ARKADELPHIA -- Arkadelphia looked like a team that won the Class 4A state championship Friday night as the Badgers rolled to a 37-0 shutout over Gosnell in the first round of the Class 4A state football playoffs at AllCare Field.
With the win, the Badgers (6-5) will travel to Warren (9-1) for a rematch of last year's Class 4A state title match the Badgers won, 28-27.
"Our main focus all week was just executing better in all three phases," said Arkadelphia head coach J.R. Eldridge. "I felt like we did that for the most part. We had some key errors, but really our defense stepped up when we got in bad field position."
Two of those errors fell on senior Victor Tademy, who had two kicks slip through his hands, leaving the Badgers looking to make big stops against the Pirates (6-5), including one deep in the red zone after taking a 23-0 lead into the break. Arkadelphia gave up just nine yards on the drive to take over at their own 12.
"We had a couple special teams plays where we got some good field position," said Gosnell head coach Brandon Barbaree. "We just couldn't take advantage of it. Like I said, they're super aggressive defensively, and we're babies up front. I'm starting a freshman and three sophomores and a senior up there (on the offensive line), and you can tell."
The Badgers scored on their first possession, using six plays to travel 61 yards, thanks in part to a pass interference penalty against Gosnell. Senior Zion Hatley carried it in from the 9 for the score with sophomore Buster Thomas connecting with Tademy on the halfback pass conversion to make it 8-0 with 6:40 left in the first period.
Eight plays later, the defense that kept the Badgers in many of their early games stepped up as junior Kyren Harrison scooped up a fumble by Gosnell's Cadarius Young, carrying it 50 yards to the end zone. Junior quarterback Cannon Turner carried the ball in for the conversion for the early 16-0 lead.
"That was huge," Eldridge said. "Kyren picking that ball up and going into the end zone -- those big plays really make a difference in the momentum swings. We were already up eight, but our defense really stepping up like that ... that was huge for us."
The Badgers held Gosnell to just 168 yards of offense, including just 129 yards rushing for a team that averaged 283.6 yards going into Week 11.
"They just wore us out," Barbaree said. "They're a good football team, obviously. They won a state title last year. I think coach Eldridge is as good as you get in the state of Arkansas, and coach (Casey) Moreland, his offensive coordinator, is as good as you get."
Arkadelphia tallied 202 yards on the ground while completing 6 of 12 passes for 143 yards for just under 350 total yards on the night.
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q F
Gosnell 0 0 0 0 0
Arkadelphia 16 7 14 0 37
First quarter
A--Zion Hatley 9 run (Victor Tademy conversion), 6:40
A--Kyren Harrison 50 fumble return (Cannon Turner conversion), 1:54
Second quarter
A--Hatley 11 run (Gabe Goodman kick), 4:05
Third quarter
A--Alec Ruble 16 pass from Turner (Goodman kick), 6:49
A--Ruble 1 run (Goodman kick), 1:04
G A
First downs 11 18
Rushes-yards 45-129 29-202
Passing yards 39 143
Comp-att. 2-8 6-12
Punts-avg. 5-32 2-42.67
Fumbles-lost 4-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 4-55 8-106
Individual statistics
Rushing -- Gosnell, Jydarian Young 14-60, Cydarius Young 16-34, Devin Burks 5-26, Austin Middleton 3-11, Darion Bester 2-4, Brett Barbaree 5-(minus 3). Arkadelphia, Cannon Turner 8-108, Zion Hatley 13-61, Buster Thomas 3-19, Kelin Nelson 3-14, Alec Ruble 1-1, Dyon Hunter 1-(minus 1).
Passing -- Gosnell, Barbaree 2-8-1-39. Arkadelphia, Turner 4-10-0-73, Thomas 2-2-0-70.
Receiving -- Gosnell, Druw Reynolds 1-31, Bailey Fields 1-8. Arkadelphia, Ruble 2-83, Thomas 2-52, Hatley 1-5, Victor Tademy 1-3.
Sports on 11/11/2018