Bombers have way in 2nd half

Coming out of the halftime break, all hope looked to be lost for Mountain Home on Friday night at Van Buren.

Plan A didn’t work. Plan B didn’t work. The Bombers were left with no option but to start from scratch.

The Bombers trailed 4214, following an explosive 28-point second quarter from the Pointers, and needed a spark.

Wide receiver Malachi Henry and quarterback Bryce Perkins connected three times before the half to give Van Buren (1-8, 1-6 6A-West) its season-high point total before the third quarter had started.

Less than a minute into the second half, Mountain Home (2-7, 2-5) wide receiver Brady Barnett caught a 32yard touchdown pass over a defender in the end zone to make it 42-21 and give the Bombers a glimmer of hope.

With 5:03 left in the third quarter, the Bombers got the spark they needed. Freshman safety Barrett Miller intercepted a pass from Perkins and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown to make it 42-28.

With 7:45 left in the fourth quarter, Mountain Home cut it to a one-score deficit when Barnett caught a tunnel screen from quarterback Cade Yates and ran 23 yards for a touchdown to make it 42-35.

Mountain Home got the ball back with 3:11 to play and the ball on its 23-yard line, needing a touchdown to get to within a point.

The Bombers faced a fourth and 4 in their own territory, so they went back to the screen play that Barnett found success earlier to convert a first down to keep the drive alive.

With 50 seconds remaining, Yates scrambled through the defense and scored from 12 yards out to make it 42-41.

With six teams from the 6A-West qualifying for the playoffs, a loss Friday would eliminate either team from contention.

“That was my mindset the whole time. You got to play to win. It’s over if you don’t win,” Mountain Home Coach Steve Ary said.

With that in mind, Ary opted to go for two points with the game on the line.

Barnett got the call and received a direct snap, followed his blockers and converted the two-point attempt to give the Bombers a 43-42 lead that held up.

“I’ve been coaching for 35 years and I don’t think I’ve had a team come back from 28 down,” Ary said. “Going from so down in the dumps at halftime to such an epic ending, it was completely different from anything I’ve ever experienced.”

After giving up 42 points in the first half, Mountain Home shut out Van Buren the rest of the way.

“It was the same plan we started the game with,” Ary said with a laugh. “So it’s like, ‘How did it not work in the first half, but then it works in the second half?’ We came out a little, maybe a lot, lethargic. It’s funny how it just changed like that. I had no idea we could toss a shutout like that after giving up 42. The halftime talk was just, ‘Boys, if we don’t grow a backbone here, we’re gonna give up 85 and set a state record.’ ”

Clinchers

With one week left in the regular season, there is still plenty that could happen in conferences across the state.

Conference title, seedings and playoff berths will be on the line next week in the final regular-season games. But on Friday night, there were a few teams that clinched their conference titles outright, or by tiebreakers, and secured No. 1 seeds in the playoffs.

The most notable of those has to be Class 6A’s Greenwood locking up the 6A-West with a 33-23 win over Pulaski Academy. The Bulldogs (8-1, 7-0) secured the No. 1 seed out of the 6A-West and will receive a first-round bye in the playoffs

After finishing third in the conference a year ago, Valley View secured the No. 1 seed out of the 5A-East with a 37-7 win over Nettleton. The Blazers (8-1, 6-0) will face the No. 4 seed out of the 5A-West in the first round of the playoffs.

Shiloh Christian, in its first season in Class 5A, won the 5A-West crown Friday night with a 55-22 win over Prairie Grove. The Saints (8-1, 6-0) will face the No. 4 seed from the 5A-Central in the first round of the playoffs.

Elkins (8-1, 6-0 4A-1), Harding Academy (8-0, 5-0 4A-2), Pocahontas (8-1, 6-0 4A-3), Charleston (8-1, 6-0 3A-1), Melbourne (9-0, 5-0 3A-2), Osceola (5-3, 5-0 3A-3), Glen Rose (6-2, 5-0 3A-4), Rison (8-0, 5-0 3A-6) and Bigelow (8-1, 5-0 2A-1) all secured their respective No. 1 seeds with wins Friday night.

Elkins, Harding Academy, Glen Rose and Rison also secured first-round byes in their respective playoffs.