Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
7A-West teams watch as 7A-Central takes center stage at end of season
7A-West watches as 7A-Central takes center stage in title game
LITTLE ROCK — The mighty 7A-West Conference was shut out of the championship game in the state’s largest classification for the first time in 14 years.
Bryant defeated North Little Rock 27-7 for the Class 7A state championship that featured two teams from the 7A-Central.
The last time that the West failed to have at least one team in the state championship game was 2004 when Little Rock Central beat West Memphis 41-7.
The last time two central Arkansas teams met for the state title in the state’s largest classification was 1998 when Little Rock Fair downed Cabot 41-0. In the four-conference alignment at that time, Fair played in the AAAAA-Central while Cabot actually hailed from the AAAAAEast, but the schools are truly central Arkansas.
Last season, North Little Rock ended the spectacular 12-year run of state championships by the 7A-West with a 44-37 win over Bentonville.
By putting two teams in the state championship game this year, the takeover by the Central, it was said, is complete. Only Bentonville West, with a win over Conway in the second round, kept the semifinals from being an all-Central affair. Fort Smith Northside, now in the Central and formerly of the West, was the other semifinalist this year, losing to Bryant.
CENTRAL BLISS
Bryant’s win over North Little Rock for the Class 7A championship was just part of a magnificent weekend of football for central Arkansas fans.
Benton also played for a state title but lost to Greenwood 45-14 in the Class 6A championship.
That made last Saturday a Saline County doubleheader with Salt Bowl rivals Bryant and Benton playing on the same day, and the fans turned out.
On Sunday, private school rivals Little Rock Christian and Pulaski Academy, separated by just five miles, played in the Class 5A title game with Little Rock Christian winning, 52-38.
All told, a total of 42,594 fans went through the turnstiles at War Memorial Stadium for the three games making it by far the biggest single weekend of attendance in state championship game history.
“We had great crowds,” said Lance Taylor, the Executive Director of the Arkansas Activities Association. “We had great weather. It was exciting to watch.”
The attendance for Class 7A was 20,631 for the second-largest championship game crowd behind only Springdale’s 54-20 win over West Memphis in 2005.
The attendance for Class 6A was 11,201 for the seventh-largest crowd in state championship game history.
Sunday’s attendance between two small private schools was 10,762 to cap the weekend.
Sunday’s game was originally scheduled for Friday, but on Friday morning, the Arkansas Activities Association announced that the game was being moved to Sunday due to the threat of severe thunderstorms.
“We talked about it as a staff,” Taylor said. “We thought we were all meteorologists before the week was over because we watched every single thing we could.”
The decision, though, affected more than the Class 5A state championship game on Friday night with the semifinals in the three other classifications also being affected by the potential storms predicted statewide.
“Rison was going to Osceola, Prescott was going to Booneville, and Arkadelphia was going to Shiloh Christian,” Taylor said. “Everybody was leaving about nine, so we had to make a decision. We got in that morning and made the decision. We were going to make it safe for everybody, and one side of the state maybe could have played and another not so that’s not fair. We shut it down and made it safe for everybody to travel.”
The semifinals were moved to Saturday night with the Class 5A championship game being moved to Sunday afternoon. The move turned out to be a brilliant one especially considering the perfect weather on Sunday for the two wide-open offenses of Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian.
“It turned out great,” Taylor said. “It was a good weekend.”
The total attendance for the six championship games was 51,054, which is the second most in history. The cold, rainy weather this past weekend kept those attendance
numbers down or the alltime record of 52,686 set in 2014 would have easily fallen.
HOG FUTURES
The attendance on Sunday was certainly bolstered with future Razorbacks playing for both Little Rock Christian and Pulaski Academy.
Justice Hill ran 15 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns and completed 12-of-25 passes for 218 yards and two more scores to lead Little Rock Christian to the win.
Hudson Henry caught eight passes for 102 yards for Pulaski Academy.
Hill will play basketball for the Razorbacks. He will not play high school basketball this season and will instead enroll at the University of Arkansas for the spring semester before red-shirting.
Hill used that point-guard mentality on the football field this season at quarterback.
“They are very complimentary of each other, point guard and quarterback,” Hill said. “Quarterback is more of a lead role because there’s 10 other guys out there instead of four so you have to be more of a vocal leader. It’s the same thing in basketball about being an extension of the coaching staff on the court and the field.”
Henry will play for the football Razorbacks in the fall.
STREAKLESS IN LITTLE ROCK
While the weekend was a great one for fans and attendance, streaks weren’t so fortunate.
Bryant’s win in the Class 7A championship game ended North Little Rock’s 25-game winning streak, which was the tied for the second-longest in history in the state’s largest classification.
Bentonville also won 25 straight games from 2010 to 2011 and a loss in the championship game.
Pine Bluff won 25 straight from 1994 into 1996.
Little Rock High and Central stills holds the longest winning streak in the state’s largest classification at 35 from 1955 into 1958.
Bryant’s win also denied North Little Rock of becoming the first team in the state’s largest classification to record consecutive perfect seasons since Little Rock in 1956 and 1957.
Little Rock Christian’s win ended Pulaski Academy’s 57-game winning streak against in-state opponents, 19-game playoff win streak and four-year championship run.
“There’s a reason five in a row has never been done before and only one team has ever done four in a row during the playoff era,” Pulaski Academy head coach Kevin Kelley said. “It’s hard. Everybody’s gunning for you. You’re getting their best effort each week. You’re fighting complacency on your team. That many times, that many shots in a row, eventually somebody is finally going to be good enough if you’re not at your best to beat you.”
Pulaski Academy had not lost to an in-state opponent since Morrilton beat the Bruins, 57-50, in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs in 2013. That was also Pulaski Academy’s last playoff loss.
Pulaski Academy was looking to become the first to win five straight titles during the modern playoff era, which began in 1968.
1968 SEASON
It was 50 years ago when the playoffs were revived in Arkansas.
Springdale defeated Jacksonville, 19-13, for the Class AAA title in a one-game playoff between conference champions.
Springdale, with a young Jarrell Williams in just his fourth year at the helm of the program, won the AAA-West while Jacksonville won the AAA-East. The two met to decide a Class AAA state championship in a one-game playoff at Bulldog Stadium in Springdale. The Bulldogs scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally to the win.
The next season, the Arkansas Activities Association officially revived the playoffs by adding Class A to Class AAA with eight district champions playing. Springdale won its second-straight Class AAA with a 14-0 win over Jonesboro.
In 1970, the AAA added Class B and Class AA to the playoffs. Only the big-school conference consisting of the seven biggest schools in the state did not participate in the playoffs. They continued to play a round-robin schedule to decide the champion in the state’s largest classification until 1983.
RE-MARK-ABLE
Bryant’s Latavion Scott scored three touchdowns to stake Bryant to a three-touchdown lead against North Little Rock in the 27-7 win for the school’s first football state title.
Scott finished with 153 yards for the game, and for 1,767 yards and 23 touchdowns, which led Class 7A, for the season.
“He’s done it all year long,” Bryant head coach Buck James said. “He’s one of the finest players I’ve ever coached. He’s got a heart as big as he is. He plays with a lot of emotion. Arguably, he’s the best back in the state of Arkansas.”
Scott was one of eight backs in the state’s largest classification to reach the 1,000-yard plateau, which is a remarkable number.
Brandon Thomas of North Little Rock led Class 7A in rushing yards with 1,829.
Little Rock Catholic’s Samy Johnson completed a stellar threeyear career by rushing for 1,384 yards and 17 touchdowns this year. He finished his career with 4,617 yards and 50 touchdowns on the ground.
Cary McClain of Conway ran for 1,247 yards and eight touchdowns.
Garrett Vaughan of Springdale led the 7A-West in rushing with 1,241 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Ricardo Savoy of Fort Smith Southside ran for 1,222 yards and 11 scores.
Tyler Day of North Little Rock also eclipsed the mark with 1,218 yards and 18 touchdowns as the Wildcats had a rare pair of 1,000-yard rushers.
Derrick Wise II of Fort Smith Northside ran for 1,157 yards and 13 touchdowns and is the only quarterback on the list. Wise also threw for 1,307 yards and 14 touchdowns.
NINE TIMES
The Greenwood Bulldogs set a modern playoff era record by winning their ninth state title with their 45-14 win over Benton in the Class 6A state championship game.
Eight of those championships are under Rick Jones, who also won his ninth state title along with one at Edmond, Okla., in 1989.
Greenwood certainly bucked the trend over the two weekends of championship games.
The Class 6A championship game was one of four rematches from the regular season. North Little Rock defeated Bryant, Pulaski Academy beat Little Rock Christian and Pulaski Robinson downed Arkadelphia during the regular season in conference meetings that basically decided those conference championships and the top seeds in the playoffs.
In the rematches, Bryant beat North Little Rock by 20, Little Rock Christina won by 14, and Arkadelphia was victorious by 28 the second time around.
“I told our coaches, and this is probably not very smart, that I want to totally change everything we did the first game,” Jones said. “The mentality is you don’t change. Why would you, you won. They change and you don’t change, and you end getting stuck. Our offense and defense and kicking game guys, all three coordinators put a game plan together that was based on looking at those guys like we had never seen them before. I think it paid dividends.”
Greenwood beat Benton, 62-33, in the regular season and then 4514 six weeks later in the championship game.
BEARCAT MANOR
Booneville ended the season as the lone undefeated team in the state after Saturday’s 35-0 win over Osceola for the Class 3A state championship.
The Bearcats finished 15-0 for the fourth undefeated season in school history along with 2013, 1953 and 1938.
Booneville also is the only team to go No. 1 in its classification from start to finish this season, and Class 3A was supposedly the most wide open of the six with six different teams garnering No. 1 votes in the statewide Arkansas Sports Media Poll in August.
Booneville received 19 firstplace votes, but Clinton, McGehee, Prescott, Charleston and Newport also were picks for the top spot.
The Bearcats won the state title with 391 rushing yards and five rushing scores before imposing the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule in the fourth quarter. Booneville had 62 rushing attempts.
“That’s how we operate,” Booneville head coach Scott Hyatt said. “We were able to execute, keep the ball out of their hand. They’re a very explosive offense. That’s the only way we can compete, control the football.”