SPRINGDALE — When it comes to describing Kiehl Frazier’s demeanor, it basically comes down to the three C’s — calm, cool and collected.
The Shiloh Christian junior quarterback led his team to a second straight Class 4A state championship and earned the title game’s Most Valuable Player honor for the second consecutive year in guiding the Saints to a 56-20 win over Lonoke.
But it was a calm in the midst of chaos in a 51-49 come-from-behind win over Nashville in the Class 4A quarterfinals that defined his breakout season. Trailing 35-0 after giving up a fumble and interception that were both returned for touchdowns, Frazier could have crawled into a hole.
Instead, he scored a combined seven touchdowns — rushing, passing and an interception return to complete an amazing comeback win.
“The thing about Kiehl is that he never gets rattled,” Saints coach Josh Floyd said. “He’s talented, no question, but the fact that he stays so calm is what I think makes him so special to me. The team looks up to him to make a play whenever the game is on the line.”
After a solid sophomore season, Frazier had a spectacular junior season, completing 227 of 362 passes for 3,817 yards and 48 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. Three of those interceptions came against Bald Knob in the Class 4A semifinals in frigid weather.
For his season, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Frazier was selected the All-Northwest Arkansas Small Schools Player of the Year.
“We had an amazing season,” Frazier said. “Our goal was to go down to Little Rock and win the state title and we were able to do that.”
When asked to recall some personal highlights from the season, Frazier instead pointed to the team’s three biggest wins.
“Beating Evangel, beating Nashville and winning the state championship were the biggest highlights to me,” Frazier said.
The dual-threat quarterback, who added 764 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns, will be one of the most highly recruited players in the country next season. But he said he hasn’t focused much on that.
“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” Frazier said. “There are some great schools that have offered me, but I’ll focus more on that next year.”
Floyd said the biggest difference he saw in Frazier this year was his confidence in the passing game.
“He started watching more film, learning the offense and getting more comfortable,” Floyd said. “You could see it in 7-on-7 last summer.”
The Saints coach, who has won three state titles in four seasons, said Frazier can still improve.
“Sure he can get better,” Floyd said. “He can get more consistent. This year he made better decisions, but you can always improve there, too.”
Although Frazier did not play much defense during the regular season, when the playoffs rolled around he was lined up at safety. In addition to the interception return for a touchdown he had against Nashville, he got another one against Lonoke in the title game.