Badgers rout Trojans after big 1st quarter
ARKADELPHIA — Starting an hour and a half after its scheduled kickoff time due to thunderstorms, Arkadelphia’s game against Hot Springs Friday night was essentially over after the first 12 minutes as the Badgers cruised to a 44-14 win at Badger Stadium.
Arkadelphia (2-0) scored the first 22 points of the game in the opening 7:30 as Hot Springs (0-1) could not find an early answer for the Badger offense.
After a 29-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Buster Thomas to Kyler Phifer deep in the end zone just 2:23 into the game set the tone, the Trojans faced their first major error as they muffed their first kick return, recovering it at the 1 yard line. The ensuing play saw the offense trapped in the end zone as the Badgers made it 9-0 with the safety.
“I think that was huge for us to get that safety because for one it was really early in the game, and it kind of helped us jump up quick on them,” said Arkadelphia first-year head coach Trey Schucker. “It really played a major factor in our momentum early in the game. We were able to lean on that momentum throughout the entire first quarter, so I think it was a huge situation for us.”
Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett said that there were many things that led to the safety and the Trojans’ eventual loss.
“It was a big play — fumble on kickoff return,” he said. “Instead of getting it going north and south, went lateral. Just a young mistake, but we can correct that. Misalignment on the formation led to the safety, so just a whole collection of bad things you can’t do versus a team that knows how to win. Just like we talked about earlier. They know how to win, so they did everything they could do to win. We did everything we could do to take an L. And that starts on me and trickles all the way down to the bottom, so we didn’t do good.”
The Badgers had just 43 yards to go after Anthony Island’s kickoff from the 20, and Jaishon Davis picked up his first score of the night on a 9-yard run at the 7:26 mark. Davis struck again with 4:30 left in the period, this time on a 23-yard run, for the 22-0 lead.
Hot Springs, which had run just six offensive plays before punting the ball away, finally had fortune smile on it. Davis fumbled the ball on the Badgers’ first play following the punt, and Devin Johnson recovered the ball at the 2. Newcomer Kaimani
Gray ran the ball in on the next play for the Trojans’ first score of the night, running the ball in on the conversion to pull within
22-8.
Arkadelphia made it a 30-8 lead by the end of the quarter, taking a 37-8 lead into halftime. The Badgers pushed out to a
44-8 lead to enact the mercy rule in the third before Hot Springs scored at the end of the quarter, setting the final.
Davis had 17 carries for 174 yards and four touchdowns on the night to lead the Badgers. Thomas was 8-for-14 passing for
117 yards and one touchdown, Phifer had two receptions for
37 yards and a score, Braylon Bailey had eight carries for 81 yards and two receptions for 44.
Bigelow 48, Cutter Morning Star 14
Cutter Morning Star could not get its offense going, scoring both of its touchdowns on kickoff returns as Bigelow routed the Eagles at Eagle Field.
“We didn’t bring our best effort mentally or physically,” said first year head coach Matt Kinsinger. “That’s not to take anything away from Bigelow. They were more physical than than I thought they were. I’m not familiar with them. It was my first experience with them, but I felt they were pretty well coached. They were physical, and that’s where they really seemed to take over the game was at the line. They made it difficult for us to truly move the ball. We didn’t help ourselves by making mental errors, and it just kind of seemed like we weren’t focused and we weren’t prepared for a battle.”
A week after rushing 239 yards and four touchdowns, senior Keshawn Blevins was limited to just 23 yards on 13 carries Friday night. Blevins and classmate Kaden Prather scored the Eagles’ touchdowns.
“We did well on kickoff return,” Kinsinger said. “That’s probably the only bright spot about the night is on kickoff return. We had to two returns for touchdowns.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Bigelow (2-0) took an early 7-0 lead before Prather ran the kickoff back 70 yards, as the Eagles took an 8-7 lead after a successful conversion.
Bigelow put up 16 more points to take a 23-8 lead into the break, making it 30-8 early in the second half before Blevins had a return of 81 yards to cut the spread to 30-14 after a failed conversion play.
The Panthers added two more scores in the third and one in the fourth to set the final.
Lakeside 35, Sheridan 7
SHERIDAN — Will Ross completed 21 of 26 passes for 186 yards and 4 touchdowns as Lakeside (1-1) defeated Sheridan (0-2).
Ross threw scoring passes of 4, 9, 5 and 9 yards, all to Logan White. White finished with
8 receptions for 59 yards. The Rams led 14-0 at halftime and 28-7 at the end of the third quarter.
Lakeside outgained Sheridan 303-218 and forced three turnovers.
Konner Canterbury threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Edwards for the Yellowjackets’ only score.
Canterbury accounted for 155 yards offensively, including 81 passing.
Malvern 33, Glen Rose 27
MALVERN — Three different Malvern backs reached the end zone as the Leopards (1-0) defeated Glen Rose (0-1).
Jacoby Hart scored first on a 12-yard run in the first quarter. Cedric Simmons added a
7-yard scoring run in the second, while Malique Reliford broke loose for a 75-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter.
Simmons also threw a 14yard touchdown pass to Bud Johnson in the final quarter for the Leopards.