ARKADELPHIA -- Saturday's Class 4A state football championship at War Memorial Stadium marked a strong finish for an Arkadelphia Badgers team whose start did not show promise for a defending champion.
The Badgers picked up their second straight title with a 28-0 victory over the Joe T. Robinson Senators Saturday, marking the first time a team started 0-5 and went on to win a state football title in Arkansas.
"It feels really good," said Arkadelphia head coach J.R. Eldridge, who was named the Class 4A Coach of the Year Monday at the 2018 Farm Bureau Awards. "It really feels good, especially for our coaching staff and our players, just being able to accomplish that knowing that nothing about the season was easy, including our playoff run, including our first five games, including our conference games.
"It's basically the redemption story on the football field, overcoming so many odds and finishing with that win."
Arkadelphia was quickly overlooked by some players and coaches after losing its first five games. The season started off with a 16-14 loss in Week 0 to eventual Class 6A semifinalist Sylvan Hills in the Badgers' first game after graduating their entire offensive line from the 2017 state title team.
In Week 1, the Badgers hosted the Benton Panthers, who finished their season in a 45-14 loss to Greenwood in the Class 6A final. Benton handed the Badgers a 56-17 loss, leading many to begin to question whether last season's win was a fluke.
The season continued on a downhill slide with Arkadelphia getting outscored 177-96 in the first half of the regular season, including its 42-14 loss to the Senators in Week 5. It was the Badgers' third straight loss to Robinson, last winning in the series in 2013.
"It feels awesome because out of all those games that we played them, they were conference games," he said. "This is the most important game of the season as far as meaningful. I just felt like it's, again, very satisfying to know that we were playing our best football toward the end of the year.
"We did not have a fast start. We had a slow start, but we were able to play our best football toward the end of the season. In the one that really, really mattered, they all matter, but in the one that mattered for the championship, we were able to win that one."
The Badgers finally picked up their first win in Week 6 with a 44-0 rout of Fountain Lake, marking the first of what would become five shutouts in 10 straight wins. Arkadelphia then beat Haskell Harmony Grove, 35-6, at home and Ashdown, 44-12, on the road before facing a then-undefeated Bauxite. The Miners had just claimed the top spot in the conference standings with a 41-35 win over the Senators in Week 8.
The Badgers have not lost a game to the Miners in the history of the series between the two schools. They kept the record spotless with a 24-12 win, securing a berth into the playoffs before ending the regular season with a 66-0 rout of Malvern at Claud Mann Stadium.
"The more we were able to win throughout the season, the more doubt was eliminated and the more we grew confident," Eldridge said. "We believed the entire run, but I think our belief level grew. You believe the entire run, and once you actually accomplish it, you're kind of sitting there going, 'Man, this is unbelievable.'"
Arkadelphia entered the Class 4A playoffs as the No. 3 seed from the 4A-7, pitting them against Gosnell, the 3-seed from the 4A-3 for the Badgers' only home playoff game. Following the 37-0 win, Arkadelphia faced the toughest road to War Memorial as it took to the road for games against four straight top-seeded teams.
"It feels awesome," Eldridge said. "It is really -- I don't know the correct word for it -- satisfying to see a group of guys really mature, really overcome some serious obstacles mentally, physically, emotionally. To see a group be able to do that at the highest level and then finish as the last team standing is something that really just is awesome."
Arkadelphia's wins against Warren, Stuttgart and Shiloh Christian set up an unlikely final against the Senators, a fellow member of the 4A-7, but Saturday's win over Robinson marked the first time a team defeated four top-seeded teams en route to a state title.
Eldridge also became the first coach to take the Badgers to back-to-back state title games, a year after being the first to take Arkadelphia to a state title game since John Outlaw led the Badgers to a 21-6 win over White Hall in 1987.
"It's just a great feeling," he said of the accomplishment. "It's a great feeling for our coaching staff. It's a great feeling for our players, and a great feeling for our community.
"I think that we've got one of the best football communities in the state. Man, it's just exciting to be able to know that we all get to experience that together with such a great community, such great players, such great coaches. We were here for this time, and it's such a blessing to be able to experience it together with a great community and great players and great coaches."
The Badgers now start their postseason recovery and training process as they prepare for a new season. Arkadelphia will bring back more than 40 players for next season, but 17 Badgers will graduate.
Key seniors include running back Zion Hatley, kicker Gabe Goodman, defensive back Victor Tademy and linebacker Josh Wallace.
"I think the biggest thing for us is trying to focus on the daily process of what we do," Eldridge said. "We've got a lot of guys coming back, got several key players that are graduating, but the main thing is just trying to stick with the process and trying to get better every day. If we can get better every day, hopefully that will pay off."
Sports on 12/12/2018