HARDING ACADEMY
It’s good to be a Harding Academy Wildcat these days. The Class 3A Searcy high school has dominated opponents to the tune of 27-1 over the past two seasons, but enters the 2021-2022 season as the odds-on favorite to win its third straight state championship.
It’s an enviable position for any coach to be in, including Wildcats head coach Neil Evans. But as he heads into his sixth season, the architect of this success is shooting for something deeper than another plaque to hang on the wall.
“The message to our players is, we’re trying to anchor ourselves and root ourselves into something far deeper than just chasing a championship,” he said. “Certainly, winning a championship is fun, and chasing it, to a certain extent, is fun. But I think anytime a team begins to live in that persona, per se, it can create a lot of tension within the team. You’ve got guys who are paranoid; you’ve got guys who are pointing fingers. I think the biggest goal coming in is to make sure that we’re all grounded into something more.
“It begins with me, by the way. Personally, I want to be rooted in something more significant than a title because that’s fleeting, and there are a lot of factors that go into that. The trickle-down effect is making sure that there’s a mind-shift change and then making sure that’s held up every day.”
Evans’ approach to the game may sound a little cerebral, but it works. Few teams in the state have steamrolled the competition like the Wildcats have in 3A of late, posting records of 17-0 in 2019 and 12-1 last year. More than that, most opponents haven’t laid a glove on them. In 2019, the Wildcats scored 42 points or more in every game, while opponents were held to 7 points or less in six games, including three consecutive shutouts.
Last year, not counting their one loss to Briarcrest Christian, the squad didn’t score less than 31 points in any game, while holding opponents to 12 or less in half their contests and averaging just under 51 points in four playoff games.
As if that didn’t provide enough intimidation factor, the Wildcats return a bale of starters on both sides of the ball. They include seniors Andrew Miller, running back; Jackson Fox and Landon Koch, wide receivers; and offensive linemen Jacob Breezeel and Foster Shipman.
Defense is even more stacked with nine returning starters, including Cooper Welch, defensive tackle; Alec Rush, defensive end; Eli Wallis, linebacker; Aaron Chism, safety; and Lawson Brooks and Ryan McGaha, cornerbacks, all seniors. Juniors Kennedy Rush and Peyton Cole at linebacker and Levi Mercer at defensive end round out a very talented unit.
Evans said the key to such experience coming back consistently year after year starts with effective player management.
“We have played underclassmen the past two years and a good amount,” he said. “Starting back in 2019, we began playing a couple of freshmen. Really, one freshman that year kind of set the ball rolling.
“Since 2019, we’ve added other freshmen to this mix. That has really paid off well. It’s made our junior high maybe a little less successful, just because we’ve taken some of the better talent from the younger ages. But overall, it has paid off very, very well.”
Giving players game experience at such a young age helps develop the kind of poise that minimizes the chances a team will beat itself, Evans said.
“As the competition goes up, the margin for error goes down,” he said. “I think it’s having a sense of urgency, an attention to detail and a structured plan for the things that you say are important every day in practice. And you don’t let up on those.
“I think the biggest thing this past year and, really, these past two years, is we had a group of players that would really zero in on the details — things such as understanding why quarterback, center, running back exchanges are important, or why where you put your eyes defensively is important. They actually listened in those moments, and I think that made a huge difference. Our turnover margin was way down, and our explosive plays offensively were still up. And those are two big things to winning football games.”
The squad’s question marks are there, the coach said, particularly at quarterback, where Kade Smith will make his first start under center. An outstanding athlete who’s already got a baseball offer from the University of Arkansas, Smith has yet to be tested under game conditions.
“We’ve got a ton of faith in Kade and feel really good about where he is,” Evans said. “But when you lose a guy like [Harding Academy starting QB] Caden Sipe, a guy that was 27-1
as a starter, you know that’s a significant loss.
“Obviously, Kade is talented. He’s very athletic; he’s got a strong arm. He’s just unproven playing quarterback at this level.”
Chances are that Smith will have time to get comfortable, considering who’s coming out of the backfield, the coach said. Andrew Miller, who reeled off nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards last year with 35 scores is as good a safety valve as a young QB can ask for, Evans said.
Besides that, the defense tests so high there will likely be few, if any, nights when the Wildcats find themselves having to match scores, let alone play from behind. Evans can’t say enough about the defensive unit.
“Our defensive line, we’ve had just an absolutely phenomenal summer with those guys,” he said. “They have a ton of starts under their belt. There’s not a ton of depth there, but there is a little bit. They’re athletic, they’re strong. I mean, they are, without a doubt, the core of our team. They play very hard, and really, it sets the tone for that side of the ball.
“The less we have to worry about making up for those guys in the run game and bringing another guy into the box, the more scenarios and other schemes open up on the back end. So we have high expectations for the defense, especially the defensive line.”
Evans said another key element to the team’s success is the intangibles that come with being a small school.
“Being at a small school, everybody’s kind of all together,” he said. “There’s this sense of, whether I’m a seventh-grader or a senior, I view myself very much as part of the whole picture. I think that matters.
“Whereas, you take a metropolitan scenario where you’re in a larger school, and you’ve got a feeder school. I think there’s something that’s lost there sometimes, that school pride or that camaraderie. I think that’s one of the more unique things that we have — a deep sense of pride in playing for our school. They’re proud to say, ‘I am a Wildcat football player.’”