SPRINGDALE — Chris Wood admits he’s been spoiled over the past three seasons.
During that time, the Springdale Har-Ber coach has been to two Class 7A state championship game appearances and reached the semifinals the other season. This past season, the Wildcats won their first state football championship — in just their fourth year of varsity play — to cap a 12-1 season that brought the team’s record to 32-7 over the past three seasons.
The success in itself, however, isn’t why Wood considers himself spoiled. Rather, he feels privileged to have coached a core group of seniors who he believes have laid the foundation for Har-Ber’s future success.
That group had its own foundation, senior Houston Pruitt.
A three-year starter for the Wildcats, Pruitt first took the field as a low-key safety as a sophomore on Har-Ber’s 2007 team that lost to Fayetteville in the championship game. He leaves as the backbone of a Har-Ber defense that allowed just 10.4 points per game this season, a defense whose identity was created in the mold of its leader, Pruitt.
For his efforts, both this year and over the past three seasons, Pruitt has been selected as the All-Northwest Arkansas Big 6 Player of the Year.
“It’s going to be really weird not seeing No. 5 be Houston Pruitt,” Wood said when looking ahead to next year. “For three years, he’s started in the secondary and been one of the big pieces of the puzzle.
“He’s the standard other guys are going to play to, no doubt.”
Pruitt arrived at Har-Ber no stranger to the success of Springdale football. He was in the stands to watch older brother, Zach, in 2004 when Springdale High had its dream season shattered by a loss to eventual champion Little Rock Central. He was also in Little Rock the following season when his other brother, Clint, was a part of the 2005 state champion Bulldogs.
What was difficult for Pruitt, however, was watching the Wildcats struggle to a 2-8 season during their first year of varsity play in 2006. Pruitt was just a ninth-grader then, but he paid the same price as those who were on the team that following offseason — in the form of a grueling workout program.
The work paid off in 2007, Pruitt’s sophomore season, with the championship game appearance against Fayetteville. Along the way that season, Pruitt grew into the role of leader — a role he filled for three seasons at Har-Ber.
“The biggest thing with Houston is he truly ended up like a coach on the field,” Wood said. “Especially going into his senior year.
“You could put him out there and he’d check into any coverage and understand the routes. He had a great feel and understanding of what teams were going to do and where guys had to be to make plays.”
After the loss to Fayetteville, Har-Ber went back to work and Pruitt slowly took on more of a leadership role his junior season. The Wildcats thought they had a return trip booked to the title game that year, only to be devastated by a last-minute loss to Fort Smith Southside in the semifinals.
That disappointment carried over once again into this year, and the Wildcats played with that memory throughout. They very nearly lost again in the semifinals this year, but a last-minute drive of their own saved the Wildcats in a 14-10 win at Cabot in the semifinals.
Then they capped the year with a 27-6 win over Southside in the championship game, one dominated as usual by the Har-Ber defense. There was celebration on the field in War Memorial Stadium afterward, but there was an equal amount of relief.
“If we wouldn’t have won, I couldn’t have handled it,” Pruitt said at the time. “We needed that win so bad. Not just ourselves, but for the whole school.”
Pruitt finished his three-year career with 257 tackles and 15 interceptions for the Wildcats, despite Wood saying that “teams wouldn’t dare throw at him,” his senior season. It wasn’t solely on defense though that he made his mark.
With Har-Ber’s running back core depleted by injuries this season, Wood temporarily played Pruitt both ways. Against Fayetteville late in the season, Har-Ber was tied with the Bulldogs at 14-14 late in the first half. That’s when Pruitt caught a screen pass and sprinted 69 yards for a a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 20-14. He followed that with a 40-yard touchdown run to open the second half, finishing with 156 yards of total offense on just eight touches and setting the tone in an eventual 39-14 win.
“He inspired the guys around him to play at a higher level, so from my standpoint, I wanted to get some of that action on offense,” Wood said. “He changed the game in that sense, and it’s not every year you get a guy who can change the game just by touching the football.”
Wood said Pruitt was an inspiration to his teammates away from the field as well. He pointed out that Pruitt also played baseball for Har-Ber, causing him to miss offseason workouts while baseball season was going on.
He also said that on Pruitt’s first day back in football, he ran just as fast and lifted just as much weight as when he left — a tribute to his early morning workouts with his dad, Tim, on his own time while baseball season was going on.
“That’s an example of leadership when your guy who has all the accolades and God-given talent is showing others that you can be committed to all these other things but still get the job done,” Wood said.
Pruitt had football scholarship offers from Tulsa and Louisiana-Monroe, but he choose to sign a baseball scholarship to play for Arkansas in college.
“The decision play baseball over football was pretty tough because I was almost set on going to Monroe,” Pruitt said “If I had gotten a bigger football offer, like an Arkansas, I probably would have taken that, but Arkansas baseball is the top in the country and I couldn’t pass that up.”
That doesn’t mean he won’t miss football, even if he leaves the game having left his mark at Har-Ber.
“I really can’t believe it’s over,” Pruitt said. “I still feel like I have another game. I already miss it.”
Profile
HOUSTON PRUITT
School: Springdale Har-Ber
Position: Safety
Class: Senior
Height: 6-0
Weight: 174
Notable: A three-year starter for the Wildcats, Pruitt had 257 tackles and 15 interceptions in his career. He was part of a Har-Ber group that finished 32-7 over three seasons, capped off by a 27-6 win over Fort Smith Southside in the Class 7A state championship game this year.