Conway, Ark. - After a string of scorching day games on the road, the Hendrix Warriors ready to take on the Rhodes Lynx from War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock in what some would call a must-win game for both teams. Rhodes and Hendrix have a history as fierce rivals, and with both teams fighting for a chance to win the Southern Athletic Association (SAA), Saturday's game is sure to be one for the books.
On Saturday against Rhodes, Jacob Buniff will start out under center for the Warriors, sitting at 2221 passing yards on the season and a 66 percent completion percentage, His main targets will be Kanyn Utley, Christian Gadison and Parker Turley, although the Warriors have a deep receiving core with several players that can get a touchdown. Ten total players have a receiving touchdown for Hendrix this season. Auvic White, Jaxon Cobern and Jason Sullivan have all gotten carries this year, but expect the team to look to the Freshman Sullivan as of late.
On the defensive side of the ball, Hendrix will look to Nathan Hahn, who leads to team in tackles and Seth Hakanson, who has been a force as well. Ethan Armour and Ryan Maxwell will threats against the passing game, both playing solid pass defense and Armour having two sacks.
For Rhodes, Evan Reeder will start at QB, but Houston Wilhelm has also taken several snaps on the year. Reeder is more of a rushing threat with 248 yards on the year, second on the team. At tailback, Elijah Bane and Robert Daniel will take most of the carries. Their main wideouts will be Austin Smith and Andrew Pickens. On defense, Evan Byrd has 50 total tackles and Thomas Conroy has nine tackles for loss including five sacks. Lawrence Watts and Nick Floyd both have two interceptions and are sure to be a threat to the Warrior passing game.
The Warriors have had a string of rough games in their past two matchups, with both being one-point losses. Warrior fans don't need me to rehash the Sewanee game, but last week's game against Birmingham-Southern deserves a look. Sports Information Director Sandy Burks wrote a great review of that game here.
It was a low scoring matchup for Hendrix, something Warrior fans are yet to see so far this year. The Warriors performed well in the low-scoring game and were nearly able to sneak it into field goal range on the final drive, but an incomplete pass on fourth down with a minute and change to go prevented an opportunity for last-minute field goal heroics, and Hendrix came up short to the Panthers.
The game was evenly matched, with both teams going blow-for-blow in total yards. Hendrix was able to put a lid on most of the BSC offense, which should be encouraging for a Warrior team who has certainly struggled to keep opponents from scoring. Hendrix was only able to rush for 75 yards, and to be successful against Rhodes, the team needs to open up that run game. Many of the Warrior's big plays against BSC came off the play-action, and forcing teams to respect their run game will go a long way in giving Buniff and Company more opportunities for six.
The other big issue was sacks. This was a hold-over from the game against Sewanee. QB Jacob Buniff couldn't get off many of his passes and Birmingham-Southern set both team and individual sacks records against Hendrix. For a team that passes the ball deep and often, the Warriors will have to give Buniff more time to drop back and work in the pocket, something he has shown he can do well.
Rhodes is a team that passes the ball a lot, so Hendrix is going to have to stop the passes and turn the ball over at a higher rate than they have so far this year. They have players that can make plays in the secondary, and pass breakups combined with what has been a solid run defense will lead to a Warrior victory on Saturday.
The Hendrix-Rhodes rivalry goes all the way back to 1916, when the Warriors beat the Lynx 29-6. They played their first modern-day matchup in 2013, the year Hendrix revived their football program. The teams have played every year since then, with Hendrix holding a all-time record of 14-16. In the modern era, Hendrix is 5-4 against Rhodes. Rhodes is 5-2 on the season, dropping games to Trinity and Centre.
Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM from War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. Tickets for Saturday's contest can be purchased using the link provided on the online schedule.
