Shiloh Christian, Arkadelphia one to remember

SPRINGDALE — From one end of the field to the other, spanning 100 yards of green field turf, hundreds of players, coaches, students and others connected to the Arkadelphia and Shiloh Christian football programs congregated Friday night.

After 48 minutes of exhausting, emotional action, seemingly no one wanted to leave the field. Players were down on all fours, some sobbing, others just trying to muster the energy to get up.

By the time Shiloh Christian ( 13-1) capped a comefrombehind 57- 54 win in this Class 4A state semifinal, the two teams had produced an Arkansas high school football classic. The statistics bear that out.

“I’m exhausted,” said Shiloh Christian Coach Jeff Conaway, whose team will make its third straight state championship game appearance in its final year of Class 4A. “Getting a victory at this point is great. Proud of our guys, proud of our coaching staff. I really feel like they sacrificed a lot to be in this position.”

While Conaway was receiving congratulations, the scene was different on the other side as Arkadelphia coaches tried their best to console players, many of who were laid out on the turf sobbing that their season ended one game short of the state championship.

Arkadelphia Coach Trey Schucker praised the leadership of his seniors in leading the Badgers to a 10-4 season. His team led three times in the fourth quarter, the last with 2:19 left and did it without star running back senior Jaishon Davis, who was injured in the second quarter and tried galliantly to return to the game before leaving for good in the third quarter with a leg injury.

“That is a testament to how we’ve been all year,” said Schucker. “I just can’t say enough about these seniors. Great leaders, great kids in the classroom, great football players. Obviously, we’ve had a great season.

Not the way we wanted to end it. I just love their fight.”

With Davis sidelined, the Badgers turned to their junior quarterback Donovan Whitten to carry the team, and he did just that. Whitten ran and passed his team to three second-half touchdowns. Whitten rushed for 92 yards and two scores, and was 24-of-43 passing for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

Whitten said losing Davis was a tough blow for the Badgers, but they refused to stop playing.

“Whenever he went down, we were all in the huddle and I just said we have to find a way to get through, we have to find a way to win, we have to find a way to score points,” said Whitten. “And we did that. We scored the rest of the night. But he would have been a lot of help.”

Arkadelphia did its homework and was able to shut down Shiloh Christian quarterback Eli Wisdom’s running for the most part, although Wisdom did rip off a 27-yard touchdown. But he was held to less than 40 yards otherwise.

The Saints found other ways to break off explosive plays, like Bo Williams’ 61yard touchdown run in the second quarter. But Friday night belonged to senior Ben Baker, who played well over 150 snaps and on special teams.

Baker, who looked like he’d just stepped out of a shower when the game ended, was everything for the Saints on Friday. Baker rushed for 207 yards and scored five touchdowns, played safety on defense and was on the Saints’ kickoff return team.

“I just gave it everything I had,” said Baker. “It was unbelievable.”

Baker was heavily involved in the game plan early, catching two swing passes on Shiloh Christian’s opening possession. The Saints scored on each of their first three possessions.

With the game and Shiloh Christian’s season hanging in the balance with just over two minutes left, they turned to Baker. And behind a dominating offensive line, Baker delivered with three big gains, the last a 21-yarder for the game-winning touchdown with 1:47 left.

“Coach gave it to me in the beginning and that kind of set the tone,” said Baker. “My line did a great job. I just had a lot of space to run. This feels great, it feels awesome. This is the best feeling that I’ve had in a while.”

For more than an hour after the final horn sounded, the teams remained on the field, trying to hang on to the magic that is prep football.

“This was a great high school football game,” said Schucker. “There was no loser tonight. These kids for both teams left everything all on the field. You can’t ask any more of them than that.”