Shiloh Christian ‘D’ pummels Ashdown
SPRINGDALE — Eli Wisdom stood behind the Shiloh Christian offensive line and looked up the field. A long way up the field.
Leading just 14-0 early in the third quarter of their second-round Class 4A playoff game, the No. 1 Saints’ offense had been held in check by upset-minded Ashdown to that point.
Twenty plays and seven minutes later, Shiloh Christian was celebrating in the end zone after a 99-yard drive that punctuated the Saints’ 21-0 win in Champions Stadium. The win moves Shiloh Christian on to next week’s quarterfinals and a rematch against Rivercrest on the road. The Saints blitzed Rivercrest 5820 in that game.
“We needed it,” said Shiloh Christian Coach Jeff Conaway of the methodical length-ofthe-field drive. “It was huge. We held them, they punted it and got a great roll and put the ball on the one. I felt like that was the moment our offense knew we needed to go score the most. We put together a consecutive drive where we didn’t make as many mistakes as we had been earlier and ran the ball well. That was a huge score for us.”
The Saints (11-1) got some breathing room on the second play of the drive when quarterback Eli Wisdom, who ran for 123 yards, picked up 11 to move the chains. From there, the Saints just hammered away at the Ashdown defense with Wisdom and Ben Baker, who had a 21-yard run in the drive. From the 10, the Saints used Kaden Henley three straight times to pound into the defense, the final a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down that made it 21-0 with 3 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third quarter.
Shiloh Christian was able to hold Arkansas commit Shamar Easter in check most of the night. Easter finished with 4 catches for 25 yards before going to the sideline with an injury at the end of the third quarter.
The Saints’ defense was dominant from the start when they dropped Ashdown quarterback Alex Keilbach for an 8-yard loss on the Panthers’ first play. By the time the game ended, Ashdown (9-3) had just 10 yards rushing on 24 carries, with 15 of that coming on the opening play of the third quarter.
“I feel like our defense was aligned and assigned all night,” said Conaway. “They played extremely well. Ashdown has some dangerous weapons both in the run and the pass. We contained them well. Our defense played one of its best games of the season. It was awesome to see.”
Shiloh Christian junior defensive tackle Thomas Reece credited defensive coordinator Jacob Gill with a game plan that worked to perfection.
“Coming into the game we know they are moving from Wing-T to a spread, so we wanted to get bodies in the box to be able to drop and play coverage and that’s all Coach Gill and his staff and what they drew up,” said Reece. “They did a great job this week of getting us ready in practice.”
Conaway said his team played sloppy in the first half, evidenced by 7 penalties for 64 yards in the opening 24 minutes. But the Saints still managed a pair of first-half touchdowns to grab a 14-0 halftime lead.
Shiloh Christian’s first touchdown came after a Jacob Solomon interception at the Saints’ 14 in the first quarter. That led to an 86-yard, 8-play drive. Wisdom hit Baker on a 13-yard swing pass and then hit Cooper Hutchinson on an 11-yard pass for the score with 4:31 left in the opening quarter and a 7-0 lead.
The Saints did not score again until just 9 seconds remained in the first half, driving 58 yards after a short Ashdown punt. Wisdom and Baker did most of the damage on the ground with Wisdom racing in from the 4 on fourth down to make it 14-0.
Ashdown had just one scoring threat in the game, moving from it own 10 to inside the Shiloh Christian 10. Keilbach hit Kaiden Winfrey for 25 yards, then fired a dart to Cardell Robinson for 53 yards down the middle of the field. But on fourth down and goal from the 6, Henley made a leaping interception of a Keilbach pass in the end zone to preserve the shutout with just over five minutes left.