SPRINGDALE — Just a few blades of artificial grass stood between Nashville and the end zone, where a touchdown would get the Scrappers within striking distance of Shiloh Christian.
Those few inches might as well have been a mile.
Shiloh’s defense clamped down and forced a Nashville fumble and the Saints went on to a 48-10 victory in Champions Stadium in a Class 4A quarterfinal game. It was Shiloh’s 33rd consecutive home playoff victory.
“That play right there cut their heart out,” Saints senior defensive tackle Samuel Harvill said. “We stinkin’ penetrated through there. We bent that quarterback over and we stinkin’ killed their will right there.”
“From then on, their will just died.”
The Saints (12-1), who will host Pulaski Robinson next week in the semifinals, stifledNashville’s running game the entire game. Other than a 43-yard run early in the game by Trays Marshall out of the Wildcat formation, the Scrappers (10-3) did not have a run of more than eight yards until the final play of the game.
“We were a lot stronger than them upfront,” Saints noseguard Troy Goss said. “We just came out and overpowered them. Their coach said they were going to get 100 yards rushing easily andwe just weren’t going to let that happen.”
The Scrappers finished with just 43 yards on the ground - minus 8 in the second half.
Early on, Nashville stunned the Saints, taking leads of 3-0 and 10-7 on a 37-yard field goal by Alfonso Puente and a 9-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Moore to Reggie Wright.
Following the Scrappers touchdown, Shiloh answered back with a four-play, 65-yard drive with quarterback Kiehl Frazier connecting with Zann Jones for a 29-yard touchdown, the 53rd career touchdown pass for Jones, moving him within two of the state record. On theplay, Frazier eluded tacklers in the pocket before finding Jones. Frazier’s big night put him over 1,000 yards rushing for the season, joining Harper in that category.
Asked to describe how Frazier can bounce around the pocket and shuck off tacklers, Shiloh offensive coordinator Rod Washington summed it up in one word:
“Talent,” Washington said. “There’s nothing that we do to make him do that, it’s just God-given talent.”
On the night Frazier did more damage with his legs than his arm. He rushed 26 times for 183 yards and completed 9 of 13 passes for 177 yards. The Saints also got 145yards rushing from Garrett Harper and the two combined for six touchdowns.
Early in the fourth quarter following a Frazier run, Shiloh Christian Coach Josh Floyd was assessed back-toback unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and ejected from the game. His ejection could mean he will be suspended from next week’s game as well, although he said following the game the Shiloh administration plans to appeal the suspension.
“I deeply regret what happened,” Floyd said following the game. “I was surprised [by the ejection].”
Floyd would not comment on what caused the ejection.
Sports, Pages 21 on 11/27/2010