Cobras, Badgers get rematch in Class 4A playoffs
FOUNTAIN LAKE — One of the oldest sayings in football is that it’s hard to beat the same team twice in one season.
Fountain Lake is tasked with the challenge tonight against conference rival Arkadelphia in a second-round Class 4A playoff game at 7 p.m. on Allen Tillery Field at Beckham Memorial Stadium.
“It’s hard,” said Fountain Lake coach Tommy Gilleran, obviously knowing the axiom. “They know us and we know them, and they’re playing a little better now. We have to continue to play better, too, and match what they’re trying to do. I know they’re going to be excited and fired up, too, because they know this could be it for both of us. It’s win or go home.”
Both teams won first-round games with surprising ease, Fountain Lake (8-3) drubbing Pine Bluff Dollarway 42-6 at home behind a blazing start and with a mercy-rule finish.
“Both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, we played really well,” Gilleran said. “We gave one play defensively that was a mistake on one of our kid’s part of recognizing that he was not the punter. And we’re yelling on the sideline and probably should’ve called timeout, I think, and readjusted. We didn’t and they took advantage of that. Offensively, they never really stopped us. We just kind of did what we needed to do and continued to work.”
Arkadelphia (6-5), 4A-7’s fourth seed and matching Fountain Lake’s three-game winning streak, rolled 51-19 at 4A-2 second seed Helena-West Helena. The Badgers allowed just one offensive touchdown, putting the mercy rule in effect with a 48-13 lead at the 10:33 mark of the final period.
Fountain Lake cruised past Arkadelphia 35-13 Oct. 9 on All-
Care Field at Badger Stadium. It was 28-0 in the fourth quarter but might have gone differently, Badger coach J.R. Eldridge said, if not for two Arkadelphia fumbles deep in Cobra territory.
“We know each other well,” Eldridge said. “But every game is a new entity into itself. We can’t look back at what happened six weeks ago.”
Arkadelphia won 48-42 in double overtime at Fountain Lake in the 2014 regular season, the Cobras’ first in 4A since 2007.
The Dollarway game marked the first postseason win for Fountain Lake’s seniors, the Cobras losing to Earle in the first round of the 2013 Class 3A playoffs after making five consecutive semifinal appearances — winning the 2009 title.
“They talked about winning it,” said Gilleran of his seniors, who start nearly every position. “They said, ‘Heck, we haven’t won one and haven’t been there.’ I was talking to these kids and none of them have played during Thanksgiving week. Three years ago, we were playing into December five years in a row. We talked about the importance of playing after Thanksgiving and even farther.”
Fountain Lake held Arkadelphia senior quarterback Jeff Blake to one of his worst performances of the season. Blake suffered a high ankle sprain in the Badgers’ 20-13 loss to Ashdown Week 8 but showed 100-percent capability against Helena-West Helena, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing to Cutter Jester for another.
“The big thing is not letting him run,” Gilleran said. “He’s a good runner, and we have to make sure he doesn’t take off and have some big runs against us. I think they want to run it more than throw it, so we have to keep him from running it and make him throw it, and when he does throw it, we have to break on the ball and make it harder to throw it. Close out the lanes and make it a little bit foggy for him to throw.”
Running the hurry-up, no-huddle offense since they won backto-back league titles in 2012 and ‘13 and made the last two quarterfinals, the Badgers have multiple rushing options in Blake, Jathan Bowens, Tajhan Mckenzie and Hot Springs transfer Nathan Jones.
Arkadelphia’s defense got in on last week’s scoring when linebacker Danny Jo Spradlin scooped an errant lateral and went 15 yards for a touchdown. Fountain Lake counters with a rushing attack that’s operated a high level the past three weeks. Parker Ross and Chance Wilson combined for 164 yards and three TDs against Dollarway, Ross carrying 15 times for 144 yards and two scores and Wilson 11 for 120 yards and one touchdown..
Ross, the reigning Garland County offensive player of the year, is up to 174 carries for 1,490 yards and 26 touchdowns on the season, needing 75 yards to reach 4,000 for his career. He wants his career to extend for at least one more November Friday.