New Harding Academy QB at ease
Harding Academy Coach Neil Evans had a minor concern or two about his Wildcats before they traveled 13 miles north on Arkansas 367 to face Bald Knob on Friday night.
None of that distress had anything to do with Kade Smith.
In his first varsity start at quarterback, the junior was 13-of-16 passing for 215 yards and accounted for 5 touchdowns for the defending Class 3A state champions, who coasted to a 42-8 victory.
“He looked really, really good,” Evans said of Smith, who’s a Class of 2023 commitment for the Arkansas Razorback baseball team. “I had high expectations for him. Now, I don’t think his production necessarily exceeded my expectations, but his calm and his demeanor did. I was just shocked at how relaxed he was, just very comfortable and very confident.
“I think he forced one bad ball maybe all night, and the rest were great reads. His timing was good, and we still feel like he has a high ceiling.”
Smith is walking in the shadows of former Harding Academy quarterback Caden Sipe, who graduated as the state’s record holder for touchdown passes in a title game after he threw eight against McGehee in December. But it appears the multisport athlete is well on his way to carving his own path after his outing in the opener.
Harding Academy scored on all but one of its first-half possessions and led 42-0 at halftime. Smith had 13- and 16-yard touchdown passes to Andrew Miller, and a 62-yard scoring toss to Jackson Fox. The Wildcats’ new quarterback also added 3- and a 13yard touchdown runs during the team’s onslaught.
“We were very pleased with what [Smith] did all night,” said Evans, whose group has won 28 of their past 29 contests. “I thought he did some good stuff run-game wise as well that we kind of expected, but it was a touch better than I thought it’d be. He’s got such a bright future ahead.”
Evans did point out a few things about the team’s overall performance that he was neither satisfied nor surprised about. Harding Academy didn’t get the chance to play in a benefit game, which led to breakdowns in certain areas against the Bulldogs.
“Our extra-point protection could’ve been a little bit better,” Evans said. “We weren’t quite as sound as we’d like to be. We had a lot of offensive penalties, too. Some of them were live-ball penalties, some of them were holding calls, which I can live with because you’re playing the game.
“But I told my players, it’s the dead-ball penalties that crush us. The false starts, the illegal procedures … different things like that that we’ve got to get cleaned up. Some of those things would typically show up in a scrimmage but since we didn’t have one, they stood out. The best thing about it, though, is that they’re all fixable mistakes.”
NERVES SET IN
Arkansas Sports Hall of Famer Anthony Lucas freely admitted how nervous he was ahead of making his head coaching debut with Pulaski Academy on Friday against Joe T. Robinson.
Those jitters didn’t last long after the Bruins kicked things in gear and went on to post a 60-27 victory.
Lucas has been with Pulaski Academy since 2012 and was an assistant under thencoach Kevin Kelley, who led a team known for high-powered offense and unorthodox methods to nine state crowns over an 18-year span. But when he was tabbed to become the Bruins’ next head coach, the former Arkansas Razorback wideout was unwavering in declaring that nothing would change.
If the opener was any indication, nothing has changed for Pulaski Academy, which scored at least 48 points for the 11th consecutive game. The Bruins fell behind, then scored 46 points in a row — in the first half.
OUT-OF-STATE BLUES
Teams from Arkansas have enjoyed some successful nights against opponents from outside of the The Natural State, but Friday wasn’t one of them.
Arkansas high schools went 2-6 in games that featured matchups with non-Arkansas opponents, with five of those resulting in shutouts.
Idabel (Okla.) beat up on Foreman 39-0, and Vian (Okla.) strolled past Gravette 37-0. Texas-based teams went 3-0 against Arkansas schools, starting with Paris, Texas’ 55-0 romp over Texarkana. Pleasant Grove, Texas, had a similarly dominant 57-0 thrashing of Nashville. Mansfield, Texas, did have a tougher time in its trip to Northwest Arkansas, where it had to rally from a 14-point deficit to slip past Bentonville West 28-21.
Southhaven (Miss.) also got in on the act by beating Valley View 30-0.
Greenwood and Bentonville provided Arkansas with its only two victories. The Bulldogs smoked Muskogee (Okla.) 63-21 while Bentonville outlasted Liberty (Mo.) North 43-30.
BREEZE FOR NO. 1 TEAMS
The No. 1 teams from each of the state’s classifications won their season openers, which will ensure their stays atop the rankings for at least another week.
Bryant, Greenwood, Pulaski Academy, Shiloh Christian, Harding Academy and Des Arc all had relatively easy victories. The most impressive of the group may have been Shiloh Christian’s 55-13 road demolition of Pea Ridge.
The defending Class 4A champions, who had their way with Class 7A Springdale in the team’s scrimmage game Aug. 17, looked like a group on a mission to repeat. The Saints scored on their first offensive snap, piled up well over 400 yards of offense over the first 24 minutes of play and led 49-6 at halftime.
The Saints were so thoroughly dominant that starting quarterback Eli Wisdom didn’t play the entire second half.
STRONG START
Episcopal Collegiate, which won the eight-man football state championship last year, got off on the right track by doubling up Mountain Pine 52-26 on Friday.
Wesley Wright rushed for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Gray Lee accumulated 293 yards of total offense and accounted for 4 touchdowns for the Wildcats, who beat Subiaco Academy in last year’s final. Those two teams will meet again Oct. 15.
In other eight-man football scores, Brinkley beat Cutter Morning Star 44-0; Marshall, which will play Episcopal Collegiate next week, held off Rector 36-34; Woodlawn destroyed Marvell-Elaine 66-26; Little Rock Hall shut out Cedar Ridge 42-0; and Subiaco Academy outlasted Spring Hill 48-28.