ROGERS — Forget Rogers Heritage's threegame winning streak.
Perry Escalante has another streak he's prouder of that he's keeping the lid on: Three games with zero fumbles and as many interceptions to his offense or special teams' credit.
"Whisper that, don't talk about it," the Heritage head coach says with a slight laugh. "You'll jinx it."
It's like talking about a baseball no-hitter in progress, he says.
That's the kind of streak that can't hurt Heritage's chances to win its first-ever 7A-West Conference football game. The War Eagles (3-0) went 0-7 their first run a year ago.
They get their first chance of the '09 season tonight when they match offenses with the prolific and fifth-ranked Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.
"To hear the talk," Escalante says of Northside's hurry-up offense, "there's the nohuddle Spread and then there's the Northside no-huddle Spread.
"It could turn into a shootout."
Northside (2-1) has won 47-27 at Pine Bluffhas been just as prolific, although against significantly less-talented opposition.
They've scored 17 of their 19 touchdowns while possessing the football an average of 17 minutes, 20 seconds each game. They've scored 14 of the 17 TDs through the air. Their offense averages 364 yards a game.
Expect fast-break basketball on grass tonight?
Maybe not all night, Escalante says.
"We know we're not going to stop them every time," he says. "We have to play solid and sound defense, get some stops."
Heritage's offense line has given junior quarterback Reed Brown ample time to complete 40 of 55 passes (73 percent) for 720 yards, 14 touchdowns and no interceptions.
On the line are four seniors and junior Jacob Huckaby at guard. Theand 56-28 at home against Van Buren.
It trailed 32-10 against Little Rock Catholic late in the third quarter before scoring three touchdowns and coming up short 32-30 last week.
Its final points came on an 86-yard pass on fourth-and-7 from quarterback Tanner Knight to sophomore wide receiver Shaquille Jones with 6:13 remaining.
The Grizzlies entered the game averaging 515.5 total yards and 51.5 points per game. They finished last week with 392 total yards.
Northside also came from behind at the half last year to beat Heritage 59-38.
The War Eagles' offenseseniors are tackles Evan Zupan and Brian Nelson, center Allen Whitlow and guard Sam Clark.
Brown has spread his completions around, too. Jordan Snoderly has 10 catches for 198 yards, Travis Entwisle 10 for 234, Grant Driver nine for 165, Zac Stewart five for 43 and Jeff Fruik five for 72. They all have TD receptions.
The line has also enabled the War Eagles to rush 81 times for 424 yards. Stewart has carried 39 times for 226 yards. A year ago, the War Eagles netted 602 yards on 213 carries in 10 games.
NOTES: Kicker Hayden Severs is a perfect 17-17 on PATs. He's kicked off 21 times for a 55.6 yard average. : Heritage has returned just four kickoffs. Entwisle is averaging 33 yards on three of them. : Snoderly has punted just 5 times for a 31.6 yard average.
Sports, Pages 7, 8 on 09/25/2009