Goff rolls in title game, cements legacy
Dax Goff was an all-time Booneville great no matter the outcome of the Class 3A state championship game Saturday.
His performance in the Bearcats’ 25-22 win over the Prescott Curly Wolves at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock only cemented what was a nearly untouchable legacy.
Goff was named the game’s most valuable player after rushing for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He fell 38 yards short of the title game record of 291 yards by Malvern’s Jalen Dupree last season.
“He’s just so special,” Booneville Coach Doc Crowley said of Goff. “It’s his last game with us; we don’t get to watch him do it anymore. But the legacy and the things that he’s left behind at this program will live on for a long time.”
Goff got things started for Booneville (13-2) like he often does in the first quarter with a 31-yard touchdown run that started with a spin through contact.
“Churn my feet, hope they let go, and then I scored,” Goff said. “It worked out.”
On the first play of the second quarter, Goff bounced a run outside and scored from 13 yards out to double the Bearcats’ lead.
Goff and the Booneville offensive line burned clock and methodically moved up and down the field against the Prescott defense. The Bearcats rushed for 359 yards and four touchdowns in the game. They attempted just two passes, both incomplete.
“It’s the hard work [the offensive line] put in, it’s the dedication,” Goff said. “I just pick a hole and try to run fast. They just do an amazing job every game.”
Booneville held the ball for 31:32 to Prescott’s 16:28.
“It’s difficult,” Prescott Coach Brian Glass said. “You got to have a defense that will do the same thing over and over and over again.”
After the halftime break, Prescott found some offensive success and scored with 8:05 remaining in the quarter to make it 18-15.
Three plays later, Goff broke free down the right sideline for 73 yards to push the lead back to 10 points.
“That was everything,” Crowley said. “I think that was the play of the game. That changed the whole course of the game. And for him to break out of there at that time, kept waiting for him to do it and he picked a good time to do it.”
With Saturday’s performance, Goff finished the season with 2,699 yards on 266 carries with 41 offensive touchdowns (39 rushing, 2 receiving).
Goff’s 2,699 rushing yards broke the program’s single-season record. His 5,961 career rushing yards shattered the previous program record of just over 4,000. Goff sits inside the top 15 in state history for rushing yards, just shy of the 10 players to reach 6,000 yards.
Before the championship game, Booneville players wrote the final score of last season’s 3A title game — their 41-12 loss to Charleston — on a whiteboard near the locker room door as a reminder of what happened the last time they traveled to Little Rock.
With just over a minute remaining, Goff barreled forward and extended his arms to pick up a first down for Booneville.
With those last yards, Goff secured the one thing he’d yet to add to his legacy: a state championship trophy.
“When we walked out, we saw it, so it was just in the back of our mind,” Goff said of the whiteboard’s reminder. “We don’t take that as something to hold us back, we take that as motivation to push us forward. And I think that pushes us forward a lot in this game.”