Arkadelphia maintains upper hand on Warren

ARKADELPHIA 41, WARREN 14

WARREN — There was no revenge Friday night for Warren against Arkadelphia.

In a rematch of last year’s Class 4A state title game won by the Badgers, Arkadelphia cruised to a 41-14 victory in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs at Jim Hurley Jr. Stadium.

The Badgers (7-5) held Warren (9-2) to 77 yards in the first half while rolling to a 41-0 halftime lead. Zion Hatley rushed for 169 yards on 20 carries and 3 touchdowns in the first half.

“He’s just been excellent in practice and got after it all week,” Arkadelphia Coach J.R. Eldridge said.

The Badgers will travel to Stuttgart next week to take on the Ricebirds (9-1), who defeated Dardanelle on Friday night.

“I was really proud of our guys,” Eldridge said. “I felt like our coaching staff did a great job preparing for this game. Our players did an excellent job executing in practice.”

The Badgers’ defense showed its mettle early, allowing just 7 yards on Warren’s first two possessions.

“We knew it was going to be a tough test for us,” Warren Coach Bo Hembree said. “They had so much team speed. Their D-line was really good, and we couldn’t block them. They made plays, and we made some mistakes early that really hurt us.”

Hatley carried the ball in from the 6 to put Arkadelphia ahead with 8:50 left in the opening quarter.

The second possession by the Lumberjacks netted zero yards before the Badgers took over at the Warren 47.

Three plays later, quarterback Cannon Turner carried it in from the 2 to make it 14-0 with 2:38 left in the first quarter.