Pulaski Academy defensive lineman Matthew Hugg acknowledged revenge wasn't a motivating factor for his team heading into its Class 5A title-game rematch with Little Rock Christian on Saturday afternoon.
But after the Bruins thoroughly dominated their rivals in front of nearly 9,000 fans at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, the senior admitted that payback for consecutive losses to the Warriors was definitely in the back of their minds.
"Oh man, to come back after losing the way we did here last year and then triple their points ... it feels great," he said. "For this defense, though, we've actually had a chip on our shoulder the entire season. To finish it out like this, it's truly special."
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The Bruins' defensive effort in their 63-21 demolition of the Warriors was certainly extraordinary.
Pulaski Academy, which lost 50-38 to Little Rock Christian in the championship game a year ago and 63-61 on Oct. 4, held the Warriors to season lows in both yardage (201) and points (21) while forcing four turnovers, three of which the Bruins turned into touchdowns on ensuing drives.
"You're not going to beat a good team like that with four turnovers," Little Rock Christian Coach Eric Cohu said. "It's very important to win the turnover battle, and it's very important to execute, do our job and not have as many breakdowns as we had."
The Bruins also kept Warriors quarterback Akeem Gilmore bottled up, preventing the same kind of damage he did in their previous meeting. The senior, who threw for 275 yards and 4 touchdowns in their earlier two-point victory, completed 7 of 19 passes for 113 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions Saturday.
Gilmore did toss four interceptions in that first meeting, but he kept plays alive by using his feet. On Saturday, the Bruins kept him in the pocket more times than not, and when he did get to the outside, Pulaski Academy usually had multiple players there to meet him.
"I think after that last game against them at their place, it left a little bad taste in their mouths," Pulaski Academy co-defensive coordinator Jason Wyatt said. "All week in practice, they were dialed in, focused and determined because they knew the task at hand. [Little Rock Christian] has got some really good players ... their quarterback, [Kendel] Givens the running back and [Chris] Hightower, their top receiver, they are really tough to defend.
"But we had a plan in place all week, and they executed it."
While Givens churned out 118 yards rushing on 17 carries, the Bruins paid extra attention to both Gilmore and Hightower. Pulaski Academy recorded three sacks along with several quarterback hurries, and the Bruins limited Hightower to three catches for 26 yards.
"We had somebody over No. 5 the whole time because he's their best receiver by far," Pulaski Academy senior defensive back Clay James said of Hightower, who'd caught 47 passes for 998 yards and 12 touchdowns prior to the game. "We sent everybody we could to put pressure on Gilmore to force him to throw ducks so we could try to pick the balls off. We were able to do that consistently throughout."
Sports on 12/08/2019