Arkansas high school football Class 2A final: Bigelow makes most of possessions in win over EPC

This is the first state football championship in school history for the Panthers

LITTLE ROCK — Bigelow didn’t have the ball much, but when the Panthers did, they made sure it counted in a 28-14 victory over East Poinsett County in the Class 2A state championship Friday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.

The Panthers held the ball for 18:53 to East Poinsett County’s 26:47 but managed to score twice early on. The Panthers also had 48 plays while East Poinsett County snapped it 69 times.

Bigelow accepts the Classa 2A state championship trophy. (Photo by Jeff Halpern)

Senior quarterback Rhett Neumeier threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Hobbs at the 9:41 mark of the first quarter. Neumeier added a 55-yard touchdown pass to Easton Platt at the 4:05 mark of the first quarter to make it 13-0.

After East Poinsett County closed out the first half with a 26-yard pass from Cooper Argo to Dennis Gaines to close to 13-8, Bigelow answered to start the second half with a 22-yard pass from Neumeier to Brandt Tipton to make it 20-8.

East Poinsett County closed to 20-14 on a 29-yard pass from Argo to Omar McCuiston before Bigelow sealed the game on a 4-yard run by Carter Alexander with 3:07 left.

3 Takeaways 

1

 Coming into the game, East Poinsett County running back Dennis Gaines had rushed for 1,832 yards on 258 carries with 30 touchdowns. As a junior, the Central Arkansas commitment had 3,232 yards and 44 touchdowns. In the state championship game, he was held to 48 yards on 19 carries.

East Poinsett County head coach Dennis Powell said Bigelow did a great job of stacking the line of scrimmage and not allowing Gaines to get loose. Bigelow head coach Luke Starks said his goal was to win the line of scrimmage and allow his linebackers to be free to run to the ball and make tackles.

“First off, he’s an outstanding talent at running back. We had our hands full going in,” said Starks.

Despite the fact, Gaines didn’t finish the season with a a big game and state championship, Powell was proud of Gaines’ career.

“He’s been amazing,” said Powell. “He’s been a workhorse. He’s carried the ball a ton. Today is no different. He had to get tough yards. He had to go out and grind out the tough yards and never complained about it.”

2

Neumeier was named most valuable player after completing 12-of-21 passes for 194 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also kicked two extra points.

“Rhett did a great job,” said Starks. “He’s had a great three weeks and was hoping to keep it going. I think he did a great job. The receivers did a great job getting separation, allowing him to get the balls into tight spots.”

Brandt Tipton caught 6 passes for 35 yards and 1 touchdown. Platt and Hobbs both had one catch, but those catches went for touchdowns.

“The guys worked their butts off this week,” Neumeier said. “The offensive line gave me time and the receivers made plays on the ball.”

While Bigelow’s offense was built around getting big plays, Neumeier and Starks said East Poinsett County liked to play a lot of man-to-man coverage in the secondary and if their receivers could get free, the big plays were going to happen.

And while Bigelow lost the time of possession battle, Starks said he has no problem with that as long as the Panthers are getting the big plays.

Powell said his team likes to gamble defensively and not give up the big plays. However, East Poinsett County’s gambling style of defense wasn’t able to get the turnovers or big stops when it needed them.

3

 A turning point in the game came with 5:50 left in the third quarter when Argo completed a pass to Tyrus Reel, who was hit by Martell Macon, jarring the ball loose and Jayden Dunlap recovered giving Bigelow the ball at its 37. While the Panthers didn’t score on its possession, the turnover was critical because it allowed Bigelow to run four minutes off the clock.

East Poinsett County had scored on its last possession of the first half and Bigelow scored on its first possession of the second half to make it 20-8. At that point, the game was still up for grabs.

“It was a big momentum changer,” said Powell. “If we score, that’s a big changer and we feel good about ourselves.”