FAYETTEVILLE — Most people who play high school football never get a chance to appear in a state championship game.
That’s not the case at Shiloh Christian.
Center Josh Salsbury, receiver Jake Scott and linebacker Mitchell Roberts head a senior class that has made advancing to the state championship game an annual tradition at the school.
Salsbury will start in astate title game for a fourth consecutive year when Shiloh Christian meets Lonoke at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to decide the Class 4A title at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Scott, a three-year starter, and Roberts also sawaction as freshmen, when the Saints went 14-0 and beat Prescott 48-6 to win the Class AAA title.
All three are part of a 13-man senior class that has experienced phenomenal success. The Saints have posted a 37-4 record over the past three seasons, and Saturday they will be going after their second consecutive state championship and their third state title in four years.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the experience is getting old. Salsbury, who started every game as a freshman, still remembers that first trip to the final.
“I was nervous because that was my first championship game,” he said. “But I had a bunch of seniors around me who were confident in themselves, and they kind of took my hand and led me.”
Shiloh Christian (12-1) is hoping to match last year’s record, when the Saints finished 13-1 and beat Pine Bluff Dollarway 42-18 to win Class 4A state championship. The pressure has been on from the outset this season, when Shiloh Christian opened the season ranked No. 1 overall.
The Saints slipped after a 54-51 loss to Class 5A Greenwood in Week 3, but they regained the top position in Arkansas with 10 consecutive victories.
“It’s amazing how blessed we are to be part of such a great program,” said Scott, who has 41 receptions for 872 yards this season. “ We’ve worked so hard over the past four years to get to the state championship game.
“It starts in January with the off-season, and we really have only two or three weeks off, but it’s paid off and we’re glad to be going back for a fourth straight time.”
Not all of Shiloh Christian’s appearances at War Memorial Stadium over the past four years have been successful. The Saints were close to a second consecutive statechampionship in 2007, but they lost 35-34 to Glen Rose in overtime.
“I was most disappointed in that game because I got hurt and had to watch,” said Roberts, who left in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. “During the off-season we had a picture of the scoreboard put up in front of our weightroom. That pushed us because we wanted to get back to the championship game and redeem ourselves.”
Shiloh Christian opened the 2008 season with a 47-9 loss to Shreveport Evangel Christian but then won 13 consecutive games, capped by its victory over Pine Bluff Dollarway in the championship game.
It looked like Shiloh Christian’s bid for a fourth consecutive trip to War Memorial Stadium was in jeopardy in the third round of the playoffs this season. The Saints fell behind 35-0 to Nashville in Springdale, but Scott sparked a comeback with a fourth-down sack and caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Kiehl Frazier for the Saints’ first score.
Shiloh Christian went on to dominate the second half and completed its comeback for a 51-49 victory.
Scott added two more touchdowns last week when the Saints beat Bald Knob 48-7 in the semifinals at Champions Field to set up Saturday’s game against Lonoke.
“We learned from the Nashville game, especially, that you can’t ever give up,” Scott said. “When you think it’s all falling apart, you’ve got to stay calm and keep working hard.”
Shiloh Christian hopes it doesn’t need another comeback to defeat Lonoke on Saturday, but the Saints aren’t taking anything for granted against the Jackrabbits, who have won playoff games at Warren, Malvern and Osceola.
“Lonoke is good, and our coaches have been staying up late studying the film and getting us ready to play,” Salsbury said. “We just have to stay humble and go out and execute like we have all year.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 12/11/2009