Arkadelphia badgers rival as Oliver, defense lead way

ARKADELPHIA — The Arkadelphia Badgers, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A, won the outright 7-4A conference championship with a 42-10 victory over Malvern, the No. 5 team in Class 4A, on Friday night at Badger Stadium.

Arkadelphia (10-0, 7-0) needed a victory to earn the No. 1 seed from the 7-4A because Malvern (8-2, 6-1) also came into the game undefeated in conference.

But senior running back Kris Oliver and an Arkadelphia defense that held Malvern to 139 offensive yards, proved to be the difference.

Oliver rushed 16 times for 118 yards and 3 touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 81 yards to lead Arkadelphia to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, then Oliver helped the Badgers pull away from a 14-10 halftime lead with 28 second-half points.

“He is an unbelievable athlete and excellent football player, a great leader and he just played his heart out,” Arkadelphia Coach J.R. Eldridge said of Oliver. “I have nothing but great things to say about Kris.”

Arkadelphia scored on its first two possessions, on runs of 5 and 2 yards by Oliver, but was held scoreless the remainder of the first half as Malvern battled back despite being held to 77 offensive yards.

Malvern’s Jesus Torres made a 35-yard field goal to make it 14-3 with 3:43 left in the first quarter.

Malvern’s only touchdown came on a 49-yard interception return by Keidric Dickens with 6:49 left in the first half. Torres’ extra point made it 14-10.

Arkadelphia scored on four consecutive possessions beginning midway in the third quarter.

A 47-yard run by Oliver set up quarterback Jakahari Howell’s 10-yard touchdown run for a 21-10 lead after Jackson Ochello made the extra point. Ochello was 6 of 6 on extra points.

Oliver scored on an 11yard run as the third quarter ended to make it 28-10. Howell passed 21 yards to J Brooks Burnham with 9:44 left in the game and then 13 yards to Ty Kosters with 5:23 remaining to end the scoring.

Arkadelphia was slowed by two pass interceptions, a blocked punt and lost a fumble in the first half.

Malvern quarterback Trace Collie connected on 13 out of 25 attempts for 122 yards to account for nearly all of the Leopards’ offense.

Arkadelphia finished with 451 total yards, led by Oliver’s 199 total yards. Howell completed 13 out of 24 passes for 185 yards, 2 interceptions and threw the 2 touchdowns in the fourth period.