PA ends season with L1 streak
Pulaski Academy loses a football game with greater frequency than Halley’s Comet appears, though so raraely that the surprise factor is great.
In the wake of Little Rock Christian’s 52-38 conquest of Pulaski Academy in Sunday’s Class 5A final at War Memorial Stadium, one foresaw end-ofthe-world headlines in the next day’s edition. From physical to political fronts, one could imagine “Sun rises in west; water runs uphill” and “Trump invites Hillary Clinton, Pelosi to White House brunch.”
Nothing that extreme happened, of course, on the first Monday of December. And as athletes in all sports have heard since they began keeping score, the sun really did rise the next day on winners and losers alike.
Still, to see an L1 beside the name of Pulaski Academy’s football team is rare. Especially in the final month of the year, which has come to be an especially blessed time for the Bruins’ program.
Not many years ago, PA’s Kevin Kelley was named national high school coach of the year by USA Today after a perfect season. Kelley’s Bruins play in such unorthodox fashion that PA is that rare Arkansas team with a statewide following — about equally divided, I’d say, between people wanting the Bruins to win or lose.
Most in-state teams want nothing to do with the Bruins, who run a spread offense and tempt the football gods with repeated onside kicks and fourthdown gambles — the latter regardless of down, distance or field position.
The Camelot of Arkansas football, PA sought its fifth consecutive state title in a 5A-Central rematch with Little Rock Christian, thus representing an Arkansas record in the playoff era. Instead, the Bruins endured their first loss to an Arkansas team since the 2013 postseason against Morrilton, their only other defeats since then coming to teams from Salt Lake City and Bossier City, La.
The 52-38 score marked a 56-point reversal from the teams’ first meeting Sept. 28, which Little Rock Christian’s star player missed because of a hamstring injury. The Warriors’ main man has good athletic bloodlines with Fitzgerald Hill, his father, a longtime Arkansas sports luminary at the University of Arkansas and Ouachita Baptist University among others.
Fitz’s son plays more than one sport well, as evidenced by his signing with UA on a basketball scholarship. Until he does something on the collegiate front, young Mr. Hill will be remembered as the winning pitcher (in football terms) against PA in the biggest shocker of the 2018 Arkansas season.
One would not have been surprised to see a headline Monday screaming “LRC, Justice prevail” in referencing the performance by young Mr. Hill and the Warriors. It would be unfair to PA’s mighty program, however, to suggest that the headline read “Justice done.”
Only Little Rock Christian’s position as a private school, like PA, keeps this from being one of the most-cheered outcomes in many Arkansas seasons. PA’s many detractors, especially those in public schools, cite the school’s recruiting advantages and upbraid the Bruins for winning with a chip on their shoulder.
Kelley also comes under fire for taking no prisoners with his high-octane offense, the Bruins’ 75-54 semifinal victory over Harrison offering Exhibit A of PA’s willingness to turn every game into a shootout at OK Corral.
Permit us to take a contrarian’s point of view. Kelley’s teams, if anything, represent a breath of fresh air when compared to a lot of football played
in Arkansas high schools. No one wants to talk about it, but based on my observations, the sport is so watered down at some schools as to become unwatchable. Not that the Arkansas Activities Association minds crowning seven state champions per football season.
Dismounting that soapbox, let us note that Little Rock Christian scored the second upset of Championship Weekend. In two other conference rematches, Bryant toppled defending champion North Little Rock in 7A while Greenwood, trouncing Benton, kept the 6A crown. This week, it’s defending champion Arkadelphia vs. Joe T. Robinson in 4A, Booneville vs. Osceola in 3A and Hazen vs. Junction City in 2A.
It was not known until Monday that the 5A game represented a win-win position for this correspondent. Like myself, PA’s Kelley is a Glenwood High School graduate and LRC coach Eric Cohu received a degree from Harding University. With fellow Harding grad Rick Jones coaching Greenwood to another title, it was a great weekend for Bison alums to cry “Alma mater, hail.”