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Saints Fight Off Rust
Shiloh Advances With Easy Win Against Harding Academy
Last updated Friday, November 16, 2007 11:53 PM CST in Prep Sports
By Vernon Tarver
THE MORNING NEWS
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SPRINGDALE -- Shiloh Christian showed signs of rust early. Then the Saints showed signs of being simply too tough late.
Coming off a bye week in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs, Shiloh struggled to move the ball in the first quarter Friday. But after rough going early on, the Saints got things rolling in a 34-7 win against Harding Academy at Champions Stadium to open defense of their state title.
"I was a little bit worried (we might be rusty)," Shiloh Christian coach Josh Floyd said. "And this was also the first playoff game for a lot of our players."
Even though the Saints (10-1) weren't their usual selves on offense, playing what Floyd called their worst quarter of football, the Shiloh defense was top-notch. Harding Academy was held to nine total yards in the first quarter and managed just 22 rushing yards in the game.
And even when the Wildcats did have chances to score, they couldn't capitalize against the bigger, stronger Saints.
"I think the big key to the whole thing wasn't all the skill players or all the running around," Harding Academy coach Tommy Shoemaker said. "The key was the guys up front. They're just bigger and better than we are up front and that was the key.
"Both sides of the ball, that was the key. That was why they were able to move the ball. They were able to run it and we couldn't run it. You know, it's hard to be one-dimensional unless you're superior athlete wise. And we match up pretty well skill position wise but up front, that was the difference."
Harding (9-3) was able to stay within 14-7 at half by scoring its only touchdown with five seconds left before intermission when Matt Lincoln found Lance Carr on a 4th-and-1 pass play from six yards out. But after the break, Shiloh's offense -- and defense -- totally took over. Quarterback Blake Roberts finished with 227 passing yards and ran for 76 more as the Saints scored 20 unanswered points in the final two quarters.
"Our defense really played well," Floyd said. "I felt like they won the game for us.
"We really didn't do anything different (on offense) in the second half. We just started executing better."
Shiloh advances to the Class 3A quarterfinals, where it will host Lavaca next week.
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