QB has mettle it takes
Rogers Heritage may have lost its first 7 A-West Conference game to Fort Smith Northside, but it has found the guy to run its Spread offense.
Sophomore quarterback Reed Brown had the best game of his young career, throwing for 425 yards and four touchdowns in a 59-38 loss Friday night. Brown has passed for more than 1, 200 yards and 11 touchdowns in 4 games.
Northside Coach Darrell Henry was more impressed with Brown’s toughness in the pocket as the Grizzlies’ defensive rush knocked Brown down numerous times.
“We got pressure on him and hit him a lot,” Henry said. “He popped back up and it didn’t faze him a bit. He’s going to be a player in this conference.”
Heritage Coach Perry Escalante said Brown made some poor decisions but said those were just a part of the learning process. The War Eagles struggled with Northside’s more aggressive pass defense in the second half.
Brown passed for 335 yards in the first half but had only 90 in the second half. He threw six incompletions on his first seven attempts in the second half. Escalante said Brown will learn how to deal with different defenses and game situations with experience. What he already knows is toughness. “He’s going to be the guy for us,” Escalante said. “He’s going to be a dandy. He’s a pretty tough kid. He doesn’t get rattled. “ Getting knocked down and getting back up, that’s something you can’t teach. Either the kid has got it or he doesn’t.”
— Marty Cook SPRINGDALE Eckwood has hops Springdale wide receiver LaDarius Eckwood is listed at 6-1, but he played much taller Friday night against crosstown rival Springdale Har-Ber.
Eckwood caught a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Ashton Glaser in the Bulldogs’ 20-14 loss at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium, and both times Eckwood had to leap over multiple defenders to do so. The first touchdown came on a 27-yard pass late in the first quarter, giving Springdale a 7-0 lead. The second, a 9-yard pass to the corner of the end zone, pulled the Bulldogs within six points midway through the fourth quarter. “That’s what he’s good at,” Springdale Coach Kevin Johnson said. “He can get up in the air and he can go after the ball. That’s what we want him to do.” Eckwood, a senior, led the Bulldogs with five receptions for 83 yards. For the season, he has 31 receptions for 510 yards and 9 touchdowns.
— Rich Polikoff SPRINGDALE HAR-BER Loud crowd takes toll Har-Ber’s 20-14 victory over Springdale on Friday night didn’t come easy for the Wildcats, and one of the casualties was the voice of Coach Chris Wood. The crowd noise at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium was loud throughout the game, forcing Wood to shout for several hours. His voice was weak and scratchy by the end of the game, but he wasn’t complaining.
Wood said he wasn’t sure at what point he lost his voice, just that it got progressively worse during the night.
“I couldn’t get the timeouts in,” Wood said with a laugh. “But, man, what a great atmosphere. It was such a great environment. It was a good 7 A-West football game to open up league play.” Wood said the crowd noise contributed to Har-Ber being flagged for five procedural penalties in the first half. The Bulldogs were sharper after halftime, though, and didn’t have a single false start.
— Rich Polikoff WALDRON Bulldogs coach fine Coach Larry Klatt was at home and feeling fine Saturday after being taken to the hospital Friday night following Waldron’s 47-39 victory at Ashdown. Klatt was taken to the emergency room at Christus Saint Michael Hospital in Texarkana, Texas, after he experienced a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and numbness in his extremities. He was examined and released before midnight. Klatt, who has experienced a heart murmur his entire life, said the excitement of Friday’s victory contributed to the problem. It was the first victory of the season for Waldron (1-3, 1-0 4-4 A Conference ) and Klatt’s first as head coach of the Bulldogs. “Sometimes I have to take a real deep breath just to get a breath,” Klatt said Saturday. “I couldn’t get that with the excitement last night. I was leaning over watching the plays and I felt numbness in my extremities.” With the victory, Waldron matched its victory total from a year ago, when it went 1-9. The Bulldogs host Malvern this week. “I’m kind of an emotional kind of coach anyway, and I get more into game than I should from that standpoint,” Klatt said. “We were only up by one point [late ], and anything can happen. My pulse rate went up quite a bit.”
— Rich Polikoff GRAVETTE Defense swarms QB Pea Ridge quarterback Kip Kelly has a promising future, but Gravette’s defense made Kelly less of a threat Friday night by consistently pressuring him in a 43-13 victory over the Blackhawks.
Kelly played most of the game, managing 59 yards passing and a touchdown before being relieved late. He also had a few nice runs, but mostly he was chased relentlessly by Gravette’s defense.
Kelly was either sacked or dropped for losses five times, which was reflected by his rushing total of minus-2 yards on 13 attempts.
Gravette’s Nathan Ortmann had two sacks, and Tyler Smith and Brett Meek recorded tackles for losses at Kelly’s expense.
“Kip Kelly’s a pretty good football player and we had a hard time tackling him,” Lions Coach Bill Harrelson said. “He’s very elusive.”
Pea Ridge is trying to keep itself afloat in the 1-4 A Conference race. It opened conference play against Gravette and gets fellow conference co-favorite Shiloh Christian this week.
That means the Blackhawks will likely get more production from Kelly down the line. “Kip is so competitive with himself,” Blackhawks Coach Mark Laster said. “He’s got to learn to keep in the moment and do what he can, but he’s doing a better job, and we’ve worked with him on his timing and staying in the pocket. “ A couple times, we just didn’t pick up [Gravette’s ] outside blitz and that killed us.”
— Chris Cocoles SHILOH CHRISTIAN Saints try new looks A big, early lead gave Shiloh Christian ample opportunity to experiment on offense Friday night during its 65-0 victory at Berryville. The Saints started Kiehl Frazier at quarterback, rotated David Matthews in, and later allowed Tyler Cole and Luke Treece to take snaps behind center. All four had at least one completion, with Matthews connecting on 4 of 8 attempts for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Frazier threw just six passes, but both of his completions went for touchdowns. The Saints (3-1, 1-0 1-4 A ) mixed and matched their quarterbacks, using several combinations to throw the Bobcats’ defense off balance.
Shiloh Christian led 13-0 late in the first quarter when Cole took a handoff and completed a 31-yard pass to Matthews on a halfback option play. Early in the second quarter, Frazier handed off to Matthews on a reverse, and Matthews hit Jake Ryan for a 37-yard touchdown to give the Saints a 27-0 lead. “We’ve got different personnel to do different things,” Saints Coach Josh Floyd said. “They’re all pretty good athletes. We’re trying to get better every week and improve on some things.” Perhaps the biggest surprise came when Floyd sent 6-1, 250-pound lineman Sam Harvill into the backfield at fullback for one play. Harvill took a handoff from Matthews and ran 6 yards up the middle to help set up another touchdown. “Coach Floyd set up a couple of plays for me at fullback for short yardage,” Harvill said. “We got an opportunity to work on that.” Harvill, who also starts on defense at nose guard, had five tackles for a loss and recovered a fumble.
— Lane Kramer
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