Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
CORNER LOCKDOWN
Tabut keys ball-hawking FS Northside secondary
Elijah Tabut’s face lit up when recapping the performance of the Forth Smith Northside defense immediately following the Grizzlies’ 30-17 win at Bentonville last week. Tabut was a main cog in helping Northside advance to Friday’s Class 7A semifinal. The Grizzlies’ secondary was almost flawless, but that’s not what Tabut was beaming about. Northside coaches played a lot of man coverage with its secondary, which allowed the defensive line to pin its ears back and attack the quarterback. The result was five sacks of the Bentonville quarterback. Playing man-to-man defense is a badge of honor for a defensive back. “We love to play man-toman coverage,” Tabut said. “We work on that every day, going against our receivers. We just go at it.” Tabut (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) said the Grizzlies’ secondary takes a lot of pride in being able to man-up with its corners. “We love that,” he said. “The fewer scores they make it gives our offense a better opportunity to score.” The Grizzlies (8-4) will need a similar effort Friday
against Bryant (9-2) and its high-powered offense. The Hornets have just two losses, but one of its nine wins still sticks in the craw of the Northside players. On Sept. 21 Bryant was awarded a victory against Northside after the game was halted due to lightning. The score was 16-7 with Bryant ahead when the game was stopped with just under a minute remaining in the first half. “We didn’t get to finish against Bryant, so we’re just juiced up and we want this competition,” Tabut said. “We didn’t even get to play a half, so all our players are fired up, and this is pretty much a redemption game.” Northside has won three straight games to climb back into state title contention. The last time Northside won a state championship was 1999. Heading into the final week of the regular season against crosstown rival Fort Smith Southside, the Grizzlies needed a win to secure the No. 4 playoff seed from the 7A-Central. Northside’s defense delivered with a 23-13 win, and the Grizzlies dominated Van Buren 35-0 to open the playoffs. They backed that up with a dominating performance again last week. “I think that game (Southside), it helped restore our confidence,” Tabut said. “Our defense has really stepped up since then.” Northside coach Mike Falleur said having players the caliber of Tabut and others on defense allows the Grizzlies to show a lot of different looks and employ various packages to keep the opposing team’s offense guessing. “Against Bentonville, we were able to use a goal-line package with a nickel backfield,” Falleur said. “Our defensive line knew they could do a lot of things because we knew our corners were going to handle their assignments.” Late in the game with Bentonville trying furiously to get back into the game, Tabut helped slam the door by going high in the air on the sideline near the Bentonville bench to break up a pass. Tabut is a two-year starter for the Grizzlies. Falleur said Tabut and other members of the Northside secondary benefited from playing with current University of Oklahoma defensive back Tré Norwood. “He played a ton with Tré,” Falleur said. “When Tré was at quarterback, Elijah was at corner. There is no doubt having Tré in front of him helped him figure out and see how to do things.” So far no colleges have made an offer to Tabut, but he’s hoping that will change as the Grizzlies keep moving along the road to Little Rock and a possible state title. “We’re working on that,” Falleur said. “Coaches are a little worried about his height, but they need to get over that. He can play. I know they want the 6-1, 6-2 guys, but this kid, he can play. Somebody at some point will pull the trigger, and when they do, they are going to get a good one.” The winner of Friday’s game will advance to the state championship game in Little Rock next week.