SPRINGDALE — Fayetteville and Shiloh Christian will just have to wait for another time and place to meet on the field.
An anticipated matchup between two of the state’s most distinguished 7-on-7 teams failed to materialize Saturday when both lost in the semifinals of the Southwest Elite 7-on-7 Showcase at Shiloh Christian. Olive Branch, Miss., which had eliminated the Saints earlier, scored a last-minute touchdown to beat Oklahoma City Heritage Hall 28-23 in the championship game. Heritage Hall knocked out Fayetteville in the semifinals.
“We obviously wanted to win it,” Saints Coach Josh Floyd said. “We don’t ever come out and compete without wanting to win the thing.”
Olive Branch quarterback Todd Mays threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Courtney Gladney with a little more than 40 seconds left to win the title. Heritage Hall had one untimed play after the score, but a Hail Mary pass fell incomplete.
“Comparing 7-on-7 to real football is like comparing puttputt to the PGA,” Olive Branch Coach Scott Samsel said. “But it was good competition for us.”
Olive Branch and Heritage Hall had played to a 22-22 tie during pool play Friday. Olive Branch finished pool play with a 4-1-1 record, with its only loss coming against Shiloh Christian on Friday.
“Somebody that good, it’s tough to beat them two times,” Floyd said.
Heritage Hall finished pool play with a losing record at 2-3-1 but rallied with victories against Bentonville’s “B” team, El Dorado and Fayetteville. Heritage Hall fell behind Fayetteville 9-0 in the semifinals and was in danger of getting blown out with the Bulldogsinside the 5 and threatening to score again.
The Chargers held the Bulldogs scoreless, picking up two points for the defensive stop, then rallied offensively. Fayetteville had the ball and trailed 16-15 in the last minute when quarterback Brandon Allen threw an interception to end the game.
In the playoffs, Olive Branch beat Central Arkansas Christian and Rogers Heritage before jumping ahead of Shiloh Christian 18-6 midway through the 22-minute semifinal. The Saints rallied behind quarterback Kiehl Frazier to take 20-18 lead, but Olive Branch got a late touchdown and two-point conversion.
“At the very end you have to make the stop, and we didn’t make the stop,” Floyd said. “We put ourselves in a hole.”
After the semifinal round, Floyd joked that the Bulldogs and Saints could still play a third-place game.
“Maybe we can play a consolation game,” Floyd said. “ It’dbe fun to play them. We haven’t played them all summer.”
Fayetteville Coach Daryl Patton said he had been looking forward to a chance to play the Saints. The teams had played each summer for several years previously.
“This is the first year in a long time we haven’t play Shiloh,” Patton said. “I wish we would have got the chance to play them. I’m sure Josh feels the same way.
Patton said he wasn’t disappointed with the Bulldogs’ semifinal loss because the purpose of the tournament was to get the team prepared for a major 7-on-7 tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Patton said Fayetteville cost itself when it failed to score inside Heritage Hall’s 5.
“It’s an offensive game,” Patton said. “A few breaks didn’t go our way. We wanted to win, of course. We wanted to play in the championship game against Shiloh. We’d have been happy to play in there against anybody.”
PLAYOFF RESULTS
CHAMPIONSHIP Olive Branch 28, Heritage Hall 23 SEMIFINALS Olive Branch 26, Shiloh Christian 20 Heritage Hall 19, Fayetteville 15 QUARTERFINALS Shiloh Christian 44, Bentonville 30 Olive Branch 23, Heritage 17 Heritage Hall 24, El Dorado 23 Fayetteville 22, Hillcrest 20 FIRST ROUND Shiloh Christian 36, Mayflower 6 Bentonville 22, Muskogee 19 Heritage 29, McAlester 19 Olive Branch 32, CAC 18 El Dorado 24, Arkansas Baptist 14 Heritage Hall 21, Bentonville 2 13 Hillcrest 22, Springdale 20 Fayetteville 47, GCT 2
POOL PLAY
El Dorado 23, CAC 13 Fayetteville 32, Bentonville2 26 McAlester 28, GCT 8 Muskogee 17, Springdale 14 Shiloh Christian 38, Ark. Baptist 19 Heritage 28, Heritage Hall 20 Olive Branch 34, Mayflower 0 Bentonville 27, Hillcrest 17 Shiloh Christian 27, Heritage Hall 22 Hillcrest 19, Arkansas Baptist 17 Olive Branch 16, Rogers Heritage 15 Bentonville 32, Mayflower 6 Fayetteville 19, McAlester 15 El Dorado 28, Muskogee 3 CAC 22, Springdale 22 Bentonville 2 27, GCT 18 Fayetteville 25, El Dorado 15 Bentonville 2 13, Muskogee 12 McAlester 28, CAC 16 Springdale 28, GCT 8
Sports, Pages 24 on 07/11/2010