War Eagles Impressed With Rockets

CATHOLIC’S RECORD PROVES DECEPTIVE

By Paul Nielsen

Posted: November 11, 2009 at 5:08 a.m.

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ROGERS — While looking over a scouting report on Little Rock Catholic Monday afternoon, Rogers Heritage offensive coordinator Chad Harbison stopped and shook his head in amazement.

“Look at this,” Harbison said. “Catholic has given up just 110points (in conference games). That’s impressive.”

Harbison was also quick to point out that Catholic (5-5, 2-5 7A-Central) has nonconference victories over Fort Smith Southside and Fort Smith Northside. Add in a

Catholic allowed just 15 points a game while securing the No. 6 seed from the 7A-Central, and the Rockets pitched a pair of shutouts against Van Buren (28-0) and Little Rock Central (28-0).

Bartlett is a three-year starter and the senior passed for 2,360 yards and 22 touchdowns while running for an additional 734 yards and 14 more scores a year ago. The 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior passed for 334 yards against Northside this season and had more than200 yards of offense against Van Buren.

North Little Rock coach Brad Bolding has faced Bartlett three times in his three seasons with the Charging Wildcats and said the Rockets quarterback reminds him of Heritage quarterback Reed Brown. Brown has passed for almost 5,000 yards in his two seasons as the War Eagles’ starter and has completed 63 percent of his passes this season.

“(Bartlett) is a real good playmaker that is similar to the kid that Heritage has,” Bolding said. “(Bartlett) is a three-year starter with a lot of games under his belt. He is very versatile.”

One of Bartlett’s top receivers is tight end Garrett Uekman (6-4, 235). Uekman has committed to Arkansas and the senior is rated by Scout.com as the No. 4 tight end prospect in the country.

The Catholic defense boasts size in the trenches and athleticism in the secondary and at linebacker. Defensive back Eric Redmon (5-7, 157) has an offer from Boston College, and Nelson Colbert (6-2, 190) is one ofthe best linebackers in the state. Senior Matt Casanova (6-2, 205) anchors the defensive line at end.

Catholic was expected to contend for the Central title this season but mistakes in close losses to North Little Rock (17-7), Bryant (21-13) and Cabot (21-16) proved costly. Bolding said hewouldn’t be surprised to see Catholic make a run in the playoffs if the Rockets can play error-free football. North Little Rock, which has a first-round bye, gets the Catholic-Heritage winner in the quarterfi nals.

“Catholic made a lot of mistakes against us,” Bolding said. “But they have somereal good looking kids.”

There is no getting around that Friday’s game will be the biggest in Heritage’sshort two-year existence. It’s also just the third playoff game played in Rogers since 1978.

But Heritage coach Perry Escalante and the War Eagles sta◊are trying to not over-hype the game.

Sports, Pages 7 on 11/11/2009

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