searcy season
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Searcy seasonTRANSCRIPT
Emotions ran high as tears streamed down the faces of Searcy football players, par-ents, coaches and fans follow-ing the Lions’ 35-14 loss to Pine Bluff at home in the quarterfi -nals of the 6A state playoffs.
Head Coach Tim Harper said the loss was obviously disap-pointing, but it doesn’t take anything away from the Lions’ stellar season.
“I’m hurting. Everybody’s hurting,” he said. “It’s disap-pointing and it hurts, but you can’t help but be proud of what this team has accomplished this season and take this expe-rience and learn and grow from
it. We missed some opportuni-ties tonight that we’d like to have back, but that the great thing about the game of foot-ball is you never know which way the ball will bounce.”
Senior quarterback Dez-mond Stegall, fi ghting back his own emotions, said the game did not go how the Lions had hoped, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.
“I don’t know what to say,” Stegall said. “We can’t get any-thing back and I knew that last run would be my last touch-down at Searcy, and I’m proud to be a Lion.”
The Lions’ 9-3 season may be hailed as one of the best ever for the Lions, pulling off a memorable 28-24 road win over Jonesboro in Week 8 and keeping a perfect record at home throughout the regular season.
Stegall hopes the team’s suc-cess will give future Searcy football players a base from which to build.
“I hope we laid a founda-tion and that future teams can build off this season and bring Searcy football back where it
needs to be,” he said.Harper took moments after
the game to congratulate his seniors, which he felt meant a great deal to the program and its success.
“The seniors taught these other kids how to win,” Harper said. “I’d like to thank all three of my senior classes for the work they’ve put in and the heart they’ve shown playing for this team.”
Stegall said his pride is in his teammates who shared with him the thrill of victory and de-spair of defeat.
“I’m proud of each and every one of my teammates,” he said. “The odds were against us all year and we came out and per-formed.”
PLAYOFF LOSS DISAPPOINTING FOR SEARCY
BY KYLE [email protected]
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011 SPORTSSECTION B
Sports Editor Kyle Troutman501-268-8621
[email protected] Citizen
The
With only two more wins, the Wildcats are heading back to Little Rock.
Harding Academy hit double digits in consecutive wins and is ready to face off with Charleston after sailing over Greenland in the second round of the playoffs Friday night.
The Wildcats, who have been red hot since Week 3, picked up their 10th straight win and made winning a playoff game look easy in the 42-7 win over the Pirates.
Head Coach Roddy Mote is ready to move forward and told his team after the win that they were going to face a good football team in Charleston on the road next week.
“You know what,” he told
them, “I’m fi red up about going on the road.”
Mote said the team was not planning on making any adjust-ments.
“We are going to go to work and get prepared,” he said
After the Wildcats botched the snap on their opening drive, they recovered quickly as they picked
Wildcats’ title dreams still aliveBY M. A. WEBB
Special to The Daily Citizen
Harding University’s football team may not have had the num-ber of wins it would have liked, but the Bisons went over the top when it comes to breaking school records.
As a team, the Bisons broke re-cords in eight statistical catego-ries. Harding’s 38 rushing touch-downs seat a new school record, as did its 360.9 rushing yards per game and 28.2 average yards per completion.
The Bisons scored an all-time high 390 points in 2011 with 52 touchdowns scored, 48 point-after attempts made and 10 good fi eld goals. The 52 touchdowns also beat the previous record of 50, while the 48-of-52 point-af-ter attempts set records for mode point-after attempts made and most point-after attempts.
“Obviously, we would have
liked to have won more ball-games, but we had a very produc-tive offense,” Head Coach Ron-nie Huckeba said. “There was a stretch in there where turnovers were causing problems, but for it only being our second year in that offensive system, we’ve done well. We will continue to improve and take care of the football and expand our abilities. We think we can throw the ball a little bet-ter next year, so that’s something
HU breaks numerous records in 2011BY KYLE TROUTMAN
The Badgers knew they had a tough road in the 5A state playoffs, and they were sad to see the 2011 season end Friday at the hands of Camden Fair-view.
They also take pride in how well this season went. Head coach John Shan-non said the loss is disap-pointing, but he is proud of his team and the effort they’ve shown all year.
“We knew going in it was going to be a tough game,” Shannon said. “ They’re a very talented team and we played with them for the fi rst quarter-and-a-half, but then they just exploded on us.”
Senior running back Matt Pursell said he is sad-dened by the loss and the season’s end, but proud of how his team played in the playoffs.
“It was a tough loss,” he said. “We did a pretty good job in the fi rst quarter, but in the second quarter we just fell apart and ended up down 28-3 at the end of the half.”
Playoff loss aside, the
Beebetakes
pride in success
BY KYLE [email protected]
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Tyler Wilson made sure Arkansas didn’t stumble on its way to Baton Rouge, La. Anything but.
The Razorbacks and their quarterback now have the chance to make their case in the national championship debate.
Wilson had a school-re-cord 32 completions and threw for 365 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 6 Razorbacks made quick work of Mississippi State in a 44-17 win on Saturday.
The win is the seventh straight for Arkansas (10-1, 6-1 Southeastern Con-ference), which travels to No. 1 LSU next week for a game with conference and national implications. Be-fore the Razorbacks could turn their collective atten-tion to the Tigers, though, they fi rst had to deal with the Bulldogs (5-6, 1-6).
Arkansas did just that — and how.
The Razorbacks out-gained Mississippi State 539-211 and scored 30 straight points after the Bulldogs closed within 14-10 in the second quarter. They’ve now outscored South Carolina, Tennes-see and Mississippi State 137-52 over their last three games in an attempt to crash both the SEC and BCS national title game parties.
Wilson shines
in Hogs’victory
BY KURT VOIGTAssociated Press
Lions thankful for strong season
Jacob Brower/[email protected]
Harding University senior kicker Eddy Carmona kicks a field goal during the Bisons’ 31-27 loss to Ouachita Baptist University at First Security Stadium Oct. 29. Carmona set numerous school re-cords for the Bisons this season.
Kyle Troutman/[email protected]
Searcy’s Jared Eades tackles a Pine Bluff runner during the Lions’ 35-14 loss at home to the Zebras Friday night in the quar-
Jacob Brower/[email protected]
Harding Academy’s Trey Davis jukes past two Greenland defend-ers and into the end zone Friday during the Wildcats’ 42-7 win at First Security Stadium Friday. The Wildcats travel to play a quar-terfinal match Friday against Charleston at 7:30 p.m.Please see HA | 3B
Please see BEEBE | 3B
Please see HOGS | 2B Please see HU | 3B