Hoxie relishes chance for payback on McGehee
Pre-Thanksgiving practice means a lot of things to Hoxie Coach Tom Sears, but there’s one reason in particular why he relished his team’s workouts earlier this week.
His Mustangs will get a chance to right something they felt went wrong last year.
After advancing to the semifinals for the first time in school history in 2020, Hoxie saw its run end on a cold, muddy night in McGehee. Today, the two teams will meet again in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs, this time in northeast Arkansas.
“We’re excited about things right now,” Sears said. “You don’t always get opportunities to kind of have a second chance at things. We’re fortunate that we’re getting a second chance at [McGehee].
“They’ve got a heck of team, and we’re going to have to play very well. But we get that opportunity to get a second chance at them.”
For Hoxie (11-0), that doover couldn’t have come at a better time. The Mustangs are coming off a 42-0 thrashing of Cedarville in a game that Sears said was one of his team’s more complete outings of the year. Also, Hoxie will have all of its playmakers on deck for the rematch – a luxury the Mustangs didn’t enjoy in the teams’ previous meeting.
In that 20-18 loss to the Owls, Sears was without then-starting quarterback Daylon Powell, who was ejected the week before against Paris. His absence was huge, considering he’d accounted for nearly 3,500 yards of offense and 54 touchdowns beforehand. The Mustangs also played the first half against McGehee without then-leading rusher ShunDerrick Powell, who’d run for more than 1,800 yards and 28 touchdowns going in.
Still, Hoxie hung around. The Mustangs forced five turnovers and led 18-14 late in the third quarter before the Owls took the lead for good early in the fourth. But there was some good that came out of that loss because it allowed backup quarterback Cade Forrester to show what he could do in a big-game situation.
“He came in under tough circumstances but played really, really well,” Sears said of Forrester, who had touchdowns rushing and passing in that game. “He took care of the football, made some big passes, made some big runs. He gave us a lot of confidence for him going into this season, just knowing what he’d be able to do against a top caliber team.”
That one impressive showing has led to multiple standout performances this season for the senior. The University of Arkansas at Monticello commit has completed 71 of 106 passes for 1,495 yards with 22 touchdowns and rushed 128 times for 1,058 yards and 12 scores for a Mustangs team that averages 38 points a game. Forrester had 342 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns in the team’s shutout over Cedarville.
Defensively, the Mustangs allow a state-low 8.5 points, with linebacker Jace Benesch leading the charge with 114 tackles. Defensive back Seth Brooks has also snagged a team-high seven interceptions, with Kayden Glenn not far behind with six.
Still, Sears isn’t quite ready to say things will be much different this time against the Owls, especially when they’ve still got the bulk of their team back from last season.
McGehee (12-0) averages 46.8 points behind their backfield trio of quarterback Sam Polite, fullback Channing Woodson and tailback Jody Easter. Woodson ran for almost 300 yards and three touchdowns in the Owls’ 6828 destruction of Melbourne last week. The other two combined to score five times.
“But you know, the first thing that jumps out at me is their kids up front,” Sears said. “Those kids are coming off the football extremely aggressive on both sides of the ball. Those guys [Woodson, Easter, Polite] run very hard, and they do a great job in the play-action pass. If you put too many guys in the box, they’re going to hit you with the play-action pass.”
Two of McGehee’s scores in last year’s matchup came on play-action passes. Easter was also a difference maker on both sides of the ball, something Sears is also very aware of.
The Mustangs, as a whole, are ready he said. He’s also happy they aren’t the ones that’ll be making the 3.5-hour bus ride this time.
“Just to have a game like this at home is huge,” he said. “Last year, we played Newport and Paris, two huge games, at home in the playoffs, and it was a great environment. I’m expecting nothing less in this one.
“I know McGehee travels well because they’ve got passionate fans. So it’s going to be a great environment for a high school football game. And for us to pull this thing out, we’ve got to play well. We know what they’ve got, they know what we’ve got. It’s going to come down to who makes less mistakes and finds ways to make plays.”