Arkansas Tech defensemen take to the field before the Wonder Boys’ game on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Henderson State University.
Arkansas Tech head football coach Kyle Shipp acknowledged it took him, his staff and his Wonder Boys a few days to recover from the disappointment of last Saturday’s loss to Henderson State.
ATU held the Reddies, ranked 20th nationally, to just 222 yards of total offense (over 300 yards below their season average before the game), but Henderson State got out of the jam by turning two Wonder Boys turnovers into touchdowns in the final two minutes to give the Reddies a 27-12 victory.
“We had a tough team meeting on Monday,” Shipp said. “We talked about getting better and taking better care of the ball. You can’t play poorly in an important game, that’s the truth. It was a tough meeting, but the guys bounced back with practice and weight training. We need to get back out there and play some games. It’ll help us mentally and physically.”
The next game will be at Simmons Bank Field at Tone Stadium in Russellville on Saturday, Sept. 28, when the Wonder Boys (2-1) host the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders (2-1) in a Family Day contest at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at www.arkansastechsports.com/tickets .
Beating the Muleriders starts with tackling running back Jaric Scales.
The former Osceola College product rushed for 3,900 yards and 40 touchdowns in his career at SAU. In three games against Arkansas Tech, Scales has rushed for 548 yards and seven touchdowns. His 245 yards rushing in a single game is a career-high he recorded in 2021 against the Wonder Boys.
“As I said on Sunday, we’ve got to get better at tackling this week because Jarik is a really, really good football player,” Shipp said. “He’s as good as anybody I’ve seen in this conference. What he’s done speaks volumes about the type of player he is. He already has a degree. I haven’t coached him, but from what I know, he’s a great young man who knows how to play football. We can’t let him lose by himself.”
Live coverage of the ATU-SAU game can be seen on KCJC 102.3 FM, the EAB Media Group app and at www.arkansastechsports.com.
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Tech Tidbits is a column written by Sam Strasner, ATU’s director of university relations and ATU’s football and basketball radio play-by-play announcer.
