ROGERS — Rogers Heritage coach Perry Escalante said the building of the War Eagles football program is complete.
It’s now time to reload.
In just its second year of football, Heritage surpassed all expectations as the War Eagles finished third in the rugged 7A-West Conference with a 5-2 record. They then made a run to the Class 7A quarterfinals, where they lost 49-45 to North Little Rock.
Along the way, Heritage (9-3) won its first conference game in school history and its first playoff game, a 17-10 decision over Little Rock Catholic.
In a season of milestones, Escalante is the All-Northwest Arkansas Big 6 Coach of the Year.
“The kids bought into the program,” Escalante said. “They bought into what we were talking about: hard work and believing in what we are trying to do. We told them all along they were a good football team, and they had to go prove it. They did.”
As expected, Heritage jumped out to a 3-0 start, but the War Eagles began to turn heads with a victory at Fort Smith Northside to start 7A-West play.
Heritage’s only two regular-season losses were to Bentonville and to eventual state champion Springdale Har-Ber in overtime. The War Eagles led North Little Rock 21-0 in the first quarter.
“I had a feeling in the spring, that if we played solid, I knew we could be pretty good,” Escalante said. “I don’t know if Northside was the catalyst or not. But we played well after that. Our goal was to earn respect and the only way to do that was to win conference games. We did that, we played well in conference games.
“We could have won the Har-Ber game in regulation but we had a late turnover in regulation. I’m not saying that beat us, but that changed the approach to the game and we didn’t respond like I wanted to.”
Heritage had seniors for the first time this season, and graduation will leave several big holes to fill this offseason. But Escalante doesn’t expect much of a dropoff with players like quarterback Reed Brown and running back Zac Stewart returning.
Brown passed for almost 3,000 yards this season while Stewart rushed for almost 1,300 yards.
“This team has set things up for the younger kids,” Escalante said. “Our goal at this point is to reload, not rebuild. We have more kids staying in football this offseason. They can go play other sports, but they have chosen to stay. We have seven back on defense, but we have some big kids available for the offensive line.
“I think we could end up being pretty good next year if we go to work in the offseason. We are going to be big.”
Profile
Perry Escalante
SCHOOL: Rogers Heritage, second year.
RECORD: 12-10 overall, 9-3 in 2009.
NOTABLE: Escalante guided the War Eagles to a 5-2 conference record and a first-round Class 7A playoff victory over Little Rock Catholic.