quarter. ECU couldn’t find the success they were having in the first and the Reddies built upon any of the success they were having earlier. The third quarter closed with the score unchanged. 

The fourth quarter served as a comeback attempt for the Reddies. With the chance to take their first home win slipping away as the clock wound down, they were determined to take command of this game before it was too late. The defensive unit was wide awake and unwilling to let the ECU offense have even an ounce of success in the fourth. 

They stood strong after the Reddies scored their first touchdown of the evening on a 15 play 93 yard, which forced ECU to cough up their possession and score on a touch down from Junior Jerry Rodriguez. However the Reddies saw their comeback attempts cut short as ECU took the final possession of the game and watch the clock run out in yet another home loss for Henderson.

The Good 

Evan Lassiter completed on 41 of 60 passes and connected with 12 different receivers for a total of 322 yards. (there would be more good news to report if anything else had actually went well)

The Bad 

Though they only had 85 yards in the second half ECU ended the first half with a total of 252 offensive yards.