Badgers tag Leopards in 4A-7 tussle

ARKADELPHIA — For the second consecutive year, the 4A-7 Conference championship was decided between Malvern and Arkadelphia on the final day of the regular season.

And for the second consecutive year, the Badgers walked away with the title.

Cade McBride accounted for six touchdowns, including four in the first half, as Arkadelphia controlled the fourth quarter to close out the Leopards 55-35 at Allcare Field.

The Badgers held Malvern (6-3, 4-1) to one touchdown in the second half and scored 20 unanswered points over the final 12:04 to beat the defending Class 4A state champions for the eighth time in their past nine meetings. The victory also ensured that the Ouachita River Rumble championship belt will stay in Clark County for at least another year.

“Man, this is such a big win for us,” Arkadelphia Coach Trey Schucker said. “For as good as our offense played, I thought it was our defense that stood out in that second half. Our defense has been our strong suit all year, and we knew it was going to be one of those bend but don’t break types of games, and that’s exactly what it was.

“I know it looked like we broke at times, but we knew that if we could clean up some of the things we were doing in the first half, then we’d have a chance. The coaches did a phenomenal job of making adjustments, and our players did a great job of taking those adjustments and applying them to the field.”

While Arkadelphia (6-3, 4-1) put the clamps on the Leopards after halftime, it was McBride who continued to break free.

The senior completed 14 of 22 passes for 219 yards with 3 touchdowns and carried 13 times for 154 yards and 3 more scores for the Badgers, who led 35-28 at the half after going back and forth with Malvern for the first 24 minutes of play.

Evan Bailey caught 4 passes for 98 yards and 3 touchdowns as well for Arkadelphia. That kind of production was needed from the Badgers, who did just enough late to finally slow down Malvern standout Jalen Dupree.

The 6-1, 217-pound running back, who became the school’s all-time leading rusher a week ago with a 333-yard outing against Nashville, carried 27 times for 231 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also completed two passes for 39 yards before exiting with less than 7 minutes to play.

Dupree did get the Leopards off and running on the game’s opening series. He ran 72 yards on the first play, then finished off the drive on the ensuing snap by powering in for a 2-yard touchdown run to give Malvern a 7-0 lead.

McBride answered 51 seconds later with a 60-yard scoring pass to Bailey to tie it until a 5-yard touchdown run from Dupree on the following possession put the Leopards back in front.

Bailey would haul in 8and 19-yard touchdowns while Dupree scored from 18 and 30 yards out all during the next 10 minutes of game time. McBride eventually tied the game at 28-28 with 2:02 remaining in the second quarter on a 1-yard run, but it was Brayden Wagner that sent Arkadelphia into halftime with a lead when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown.

The Leopards knotted the game at 35-35 on a 2-yard touchdown run by Dupree with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter. But it didn’t take long for McBride to counter.

He faked an inside handoff and raced 68 yards untouched on the Badgers’ resulting drive to give them the lead for good.

“He’s just a competitor, and to play quarterback for me, you’ve got to be,” Schucker said of McBride. “He’s not what we had last year in [Donovan Whitten], but Cade’s his own player. He’s come a long way, and it’s all because of how hard he works and the competitor nature that he has.

“That’s his strong suit, just being a competitor and that natural leader that he is.”

After forcing a Malvern punt, Kyle Reed extended Arkadelphia’s margin to 4835 with a 7-yard touchdown run with 8:47 left in the game. McBride would later shut the door on the Leopards with his 2-yard score three plays after the Badgers got a fourthdown stop deep inside their opponents’ territory.

“We’re going to enjoy this one for a little while because it means so much,” Schucker said. “This gives us homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. Having that week off to get healthy, we need that right now. That’ll allow us to get some guys back so winning it sets us up to make what he hope is a really good postseason run.”

“Man, this is such a big win for us. For as good as our offense played, I thought it was our defense that stood out in that second half. Our defense has been our strong suit all year, and we knew it was going to be one of those bend but don’t break types of games, and that’s exactly what it was.” Arkadelphia Coach Trey Schucker