Reed’s Freelance Move Pays Off

By Paul Nielsen

Posted: November 17, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.

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ROGERS — At crunch time Friday night, Rogers Heritage linebacker Stephen Reed bailed out on his assignment.

And it was a game-saving decision.

Little Rock Catholic seemed to have all the momentum against the War Eagles after the Rockets had cut the Heritage lead to 17-10 before recovering the ensuing onside kickoff at midfield with slightly more than 2 minutes left in the game.

But Reed stopped Catholic’s bid to tie, or possibly win, the game when the 5-foot-11, 179-pound junior intercepted Rockets quarterback Zach Conque with 1 minute, 47 seconds left as Heritage posted a 17-10 victory in the first-round of the Class 7A Playoffs.

Heritage (9-2) travels to face North Little Rock in a quarterfinal game Friday with the Charging Wildcats (8-2). North Little Rock had a first-round bye.

With Catholic lined up in the Power-I formation, Reed, the War Eagles’ leading tackler, was supposed to blitz on second-and-10 from the War Eagles 46.

But the hole quickly closed and Reed realized that the Rockets were going to pass the football. Reed dropped back into pass coverage and defensive lineman Conor Bolton got a piece of Conque’s arm.

Reed then chased down Heritage’s 13th interception of the year, all but sealing but sealed the first playoff victory in school history.

“I went to blitz, but I read pass,” Reed said. “So, I dropped back because I thought they would pass deep because it was close to the end of the game. The fullback led and he started to pass block, so I got out of there. The ball was right there. It was like it all happened in slow motion.”

Heritage defensive coordinator Jerrod Blockburger said he wasn’t surprised that Reed broke off his assignment after seeing the Catholic fullback put his hands up to block.

“Stephen is not the proto-type linebacker you would pick out when you are looking for one,” Blockburger said. “But he has the mind of one and he has come on so much since the beginning of the year. He is real coachable.

“When he hit the hole, the (Catholic) guards collapsed on him and he bailed out to help the pass coverage. Then we got the hit on the quarterback (by Bolton) and the ball popped up and he was right there for it. That was football sense ... he didn’t waste himself up on the line of scrimmage.”

Reed’s interception was the biggest stop on a night of big stops for the War Eagles. Catholic only had five plays that went for more than 9 yards as Heritage held the Rockets to 167 yards, which was the War Eagles’ best defensive effort against a Class 7A school this year.

Heritage coach Perry Escalante credits the defensive line with leading Friday’s defensive charge. Defensive end Reid Schatzman had three quarterback sacks and defensive lineman Spanky Purdy had several key stops as Catholic had just 69 yards rushing on 32 attempts.

“Spanky was in the backfield a lot and caused a lot of problems back there,” Escalante said. “He caused a lot of havoc because of the penetration he was getting. The front four — Schatzman, Casey Wilber, Conor (Bolton) and Spanky — played pretty good.”

The Heritage defense will get another stiff test against a North Little Rock offense that has speed and athleticism at the skill positions.

“We need them to play well this week, too,” Escalante said. “They are going to run power football at you. And they are big on the offensive line. They are big and physical.”

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