Too little, too late
Wildcats hold off comeback try, win title
Through one quarter, Harding Academy looked like it was playing any other game it has this season. The Wildcats jumped out to a 20-0 lead after three touchdown passes by quarterback Owen Miller and two turnovers forced by linebacker Wyatt Simmons.
Fast forward nearly three quarters and Harding Academy was hanging on to its early lead by a thread as Rivercrest looked to finish off its second-half comeback attempt.
But Harding Academy held on by tackling running back Koby Turner far from the goal line and won the Class 4A state championship Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“[Rivercrest] did a really good job,” Harding Academy Coach Neil Evans said. “We did not play what we would consider our best game, and I think some of that has to do with them.”
In the second quarter, Harding Academy (15-0) added to its lead after Turner scored to get Rivercrest (12-3) on the scoreboard. Miller hit Kyler Hoover for a 61-yard pass that he juggled into possession, and Trenton Hall punched in a 1-yard run. Turner scored again just before the break to make it 33-13 at halftime.
Out of the break, it looked like more of the same; Miller broke free for a 27-yard touchdown run to make it 40-13.
But that’s when the tide, and the wind, began to turn.
With the wind at its front, Harding Academy’s offense began to struggle. Evans said Miller got “The yips” when a handful of his throws missed the mark and got the Wildcats’ offense out of sync.
“That really kind of put the clamps on us, kind of messed with what we wanted to be able to do,” Evans said.
In the meantime, Turner broke a 57-yard touchdown run and passed to Marcus Slayton for a 6-yard touchdown to make it 43-28 after a Harding Academy field goal from Griffin Thomas.
Turner finished with 287 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Fellow running back Jayden Young added 112 all-purpose yards.
Slayton took a reverse handoff 4 yards early in the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game, 43-35.
On Harding Academy’s next two drives, it settled for field goals. The first was blocked. The second missed wide right to keep the score the same.
The Wildcats were held to 229 yards of offense and 10 points in the second half as the Colts made their comeback attempt.
“Our defense played lights out in the second half,” Rivercrest Coach Johnny Fleming said. “We just didn’t do it that first half, and it bit us.”
Rivercrest got the ball back with 1:01 remaining and no timeouts. The Colts drove 37 yards on seven plays but fell 47 yards short of the end zone.
“Our kids battled back, got back to a one-score game with the ball,” Fleming said. “We just couldn’t convert on that. You’re talking about a really good team right there. Any other team might have given up when they got down that much, but our kids weren’t going to give up.”
Miller was named the game’s most valuable player with 362 yards passing, 36 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jack Citty led Harding Academy with 169 receiving on 10 catches, including the two first-quarter touchdown receptions. Hoover finished with 102 receiving.
Harding Academy had to sweat it out, but it clinched its ninth state championship in program history — second overall in the modern playoff era.
“It was unreal,” Simmons said. “We win a lot of games by a whole lot, and this was not one of those games. It was a battle all the way, and those are always special. Those create a different kind of bond with the guys around you, you got to go out there and lay it on the line every single play for them.
“It’s one of the most special things in the world.”