Senior throwdown
Wynne has no answer for Hefley, Rickenbach
Pulaski Academy sacked any hopes Wynne had Saturday night of winning the Class 5A state championship.
Quarterback Will Hefley threw for almost 500 yards and Pulaski Academy’s defense sacked Wynne quarterback Ross trail 12 times as the Bruins earned their fourth state title with a 38-28 victory over the Yellowjackets at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Pulaski Academy (13-1) won its first state championship since 2011, when it beat Malvern for the Class 4A title. Its other state titles came in 2003 and 2008.
Hefley, a senior, completed 36 of 56 passes for 486 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions as the Bruins compiled 551 yards of total offense. He is the fourth quarterback to lead Pulaski Academy to a state championship, joining Adam Thrash (2003), Spencer Keith (2008) and Fredi Knighten (2011).
“It’s surreal,” Hefley said. “I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid, to come up here and win a state championship. I finally did.”
Hefley, who has orally committed to the University of Tulsa, threw three of his touchdown passes to junior Zack Kelley and the other to senior Will Hastings.
“Our offense was clicking the whole night,” said Hefley, who threw for 4,860 yards and 62 touchdowns this season. “Our receivers did a great job of getting open against a great defensive coverage.”
Hastings caught 14 passes for 234 yards, and finished the season with 2,036 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns. Kelley, Coach Kevin Kelley’s son, had 165 receiving yards on 11 catches Saturday.
“Both of them have meant so much for the program,” Kevin Kelley said. “They find a way to win and get things done.”
Pulaski Academy’s defense was just as impressive. It harassed Trail all night and forced Wynne into three turnovers as the Bruins came up with two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
“Our defense is underrated,” Kevin Kelley said. “People look at our offense and the crazy way we play football. Our coaches do a great job of scheming.”
Senior linebacker Reed Rickenbach had seven sacks and finished with a team-high 14 tackles.
“We had certain lineups for everything they had,” Rickenbach said. “We had everything memorized.”
Trail, a University of Cincinnati oral commitment, completed 22 of 31 passes for 253 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions for Wynne (12-2), the No. 2 seed from the 5A-East. He left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.
Senior wide receiver Zach Morris caught two of Trail’s three touchdown passes. He finished with eight receptions for 76 yards, while sophomore Devontai Pounds had a team-high 10 catches for 124 yards and 1 touchdown.
The game was tied at 14-14 early in the second quarter when Hefley was intercepted by Morris at the Wynne 2. Morris returned it 98 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back because of an illegal block. Wynne then received a sideline interference penalty that moved the ball back to its 12, and the Yellowjackets went three and out and were forced to punt.
“It was a huge momentum swing,” Wynne Coach Chris Hill said. “In a game like this against a great football team, you’ve got to make plays. You can’t make mistakes.” It was all Pulaski Academy after that. Hefley found Zack Kelley for a 35yard touchdown pass to give the Bruins a 21-14 lead with 5:09 left in the first half. Then Kelley caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from Hefley with 1:04 left in the quarter as Pulaski Academy took a 28-14 lead into halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Hastings kicked a 23-yard field goal to extend the Bruins’ lead to 31-14 with 10:57 left in the fourth quarter. Pulaski Academy made it 38-14 with 8:48 left on Hefley’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Kelley.
Wynne cut the lead to 38-28 in a span of 5:02 on Trail’s 1-yard touchdown run and Pounds’ 13-yard touchdown catch, but the Yellowjackets’ comeback attempt ended with Pounds’ fumble, which was recovered by Pulaski Academy’s Justin Charette.
The championship game appearance was a first for Pulaski Academy’s senior class, and Kevin Kelley said he was delighted to see them go out as state champions.
“I’m hard on them, but I love them,” Kelley said. “You want to see the people you love be happy. It’s as good a feeling as you can have.”