Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Episcopal controls second half for win
EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE 33, ENGLAND 22
Episcopal Collegiate’s best defense turned out to be its offense on Friday night at Wildcat Stadium in Little Rock.
Ball control was the name of the game in the second half for the Wildcats as they battled back from a halftime deficit to beat England 33-22.
Gray Lee and Kollin Robinson accounted for five rushing touchdowns for Episcopal (5-2, 2-1 2A-4), which showed plenty of mettle over the final two quarters after being severely pushed in the first half.
“Man I tell you what, we challenged our guys at the half,” Wildcats Coach Michael Carter said. “We really challenged them to be strong and tough because [England] is a big bunch, a good bunch with a lot of great athletes. And the thing is, we felt like we played a little soft in that first half, and we wanted to change that.
“I think our guys came out and did that in the second half. Their effort was amazing. … we started running the ball and eating up that clock while keeping England away from it.”
Playing keep away was what helped turned things around for the Wildcats.
England (3-4, 1-3) racked up nearly 170 yards of offense in the first half behind the play of quarterback Chandler Cheek, who rushed for 88 yards and tossed two touchdowns over the first 24 minutes to help the Lions secure a 14-12 lead by halftime.
However, Episcopal barely allowed England enough time to establish anything from tjere. The Lions held the ball for just 1:10 in the third quarter and had two possessions in the fourth – one of which lasted 11 seconds while the other resulted in a game-sealing interception by Episcopal’s Jacob Katz.
The biggest reason for England’s lack of opportunities in the second half was because of the Wildcats ability to sustain drives with their ground attack, starting with Robinson.
The freshman had 100 of his 165 rushing yards after halftime. He had a 7-yard touchdown run with 10:10 to go in the fourth quarter that gave Episcopal its first double-digit lead of the night, but he also made a tide-turning play late in the third that essentially summed up Carter’s sentiments about his team’s effort.
England lineman Jerome Clegg stripped the ball from Lee during one of the Wildcats’ time-consuming series and had returned the fumble 25 yards down field until Robinson caught up to him, poked the ball away and recovered it.
“That was just huge,” Carter explained. “To see him not give up on a play like that, as a coach, that’s the kind of effort you want and love to see. That play was such a big turnaround for us.”
The Lions took an early 8-0 lead on Cheek’s 69-yard scoring toss to Nehemiah Solee with 1:21 left in the first quarter. Lee scored the first of his three touchdowns with 9:23 to go in the second quarter on a 21-yard run, but Cheek countered on the ensuing drive.
England went 65 yards in 7 plays, with the senior quarterback finding D.J. Turner for a 17-yard touchdown. Robinson would get Episcopal within two by halftime when he sprinted 32 yards for a score, and it was all Wildcats from that point on.
Lee’s 1-yard touchdown capped a 14- play, 66- yard march to open the second half. After Robinson scored for the second time with his 7-yard run, Episcopal recovered an onsides kick. Lee would eventually score on a 3-yard run with 8:35 remaining to extend its lead to 33-14.
Cheek, who finished 13-of24 passing for 150 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions while carrying 21 times for 149 yards, had a 46-yard scoring run 19 seconds after Lee’s touchdown, but that would be all the Lions could manage for the remainder of the game.
“It’s a big win for us,” said Carter, who got 240 yards of offense from Lee and 140 yards receiving from Jack Harbour. “We didn’t want to over play the importance of this game, but just going back to last year and coming out of eight-man football. We didn’t know how the program was gonna be, but I felt like we were ready.
“To be sitting here 5-2, you couldn’t have told me that that’s where we’d be. Just where we are right now and moving forward, I couldn’t be more proud.”