7 A-WEST Garcia calm, hits winning field goal

— Christian Garcia didn’t think twice when Springdale High’s coaches called his name to kick a gamewinning field goal on Friday night.

The junior specialist wasn’t nervous about the kick, he just knew he had to deliver for his team to have a chance of winning its third game in a row.

And that’s exactly what Garcia did.

Garcia’s 31-yard field goal as time expired gave Springdale a 24-21 victory over Rogers Heritage in Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium, suddenly making the Red’Dogs one of the most redhot teams in the 7A-West Conference.

“It wasn’t a big deal, I knew I could make the kick,” said Garcia, who’s made seven field goals this season. “I wasn’t really nervous or anything, it was pretty straight.”

The game-winning kick wouldn’t have been possible without a few key plays in the second half, including two big catches from senior Keenan Sanchez and a key interception from junior Kevin Martinez.

Springdale junior running back Rahmon Taylor also played another crucial role in the victory, rushing for 180 yards and three touchdowns. In his last two games alone, Taylor has totaled 288 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

“I knew at some point thatsomebody was going to have to make a play to win the game,” Springdale Coach Shane Patrick said. “We had several people step up and do just that.”

Heritage, which totaled 373 total yards of offense, including 317 passing, had chances to score in the second half, but couldn’t covert the necessary first downs.

The War Eagles (4-4, 2-3 7A-West Conference) punted twice and missed two lengthy field goals in the second half.

Heritage jumped out to the early lead in the first quarter when quarterback Reed Brown completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Luke Oldham.

The Red’Dogs (5-3, 3-2) responded when Taylor took a handoff from quarterback Joseph Calcagni, darted to the right side of the field and scampered 38 yards for a touchdown.

Heritage went on to lead 21-14 in the third quarter after Brown threw another 19-yard touchdown pass to Mac Ollinger and Forrest Johnson recovered a Springdale fumble and returned it 23 yards for a score.

Brown finished the game by completing 20 of 37 passes for 317 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Springdale had trouble generating offensive rhythm late in the game. But the Red’Dogs got the drive they needed midway through the fourth quarter when Calcagni completed long passes to Taylor and Sanchez before Taylor had a 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 21.

Sports, Pages 22 on 10/23/2010

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