Kevin Kelley would be lost in the Canadian Football League with no fourth down to roll the dice.
On an Arkansas sideline, Kelley throws conventional wisdom out the window -- and almost any time his team has the football.
Running out of a spread offense, Kelley-coached teams use all four downs at times. Pulaski Academy went for it on fourth down nine times against Little Rock McClellan in the Class 5A championship game Saturday night at War Memorial Stadium. The Bruins' only punt came in the final minute from the McClellan 45 with Kelley's squad leading 37-36, the final score.
Kelley's fast-break style of football also includes a preponderance of onside kicks, keeping an opponent on its heels from start to finish.
People who grew up watching 7-6 games dominated by defense and the kicking game might call Kelley's approach unsound. USA Today named him the national high school football coach of the year in 2016.
For Kelley and Pulaski Academy, the gonzo stuff has paid off in seven state titles in 15 years. Topping McClellan in the 5A final for the second time in three years, PA is the first Arkansas team to win four consecutive state titles since Frank McClellan's Barton Bears (1986-89) on the small-school level.
Like a pool shark, Pulaski Academy must hustle for competition. The Bruins have not played an Arkansas nonconference opponent in two years, booking teams from Oklahoma, Utah and Kentucky in 2016 and Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana this past season.
Pulaski Academy's success keeps the privates-vs.-publics argument going in Arkansas high schools. The Bruins have not lost to an Arkansas school since the 2013 state semifinals (57-50 to Morrilton). They tower over fellow Class 5A teams: Three conference opponents from Little Rock (Fair, Mills and Parkview) went 4-6 or worse this year. Valley View, Harrison and Nettleton -- two from the northeast, one from the north-central section -- proved playoff fodder.
No surprise then that McClellan had plenty of outside support as it played PA before an estimated 5,787 under the stars on a 58-degree night in early December.
Hours earlier, North Little Rock brought central Arkansas its first big-school state title since 2004 when it downed Bentonville 44-37 for the Class 7A crown. Nothing against Bentonville, a four-time state champion from 7A-West, but some found depressing the image of a northwest Arkansas squad winning yet another title. North Little Rock scratched that itch with the school's first championship since 1972 under Henry Hawk.
McClellan then took Pulaski Academy to the rim of a major upset, the Crimson Lions seeking the school's first state title since 1971 against a Bobby Hannon-coached Hot Springs squad in the final.
Perhaps taking McClellan lightly after their regular-season matchup ended 61-29, Pulaski Academy came out flat. McClellan went up 14-0, converting Tyrse Lair's 56-yard interception return and one of PA's six fourth-down failures (from the Bruins' 15) into touchdowns. It was 20-16 McClellan at halftime, the Crimson Lions yielding 205 yards and two touchdowns through the air but sacking Layne Hatcher four times.
McClellan scored on its first two possessions of the second half, driving 50 and 42 yards for touchdowns after onside kicks -- the second following a PA score. Momentum on its side, leading 36-23, McClellan took over at its 34 with 5:45 left in the third quarter after a third interception off Hatcher.
Overshadowed all season by an offense that scored 784 points, Pulaski Academy's defense got the Bruins back in a game that was getting away from them. Though the ensuing PA drive produced no points, Wesley Wise's fumble recovery near midfield led to an even bigger stop by the Bruins.
With 37 seconds left in the third quarter, McClellan called timeout to consider its options on fourth and one from the Crimson Lion 28. A punt seemed in order; McClellan, borrowing a page from its opponent's playbook, went for it -- and Thomas Wheelis stopped Andre Campbell for a one-yard loss.
Hatcher, a four-year starter, then showed why PA went 41-1 in games he started at quarterback, scoring the last 14 points for the Bruins' only lead of the night. Scoring from five yards out after keeping for 12 on fourth and one, Hatcher later evoked memories of James Street throwing to Randy Peschel for Texas against Arkansas in the fourth quarter of a December game years ago.
On fourth and six from the PA 21, less than eight minutes left, Hatcher went deep and found Brett Lynch in single coverage for 47 yards. Hatcher completed two more passes, then suffered one of his seven sacks before keeping for 19 yards around right end for the tying touchdown with 6:03 left. Hatcher's third PAT of the game made the scoreboard difference, the Bruins' defense preserving the edge with a fourth-down stop and a fumble recovery -- Kelley going by the book for once with Hatcher punting 22 yards to the McClellan 23 in the final minutes.
Call it unsound if you wish, but dull it's not. And successful it is.
Sports on 12/05/2017