LITTLE ROCK — Another year, another semifinal playoff meeting between Harding Academy and Fountain Lake.
“I don’t know really how to describe it,” Harding Academy Coach Roddy Mote. “We went from not ever playing them to playing them every year.”
Harding Academy (12-0) and Fountain Lake (11-2) meet for the fifth time since 2009 in a Class 3A semifinal playoff game Friday night in Searcy.
Fountain Lake eliminated Harding Academy 42-10 in a semifinal game in 2009. Harding Academy turned the tables, 33-15, in a 2010 semifinal game. Sandwiched around those playoff games were victories by Harding Academy to open the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
Fountain Lake Coach Tommy Gilleran jokingly said the reason the schools ended their regular-season series was because they knew they would meet in the playoffs.
“It’s hard to play somebody twice in the same year,” Gilleran said. “It worked out for us.”
Harding Academy, No. 2 Class 3A, is led by senior quarterback Will Francis, who has completed 231 of 307 passes for 3,431 yards and 37 touchdowns this fall.
The Wildcats average 412.3 total yards per game, including 303.8 passing.
“They don’t run the ball very much at all,” Gilleran said. “They put it in the quarterback’s hands and let him do it.”
The Cobras feature 1,000-yard rushers in seniors Andrew Barber (1,248) and Mackenzie Ross (1,054), but Gilleran said defense is the team’s strength.
Fountain Lake is allowing just 9.8 points per game and has yielded more than 14 points in only one game.
“Our defense has really been good all year,” said Gilleran, whose team is No. 4 in Class 3A. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are quick and strong. We’ve got a lot of depth.”
Gilleran led the Cobras to the Class 3A state championship in 2009.
Mote led Harding Academy to a runner-up finish in Class 3A in 2010.
“We’re playing well right now,” Mote said. “We gear everything toward being at our best in the playoffs.”
At a glance FOUNTAIN LAKE
VS. HARDING ACADEMY
WHAT Class 3A semifinals WHEN 7 p.m. Friday WHERE First Security Stadium, Searcy RECORDS Fountain Lake 11-2; Harding Academy 12-0 RANKINGS Fountain Lake is No. 4 in Class 3A; Harding Academy is No. 2 in Class 3A SEEDS Fountain Lake is No. 2 from the 5-3A; Harding Academy is No. 1 from the 2-3A
Sports, Pages 25 on 11/29/2012