LITTLE ROCK — Todd Knight will coach in his 10th Battle of the Ravine today. Scott Maxfield will do so in his fifth.
But neither coach, and seldom any others who have been a part of a rivalry that today will mark its 84th installment, have been involved in a Ouachita Baptist-Henderson State matchup that has meant so much for both teams.
“It puts a little bit more emphasis on the game,” said Maxfield, Henderson State’s coach who added the game is, as usual, “the talk of the town.”
Knight’s Tigers (5-2, 3-2 Gulf South Conference) will cross Highway 7 at 1 p.m. today to play Maxfield’s Reddies (5-3, 4-2) at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium in Arkadelphia, in a game that will decide which team still has hopes for a NCAA Division II playoff spot.
With three games left in the regular season, both teams have an outside chance at a conference title, which could provide a regional ranking high enough to capture one of the six bids handed out to each of Division II’s four regions.
Knight said the last time he remembers a game between the two teams involving such high stakes was when he was a player in the early 1980s. The former Tigers linebacker said the 1982 game, when he was a freshman, and the 1985 game, when he was a senior, both decided the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference champion.
“They’ve had some good teams and we’ve had some good teams,” Knight said. “But [it’s been rare] for both teams [to be successful] at the same time.”
This year’s winner will most likely be decided by which team can slow down the other’s potent offense.
Though both teams use a different approach, they sit at the top of the Gulf South’soffensive statistics. OBU’s 35.3 points per game lead the conference, but Henderson State is right behind at 35.2.
The Tigers used running back Daniel McGee and quarterback Eli Cranor to rush for 309 yards over their past two games, which resulted in victories over Arkansas Tech and North Alabama.
Henderson State employs one of the most effective passing attacks in Division II. Quarterback Nick Hardesty spreads his 367.8 passing yards per game among several receivers, and the Reddies have scored at least 33 points in seven games this year.
When asked how he would go about slowing down the Reddies, Knight wouldn’t reveal the strategies considered.
“I wish I had the answer to that. Nobody else has had the answer to that,” Knight said.
The Reddies’ challenge will be trying to slow down an offense that is a bit more balanced.
McGee is the conference’s third-leading rusher, averaging almost 5 yards per carry with seven rushing touchdowns.
“They kind of take advantage of what you do. If you try to take away one thing, they exploit another,” Maxfield said. “They can take advantage of, really, whatever you line up.”A long history
Today marks the 84th meeting between Arkadelphia rivals Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State, a series that dates to 1895. OBU leads the all-time series 39-38-6. Here are the results of the past 10 meetings between the schools.
2009 OBU 35, HSU 28 2008OBU 43, OBU 36 2007 HSU 18, OBU 0 2006 HSU 48, OBU 28 2003 OBU 35, HSU 17 2002 OBU 28, HSU 14 2001 OBU 41, HSU 13 2000 HSU 16, OBU 9 (OT) 1999 OBU 34, HSU 17 1998 HSU 24, OBU 3
Sports, Pages 28 on 10/30/2010