FORT SMITH - Springdale's game with Fort Smith Northside came down to one play, and most everyone knew where the ball was going Friday night.
Ashton Glaser tried a pass to Michael Upton in the end zone with 1:16 to play, but Trey Jones knocked the ball away to preserve a 14-7 victory for Northside at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.
The victory kept Northside (7-2, 4-2) in a tie for second in the 7A-West and eliminated Springdale (4-5, 2-4) from the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Springdale threatened to tie the game with a drive that started from the Bulldogs' 36 and reached the Grizzlies' 3. Springdale faced fourth-and-2 when Glaser attempted a slant pass in the end zone to Upton, who had 10 catches for 114 yards.
The ball was well-thrown, but Jones converged on the play and forced an incompletion that secured the victory for Northside, which can look ahead to its home game this week with rival Fort Smith Southside.
"This was like the old Springdale and Northsidegames with a lot of hard-hitting going on," Northside Coach Darrell Henry said. "I'm proud of our guys for sucking it up and staying in there."
Upton had another big night catching the football, and he was the player to go to after breaking Springdale's singleseason record for receiving earlier this year. He had already made three catches on the drive when Springdale went to him again on fourth-and-2.
"[Upton] is the guy we've got to give it to," Springdale Coach Kevin Johnson said. "Everybody in the stadium knew who we were going to and they just made a great play. This was a great football team, and our guys played extremely hard."
Northside broke a 7-7 tie when Dax Dupire passed to Ray Ray Goodman for a 17-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter. It was the first score since the first quarter, when Glaser and Semaj Edwardstraded 1-yard runs.
Edwards finished with 110 yards rushing on 27 carries.
"Dax did a good job of telling me where they were lined up and what he could do," Henry said.
Sports, Pages 30 on 10/27/2007