FAYETTEVILLE — West quarterbacks Dallas Hardison and Kenrick Burns may have made early mistakes which led to the East’s 10-point halftime lead, but they made up for it in the second half.
Bentonville’s Hardison accounted for three touchdowns over the final 24 minutes, and Fort Smith Northside’s Jones added another scoring pass as the West rallied for a 42-38 victory over the East during the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Football All-Star Game in Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“They’re good young men, and they’re good quarterbacks,” said Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton, who served as the West head coach. “Now I know why Barry Lunney won all those games at Bentonville — he had a great quarterback.”
Hardison, whose 392 yards passing and five total touchdowns were All-Star records, threw two touchdowns in the third quarter and helped the West turn a 24-14 halftime deficit into a 28-24 lead. He hit Dre Bennett of Lake Hamilton with a 12-yard pass, then connected with Fayetteville’s Tyler Tuck with a 33-yard pass with 3 minutes, 24 seconds left in the period.
The touchdown pass to Tuck came on a fourth-down play after the West had been unsuccessful on its previous two attempts. It also after the two former 7A-West Conference counterparts couldn’t connect on the previous play.
“We just went over the top,” Hardison said. “He was supposed to go under the safety, but they came up on him. He then went over the top of the safety, like he was supposed to do, and somehow we had a connection. It looked like we had been playing together for a long time.”
The East responded with Heber Springs’ Michael Ludwig hitting Searcy’s Johnathan Powell with a 12-yard touchdown pass to end the third quarter. Tim Cook of White Hall then added the two-point conversion run to make it a 32-28 game.
The West needed only two plays and 26 seconds to take the lead for good, thanks to Burns’ heroics. He avoided a possible sack, then found a wide-open Shaquille Jones — his favorite receiver at Northside — for a 60-yard touchdown pass with 11:34 remaining.
“I dropped back, and they sent two ends,” Burns said. “One had got a hold of my jersey as I stepped into the pocket, and somehow I broke out of it.
“I looked downfield and saw Shaq, so I had to let it go. Right after I let it go, I got hit and didn’t see anything else until he scored.”
Hardison’s fifth touchdown was set up by an interception by Magazine’s Cory Chambers, who returned it 52 yards to the West 3. Hardison sneaked in a yard out with 9:49 remaining, giving the West a 42-32 lead and breaking the All-Star Game record of four touchdowns set by two other players.
Ludwig pulled the East within 42-38 on a 1-yard run with 3:43 remaining, but Hardison helped the West run out the clock with two clutch third-down passes to Fayetteville’s Brad Culp. The two connected on a 17-yard pass to midfield on a third-and-12 play, then did it again for 46 yards to the East 9 on a third-and-15 play.
Hardison’s 392 yards passing shattered the previous mark of 235 yards set by Russellville’s Landon Leach in 2003. His only glitch was his first-quarter interception, which Darius Barnes of East Poinsett County returned for the first East touchdown, while Burns’ interception late in the first half set up a 30-yard field goal by Bryant’s Jace Denker as time expired.
WEST 42, EAST 38
East 21 3 8 6 — 38
West 14 0 14 14 — 42
First Quarter
East — Barnes 35 interception return (Denker kick), 10:55
West — Culp 81 pass from Hardison (Velazquez kick), 10:09
West — Bennett 6 pass from Hardison (Velazquez kick), 9:26
East — Dauksch 19 pass from Ludwig (Denker kick), 5:33
East — Sargent 76 pass from Ludwig (Denker kick), 0:37
Second Quarter
East — FG Denker 30, 0:00
Third Quarter
West — Bennett 12 pass from Hardison (Velazquez kick), 10:34
West — Tuck 33 pass from Hardison (Velazquez kick), 3:24
East — Powell 12 pass from Ludwig (Cook run), 0:00
Fourth Quarter
West — Jones 60 pass from Burns (Velazquez kick), 11:34
West — Hardison 1 run (Velazquez kick), 9:43
East — Ludwig 1 run (kick failed), 3:43
East West
First downs 14 20
Rushes-yards 39-116 21-(minus 29)
Passing yards 189 479
Comp-Att-Int 12-16-1 26-43-2
Punts 3-31.7 2-41.5
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-1
Penalties-yards 7-63 6-46
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — East: Cook 15-73, Ludwig 12-29, Flowers 3-11, Humbert 4-10. West: Simmons 2-8, McCoy 9-1, Hardison 1-1, Burns 6-0, TEAM 2-(minus 39)
Passing — East: Ludwig 10-13-1, 169; Irvin 1-2-0, (minus-3). West: Hardison 20-32-1, 392; Burns 6-11-1, 87.
Receiving — East: Sargent 4-84, Perkins 2-37, Powell 2-24, Jackson 2-16. East: Bennett 9-111, Culp 4-151, Holley 4-53, Simmons 3-23.
Missed Field Goals — None.