ROGERS -- Springdale High came up with a pair of big defensive stops to snap a 16-game losing streak Friday night in Gates Stadium.
The Red Bulldogs held Rogers Heritage on fourth-and-1 in the waning seconds to claim a hard-fought 29-26 7A-West Conference win.
7A-West Conference
Springdale High 29, Rogers Heritage 26
Springdale^8^3^13^5^—^29
Heritage^8^12^0^6^—^26
First Quarter
Spring-Dickerson 10 pass from Lindsey (Lindsey pass to Galdamez), 3:10.
Hert-Christian 16 pass from Qualls (Qualls pass to Brackett), 0:13.
Second Quarter
Hert-Palacios 30 pass from Qualls (Run failed), 11:11.
Hert-Christian 16 pass from Qualls (Run failed), 0:55.
Spring-FG Bautista 30, :00.
Third Quarter
Spring-Mendez 9 run (Bautista kick), 6:01.
Spring-Mendez 6 run (Pass failed), 3:23.
Fourth Quarter
Hert- Christian 34 pass from Kitterman. (Run failed), 11:51.
Spring-Safety, 10:39.
Spring-FG Bautista 30, 7:01.
Heritage (1-3, 0-1 7A-West) mounted a late drive, facing a fourth-and-1 from the Springdale 6, but War Eagles quarterback Jake Qualls couldn't get a handle on the snap and was forced to throw a desperation pass that fell incomplete with less than 30 seconds left.
Springdale coach Zak Clark said his team stayed strong, despite a pair of first-half turnovers that put the Red'Dogs in an early hole.
"I knew we were going to play hard," Clark said. "We did, all the way down with a great goal-line stand to end it. Can't say enough about our kids. We got down two scores early, but kept fighting and battling back. It looked like we had all the momentum early there in the second half and they did what good teams do, battling back.
"Two things we haven't been able to do is get big stops and run the ball and we did both those things in that second half. That's why we won."
Heritage took a 26-24 lead on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Trey Kitterman to Collin Christian on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was Christian's third touchdown catch of the game, but the War Eagles wouldn't score again.
Springdale tied it when Heritage snapped the ball through the end zone for a safety, then followed that with a 10-play drive that resulted in John Bautista's second 30-yard field goal of the night with 7 minutes, 1 second left.
Heritage came back with another drive into Springdale territory, but junior Jayden Minchew picked off a Kitterman pass inside the Red Bulldogs' 5.
Heritage coach Perry Escalante said his team just could not overcome late mistakes.
"We did everything everything we could to lose the ballgame tonight," Escalante said. "Snapping it out of the back of the end zone, throwing a pick down there with a guy playing center field. Just poor judgment. Then not paying attention down the stretch. We deserved to lose.
"I feel bad for those kids that played that hard and come down to that and we had an opportunity to win twice, then did what we did. You do that and you're going to get beat."
Heritage converted a pair of Springdale turnovers into scores en route to a 20-11 halftime lead. But Springdale countered with a pair of third-quarter scores keyed by the running game. Junior Eric Mendez finished off both drives with touchdown runs of nine and six yards.
Sports on 09/26/2015