Harding Academy’s offense takes charge early

CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS

HARDING ACADEMY 56, BOONEVILLE 27

SEARCY – Harding Academy’s farewell tour in Class 3A will wrap up in War Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats advanced to next weekend’s state championship game with a 56-27 win over Booneville on Friday night in the semifinals at First Security Stadium on the campus of Harding University.

Harding Academy (11-2) will play Prescott on Dec. 11 at noon.

Harding Academy is seeking its third consecutive title in its final season in Class 3A before being elevated in classification due to the new Arkansas Activities Association’s competitive equity factor.

Friday’s win was the second in a row for Harding Academy over Booneville (132) after last year’s quarterfinal win also at First Security Stadium.

The Wildcats scored on all six first-half possessions on Friday, needing just 27 plays to rack up a 42-13 halftime lead.

Andrew Miller took a direct snap on the third play and 71 seconds into the game sprinted 70 yards for a quick 7-0 lead after Kyle Ferrie’s placement.

Booneville speedster Rocky Ross answered on the ensuing kickoff, also sprinting 95 yards for a touchdown. Booneville’s Pablo Ferrer tied the game at 7-7 with 10:34 left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats took 12 plays to take the lead for good with quarterback Cade Smith scoring on a 2-yard run for a 14-7 lead with 5:56 left in the quarter.

Harding Academy forced a three and out, and needed just four plays to go up, 21-7, on Smith’s 31-yard run.

“The advantage of that offense is having just a week to prepare,” said Harding Academy Coach Neil Evans of Booneville’s offense. “It’s so obscure. We felt like we really had to close the gap on the amount of reps our guys got. Our scout team did a good job to simulate all of that. It’s a pretty special night when you can slow down an offense that potent.”

Booneville stayed close with a five-play drive. Dax Goff ran 24 yards on the first play, and Randon Ray ran 32 yards on the third play before scoring on a 24-yard run to draw the Bearcats within 2113.

It took Harding Academy one play to steal away any of Booneville’s momentum with Miller again taking a direct snap and going 91 yards on the final play of the first quarter to push the Wildcats’ lead to 28-13.

Harding Academy squelched Booneville’s next drive with a fourth-down sack by Levi Mercer.

Two holding penalties pushed Harding Academy back but Landon Koch took a lateral from Smith and threw a 76-yard pass to a wide-open Miller for a 35-13 lead with 6:17 left in the half.

Harding Academy added one more score in the first half after Cooper Welch recovered a fumble with 3:17 remaining.

“They’re a great football team,” Booneville Coach Doc Crowley said. “We knew that coming in and knew we couldn’t make many mistakes. We knew we had to capitalize when we had the ball.”

Three plays later, Smith tossed a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Hoover with 1:58 left before halftime for a 42-13 cushion.

“Any time you can get an option offense to play from behind that’s ultimately what you want,” Evans said. “Their goal is to keep the game close and keep you off the field. Fortunately, we were able to get ahead and they had to start chasing points.”

Harding Academy had 431 yards in the first half with Miler rushing eight times for 180 yards and catching two passes for 83 yards in the first half. He finished with 12 carries for 190 yards, taking two direct snaps for touchdown runs of 70 and 91 yards.

“The offensive line just makes the biggest holes for me, and all I have to do is run through them and beat about one guy,” Miller said. “That’s all I’ve got to do. The 0-line carries me on their back. They make me look good.”

Miller also had the 76-yard touchdown grab from Koch.

“We practice that kind of stuff,” Miller said. “We execute in practice and it shows up at game time.”

Smith, who was an efficient 9-of-11 passing for 170 yards, added touchdown runs of 38 and 1 yards on the first two series of the second half for a 49-13 lead.

Randon Ray and Rylee Ray added fourth- quarter touchdowns for Booneville. Randon Ray finished with 152 yards on the ground.

PRESCOTT 36, McGEHEE 20

McGEHEE — Prescott broke open a tie game with three second-half touchdowns to defeat McGehee 36-20 and advance to next week’s Class 3A state championship game against Harding Academy at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium.

“At halftime, we preached to our defense that we were going to have to get back to fundamentals that we’ve been teaching them since the seventh grade,” Prescott Coach Brian Glass. “We just based up in the second half and played good fundamental football.”

Prescott (14-0) never trailed but the Curley Wolves found themselves tied at 6-6 in the first quarter and 14-14 at the half before taking control in the third quarter.

Prescott scored two touchdowns and converted two 2-point conversions to take a 30-14 lead after three quarters.

There was a 10-yard by Jason Grigsby midway in the third quarter, and then Jacaylon Zachery scored on a 65-yard middle screen to put the Curley Wolves up two touchdowns.

Prescott added a third second-half touchdown on a 25-yard run by Trey Dickens with seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter, but missed the twopoint try.

McGehee (13-1) completed the scoring with a rushing touchdown in the final minute of play.

“It was a real hard-hitting physical game,” Glass said. “We flew to the ball all night.”