Henry dominant in Saints’ victory

SHILOH CHRISTIAN 59, MENA 7

SPRINGDALE — Shiloh Christian already had a 12-0 lead when its defense forced Mena to punt. The ball took a bad angle off of the punter’s foot, which appeared to give the Saints great field position near the Bearcats 35.

Instead, a Mena player batted the ball and it ended up in the hands of an already-sprinting Jaiden Henry, who sped down the left sideline and scored his team’s third touchdown.

The 41-yard special-teams score was just part of a big night for Henry, who racked up five touchdowns before halftime in his team’s 59-7 victory over the Bearcats (8-4) in the Class 4A second round.

“He made plays in all three phases of the game … very explosive,” Saints Coach Jeff Conaway said. “When he had an opportunity to touch the ball and move the ball down the field, he certainly did that tonight.”

For Shiloh (12-1), Henry takes the field in a variety of positions. He serves as junior Eli Reece’s backup quarterback, and several of his passes come from fake reverses in which he splits wide as a receiver. The game’s first offensive play was one of those, and it resulted in a 35-yard pass to senior receiver Blake Thomson that set up the Saints’ first score.

“We like to set the tone and keep the defense guessing,” Conaway said. “Our guys love it, it’s a part of our culture. Get out there and have fun, why not?”

Henry was 4-of-5 passing for 79 yards and 2 touchdowns, caught 1 pass for 15 yards that went for a score, and ran for 45 yards for another touchdown on his only run.

NASHVILLE — Nashville (10-2) limited Bauxite (9-3) to 81 yards of offense and five first downs in the second half on its way to victory.

Carmillas Morrison and Keyshawn Stewart each had two second-half rushing touchdowns for the Scrappers, who finished with 319 yards of total offense.

Morrison had scoring runs of 11 and 15 yards, finishing with 12 rushes for 124 yards, and Stewart added touchdown runs of 5 and 6 yards, to finish with 81 yards on 14 carries.

Tristen Jamison connected on 7 of 12 passes for 98 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Shiloh Christian quarterback Jaiden Henry (4) carries the ball to the end zone ahead of Mena linebacker Jonny Gunn as Shiloh Christian defeated Mena 59-7 on Friday night in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs.