LITTLE ROCK — Shiloh regains swagger
Last week's loss to Greenwood took a toll on Shiloh Christian, but the Saints regained plenty of confidence and momentum Friday night with a 37-0 victory over Berryville in Springdale.
"It's a good lesson for our kids," Shiloh Christian Coach Josh Floyd said. "After a big, emotional loss like that, you've got to come back and play. I thought our guys did a good job taking care of business."
Floyd pulled his starters after the first quarter with the Saints (3-1, 1-0) already ahead 27-0. Most of them could use the rest after last week's 54-51 loss to Greenwood, which lasted more than three hours and left several Saints hobbled.
Linebacker Mitchell Roberts, who sustained a hip pointer last week, played against Berryville but is still working his way back to full strength.
Quarterback Kiehl Frazier, who sustained a pulled groin against Greenwood, was a perfect 8 for 8 Friday night while passing for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns. One of those was a screen pass to Chris Bryant, who broke free for a 39-yard touchdown that gave Shiloh Christian a 7-0 lead.
Bryant, who was limited in practice earlier in the week because of an illness, scored the Saints' second touchdown two minutes later on a 32-yard run. That gave Bryant seven touchdowns this season.
"Chris is having a big year," Floyd said. "He's tough to tackle. I didn't know if he'd get to play this week." - Lane Kramer SPRINGDALE
Thinking of coach
Springdale Har-Ber didn't spend much time celebrating Friday night following its 29-3 victory over Springdale at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.
Har-Ber Coach Chris Wood met briefly with his team and then brought the Wildcats back to midfield, where they met Springdale interim coach Dennis DeBusk and the Bulldogs. Wood then led a prayer for Springdale Coach Kevin Johnson while players and coaches from both teams knelt and held hands.
Johnson is on medical leave after he had surgery to remove a small spot of melanoma from his lungweeks ago.
"Kevin Johnson is a real good friend of mine, and I love him," said Wood, who was formerly an assistant coach with Johnson at Springdale. "His health is what matters most to us, and we just want him to get well."
DeBusk was disappointed by Springdale's loss Friday, but he said Johnson's health problems help keep the outcome of games in perspective.
"Football is the greatest game on the planet, but right now it pales in comparison to what's happening with Kevin," DeBusk said. "We want to win as bad as anybody, but we want our coach to get well.
"That's going to happen, and we're going to win again, too." - Rick Fires GREENWOOD Sandifer sensational
Junior Tony Sandifer showed off his versatility in the first half of Friday's 55-7 victory over Morrilton.
Sandifer, who battled Tyler Shook last season for the quarterback job, has become far more valuable as the Bulldogs' utility player.
He ran for two touchdowns and threw for another Friday, but the highlight was a 49-yard touchdown run that made it 42-7 with 2:55 left in the firsthalf. Sandifer rushed toward right tackle, squirted through the middle of the pack, found a seam and headed all the way back to the left side.
Sandifer, listed at 6-1, 198, then outran the Devil Dogs' defense to the corner of the end zone.
It was a breakout performance for Sandifer, who had totaled just 78 rushing and receiving yards in the first three games. He finished with 82 yards on the ground, 42 yards passing and 19 yards receiving Friday.
That performance was more reminiscent of his sophomore season, when he finished with 260 passing yards, 280 rushing and 282 receiving while accounting for 11 touchdowns.
"He can do a lot of things," Greenwood Coach Rick Jones said. "That was a great pass by Tony. He was excited about that one. It brought him back to the old days.
"He's a special kid who has special talent, and we're going to try to utilize every bit of it." - Chris Cocoles ALMA Off to good start
The Airedales hung on to their No. 5 ranking throughout a rough nonconference season.
Alma showed why it was worthy of the ranking Friday night with a 37-10victory against Central Arkansas Christian in the 5A-West Conference opener for both teams. Alma Coach Todd Dilbeck said playing three Class 7A teams in nonconference toughened his team, although the winless record caused a little concern.
"The kids gained some valuable experience in those games," Dilbeck said. "We played with fast teams. We played with strong teams."
The Airedales (1-2-1, 1-0) learned their lessons well.
Alma quarterback Burke Broadfoot led the way against the Mustangs (2-2, 0-1), rushing for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns and throwing for 2 more scores.
"This is a big win for us," Dilbeck said. "This puts us in the driver's seat, the way you want to start conference play.
Our kids know the 5A-West is pretty tough. You'd better be ready to play week in and week out." - Marty Cook MANSFIELD
A tough assignment
Mansfield's defense held its own for a while Friday night against No. 1 Charleston.
After yielding touchdowns on Charleston's opening two possessions, Mansfield (2-2, 0-1 1-3A Conference) forced Charleston to punt the next two times it had the ball.
Charleston (4-0, 1-0) was also held scoreless a third time, when the clock ran out in the first half.
That allowed Mansfield to take a 14-13 lead into halftime, the first time Charleston has trailed at halftime this season.
The second half was a different story, when Mansfield allowed four touchdowns on four possessions on the way to a 41-21 loss.
"We were just getting after them," Mansfield Coach Jason Gill said. "We were reading our keys. In the third quarter we came out and we stopped reading our keys."
Mansfield outgained Charleston 179-142 in firsthalf yardage, but Charleston broke loose for 159 yards and three touchdowns in the third quarter and finished the game with 375 yards to Mansfield's 247.
After giving up a combined 21 points in season-opening victories over Waldron and Hackett, Mansfield has allowed 91 in back-to-back losses to Riverton (Kan.) and Charleston.
Still, Charleston Coach Doug Loughridge was impressed with Mansfield's defense.
"They're a smash-mouth, hard-nosed football team," Loughridge said. "They played our butts off [in the first half]." - Rich Polikoff
Sports, Pages 31 on 09/27/2009