WRs grab attention in Ravine renewal
ARKADELPHIA — Southern Arkansas University Coach Bill Keopple straddled the lines of diplomacy last Saturday when asked about today’s matchup between Ouachita Baptist University (10-0) and Henderson State University (9-1) in the 93rd Battle of the Ravine.
“Nobody has the edge, I can tell you that,” said Keopple, whose team fell to Henderson (38-31) and Ouachita (38-21) this season. “They’ll have people standing around the field. It’ll be a knockdown drag out.”
Keopple added one more observation about the game, which is scheduled for a 1:05 p.m. kickoff at OBU’s Cliff Harris Stadium.
“This bunch’s got 15,” Keopple said, referring to Henderson wide receiver L’liott Curry.
“And they’ve got 4,” Keopple said about OBU wide receiver and return specialist Allie Freeman.
Curry, a 6-2, 215-pound transfer from Central Oklahoma, brings a 10-game Great American Conference resume that includes 74 catches, 1,019 yards and 13 touchdown receptions into his first Battle of the Ravine.
He said he has heard about the walk across Arkansas 7 that separates the two campuses, and the dislike the two teams share for one another.
“I heard it’s probably the biggest game in Arkansas,” he said. “I’m definitely going to be ready for this game.”
Curry was given a chance to address his rivals across the street.
“I ain’t got nothing to say,” he said. “Just … I’m going to be ready. It’s going to be a fun test, a fun battle.”
Freeman, a senior from Episcopal Collegiate in Little Rock, will try to do something few have accomplished at Ouachita — post a 4-0 record against Henderson in a rivalry that is tied at 43-43-6.
“Coming to Ouachita, with Henderson being our rival, of course you’d want to finish your career undefeated against them,” said Freeman, who has 79 receptions for 790 yards and 6 touchdowns this season.
Freeman, listed at 5-9, 160, is quicker and more involved in special teams, while Curry is powerful and fast, having played defensive back as well as receiver on Guthrie (Okla.) High School’s championship team in 2014.
It doesn’t take much prodding to get coaches and teammates to talk about the two.
“Allie, he’s more than just a playmaker,” said Ouachita senior running back Brockton Brown, who is also playing in his final Battle of the Ravine.
“He’s a guy that’s really a staple of the program. The guy is as good as gold.”
Henderson State struck it rich when Coach Scott Maxfield brought in Curry for the second summer semester.
Maxfield’s program was in the midst of a two-year lull — 5-6 last season and 6-5 in 2017 — after dominating the GAC standings for the first half of the decade.
Maxfield said Curry — who caught 10 touchdown passes in parts of three seasons at Central Oklahoma, another Division II school — was looking for a fresh start after things went awry when a knee injury ended his junior season after four games.
“He had the injury, he got discouraged, and he started to question if he wanted to play football,” said Maxfield, explaining Curry’s separation from Central Oklahoma. “When you get hurt, sometimes you get your head down. Sometimes you just need a fresh start.”
Maxfield said Curry quickly gained the admiration of his teammates.
“He was really smart,” Maxfield said. “What he did, he didn’t say a lot. But he would win every sprint that we would run. When he would take part in competitive drills, he competed really hard, and he won a lot of those drills. He did it the right way. He worked his way into a spot.”
Senior quarterback Richard Stammetti recognized quickly what he had in Curry.
“He’s got the best hands I’ve seen in a long time,” Stammetti said. “He’s big, strong, he gets open. And he makes plays. He just keeps making plays. I trust that dude so much, it’s amazing.”
Stammetti was Henderson’s quarterback last season when the Reddies lost to Ouachita 38-10 at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, and he said the Reddies have tried to prepare Curry for what to expect — the larger-than-normal crowd of around 10,000, the extra media attention, not to mention the presence of an ESPN3 streaming broadcast with the game designated as a Division II showcase.
“He knows the whole thing,” Stammetti said.
Freeman, the 2016 GAC Freshman of the Year, said he’s aware of what Curry brings to the field.
“He’s a great talent,” Freeman said. “He makes plays for them, and they depend on him to make plays. We’re looking forward to seeing him and what he can do.”
Brown, who leads the GAC and is No. 2 in the nation with 21 touchdowns, said he’s glad Freeman is on his side.
“He’s a big-play guy for sure,” Brown said of Curry. “I’m putting our trust in our guy. Allie, he’s been reliable for four years. That guy comes into the program and Henderson’s record goes up for one year. Look at the records we’ve had and Allie’s been a part of that.”
Maxfield said Curry is the best player in the GAC, and he pointed to a play Curry made in last week’s victory over Southern Arkansas with the game tied 31-31 as an example.
It was a victory Henderson had to have to stay in the running for a share of the conference championship, which it will earn with a victory today, along with a postseason bid.
Curry plucked a Stammetti pass out of the air on second and 8 from the SAU 33, a 25yard reception that gave the Reddies a first down at the 8 with 40 seconds to play. Senior Logan Moragne scored the game-winning touchdown two plays later.
“Big-time players make bigtime plays in big-time games,” Maxfield said of Curry.
A chance to prove he could do that, Curry said, is all he has ever wanted.
“I’ve been putting in this work since I’ve been a little kid,” Curry said. “All I needed was a platform and the opportunity to go out and showcase the skills that I’ve got. I’m just grateful the coaches have given me this platform and have put me in situations to make me successful.”
Freeman has been doing the same thing throughout his four years at Ouachita, and he heads into his final regular-season matchup as the GAC’s all-time leader in receptions (239) and all-purpose yards (5,154).
“On the field he’s great, off the field he’s great,” OBU Coach Todd Knight said of Freeman, the son of Allie Freeman III, well-known to the state’s sports fans as a former Arkansas Razorbacks basketball player. “There’s a lot of pressure in that, and I think he has handled that situation great.”
Freeman, who wears No. 4, will get a chance to see in person the No. 15 he’s already seen on film.
“He’ll make the walk across the street,” Maxfield said of his star player.
Freeman and the Tigers will be waiting.