Week 10 Arkansas high school football notebook: Bryant makes statement with win over Conway (11/6/2023)

News and notes from around Arkansas prep football

CONWAY — When Buck James left Bryant to become the new coach at Conway on May 30, there was a feeling in some corners that the balance of power in the 7A-Central Conference and perhaps, Class 7A, was going to shift from Saline County to Faulkner County. 

James, who led the Hornets to the past five state championships, was taking over a program that had been to the semifinals the past three years, but had not defeated Bryant since 2014.

Friday night, in front of an announced crowd of 7,568, the largest to attend a football game at John McConnell Stadium, the Bryant Hornets (9-1, 7-0 7A Central) showed that while James might be gone, they are still the team to beat in 7A with a 52-33 victory to win their fifth consecutive 7A Central Conference championship over Conway (9-1, 6-1)

And while the game, which was the most anticipated game in the state from the moment James changed job, first-year Bryant coach Quad Sanders, who was a defensive coordinator on James’ staff, was proud his team could continue the school’s tradition of winning big games.

“First of all, it has nothing to do with Buck James. We weren’t playing Buck James. All we knew is we were playing the Conway Wampus Cats for the conference championship and the No. 1 seed and that’s what we kept it as,” said Sanders. “There was a lot of anticipation. This was the first meaningful win in my career. Not that this one means more than the last one, but this one was for a championship. We’ve got to keep first things first.”

For James, whose teams hadn’t lost a game since a 24-21 defeat at Longview, Texas on Sept. 17, 2021 and to an in-state team since a 34-28 loss to North Little Rock in the 2018 season, he got a first-hand look at the difference between both teams.

“They were better than us tonight,” James said. “They’re bigger than stronger than us. We have to learn to be better at what we’re doing.”

Bryant, which has made a habit of doing whatever it takes to win, showed its championship character, overcoming deficits of 14-0 and 20-7 by outscoring Conway 24-6 in the third quarter to win the game.

Jordan Walker had a 3-yard touchdown run and threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Karson Ratliff and James Martin rushed 63 yards for a touchdown to lead 38-26.

Conway closed to 38-33 on a 10-yard run by Donovyn Omolo with 6:40 left in the game, but a 22-yard touchdown pass from Walker to Mytorian Singleton and a 14-yard run by Martin put the game out of reach.

For Conway, the story of the game was missed opportunities. Facing fourth and goal on the Bryant 1 in the second quarter with a 14-0 lead, Omolo was flushed from the pocket and was intercepted by Harold Lynch in the end zone, who returned the ball to the 13-yard line. Seven plays later, Walker thew 40 yards to Ratliff to make it 14-7.

After a 28-yard touchdown pass from Omolo to Cris O’Neal with 5:12 left in the third quarter, Omolo completed a pass for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 28, but in illegal-formation penalty nullified it and one play later, Omolo thew incomplete, allowing Bryant to keep a 28-26 lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, three pass-interference penalties on Bryant gave Conway the ball at the Bryant 5, but five incompletions by Omolo kept the Wampus Cats off the scoreboard.

"Your tell me,” said James about his team’s offensive struggles in the second half. “We had guys there. We moved the ball. We just didn’t score enough points.”

While Bryant goes into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed with home field advantage in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Conway is the No. 2 seed and has a potential road trip to 7A-West champion Fayetteville in the semifinals.

“We have to go back to the drawing board," James said. "We can compete with those guys. We have to do a better job at what we’re doing.”

--Jeff Halpern

Hoxie claims third conference title in past four seasons in perfect fashion

The Mustangs trailed by a point going into halftime, but woke up, reeling off 28 points in the second half to take down Walnut Ridge 41-20 and finish the regular season unblemished.

Hoxie (10-0, 5-0) won 33 games from 2019-21, but dropped off some last year as they finished with seven wins and were upset by Quitman in the first round of the playoffs. Senior three-year starter Kayden Glenn, as well as classmate Camden Brooks, have led the impressive run as the main cogs in the machine for a potent Mustangs offense that averages 38 points per contest, while the defense has allowed just a shade over 10.

Postseason play for the Mustangs kicks off Friday against Melbourne, the No. 5 seed from the 3A-2.

--Kyle Sutherland 

Farmington shrugs off adversity to win 5A-West Conference championship

The season looked somewhat bleak for the Farmington football team in the season opener against Greenbrier in late August, when all-state senior quarterback Cameron Van Zant went down with a season-ending injury.

The Cardinals (7-3, 6-1) then suffered a pair of losses to 7A schools, Springdale and Rogers, to fall to 1-2.

By then, Farmington was being guided by sophomore Ayden Lester, who had moved over from safety to play quarterback for the remainder of the season. Now, all Lester has done is lead the Cardinals to a 5A-West Conference championship.

Farmington came from behind in the fourth quarter Friday night to defeat rival Prairie Grove, 41-30, thus securing its first conference crown since head coach J.R. Eldridge took over the reins three years ago.

“I felt like our coaches came in and did a great job every day creating great gameplans and adapting to what we have, and then it was just motivating our players,” Eldridge said. “I felt like our players did a great job responding to some adversity. We slipped up against Alma, but they just did a great job of fighting back every week. They just tried to find a way to win.

“That says a lot about our coaching staff and it says a lot about our players, all the way down from our seniors to our sophomores, because we have had a lot of sophomores that have stepped up and made plays for us.”

Other than a 56-35 loss to Alma in September, the Cardinals ran the conference, which included a 29-28 win over defending state-championship runner-up Shiloh Christian three weeks ago.

Eldridge likened the season to his 2018 season as the coach at Arkadelphia, when the Badgers started 0-5, only to come back and win the 4A state championship.

“This is a lot like that, as far as all the adversity with so many injuries,” he said. “We started three different Mike linebackers this year, we started five different safeties, and our sophomore quarterback had to come in for a really good senior quarterback. It was just a lot of stuff, but these guys just keep showing up, and working together has been huge for us.

“Ayden is just a really, really positive guy – he’s calm, cool and collected. So, our players have followed that lead. We were down the majority of this game (against Prairie Grove) but our guys just stayed calm and kept fighting it out.”

Lester was all smiles after the win over Prairie Grove, basking in what he was a part of.

“This feels amazing,” he said. “This is what we worked for all summer, all year. With the ups and downs we had all year, starting 1-2, then coming back to win the conference.

“Coach (Georgeio) Milam and the other coaches have really helped me out a ton, and the seniors have been a huge help. I have some great play-makers around me so it’s pretty easy.”

--Steve Andrews 

Murfreesboro slams door on Mineral Springs in OT for outright undisputed 2A-3 title

As Murfreesboro head coach Brad Chesshir led his team out onto the field following halftime of a 0-0 ball game, he uttered out, “These are the two best defenses in 2A.”

It would be hard to refute it at this point, but Chesshir’s unit was the one that stood tall in the end on fourth and one as Murfreesboro (10-0, 6-0) capped off an undefeated season as well as an outright 2A-3 championship, the program’s first since 2009, with a 12-6 overtime victory over Mineral Springs (9-1, 5-1) before a standing-room only packed house at Rattler Stadium Thursday night.

There were an estimated 2,300-2,500 in attendance at Rattler Stadium per The Nashville-News Leader. (Photo credit: South Pike County School District)

A touchdown pass on third down from Laytan Wilcher to Cash Lowery put the Rattlers ahead 12-6 on the opening drive of overtime before the defense delivered the final blow.

“This was a game fought between two really good football teams and I am just glad we came out on top,” Chesshir said. “I have been saying for a couple of weeks that it was going to come down to Mineral’s defense and our defense, which is what happened tonight.

“It was neat for all of these fans to see, in my opinion, the best two defenses in 2A football. Credit to their defense, they played extremely hard, but our guys played a little bit harder tonight.”

In all, there were 10 total turnovers - including six in the second half - as Mineral Springs coughed it up six times to Murfreesboro’s four.

Following a scoreless first half, a fumble recovery by Brandt Stevens at the Mineral 42 quickly led to an 11-yard scamper by Lathan Compton to put the first points on the board with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter, but a failed two-point conversion kept it at 6-0.

Mineral Springs answered immediately as Malik Matthews returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt was successful, however the Hornets were hit with both holding and unsportsmanlike penalties, which put the ball at the 43-yard line. Hornets quarterback Evan Erwin scrambled around for his life and somehow found Javeon Fricks wide open in the end zone.

There was only one problem. Erwin had already crossed the line of scrimmage when he threw the football. Another penalty put the ball around midfield and the attempt was unsuccessful.

“It was a first for me (seeing a PAT attempt that long) and to be honest with you I think our kids were a little confused on how to defend that long of an extra point,” Chesshir said.

Offensively, Murfreesboro totaled 200 yards of offense, most of that by Stevens on the ground who finished with 99 yards on 20 carries.

There were plenty of missed opportunities for Mineral Springs, but head coach Jason Hathcock singled out not getting enough going on the offensive side.

“It really came down to who could execute on offense and not turn the ball over,” Hathcock said. “There were a whole lot of penalties, things we have to get cleaned up, but proud of the defense the way that we played. That is just the way it works out, so we have to go get ready and play out the draw we get in the playoffs.”

The Rattlers clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs and will square off against Johnson County Westside, the No. 4 seed out of the 2A-1. While Chesshir mentioned they are “just getting started,” he acknowledged the progress of his program as well as the town support.

“We are not where we want to be yet, obviously, but we still have bigger goals in sight,” Chesshir said. “I am happy for our community, the crowd we had tonight was the biggest that I have ever seen here.”

--Kyle Sutherland 

Photo by Jimmy Jones