CONWAY — Junction City, one of Arkansas’ premier high school football programs, had won 16 consecutive playoff games and three straight state championships until Nov. 20, when Conway Christian traveled to Union County.
By the time the night was over, the team’s streak was, too.
A big reason for the Eagles’s 41-36 victory in the second round of the Class 2A state playoffs was the performance of Conway Christian senior quarterback Jakob Henry, who completed 28 of 48 passes for 355 yards and four touchdowns.
Coming in, the Junction City Dragons had allowed just 66 passing yards per game.
“That’s school history right there,” Henry said, recalling what was easily the biggest win ever for the Eagles. “That’s something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. It was insane.”
So were his numbers for his senior season.
Henry, a 6-5, 215-pound left-hander, threw for 4,050 yards and 55 touchdowns and was named all-conference (2A-5) and Class 2A all-state. According to MaxPreps, Henry ranked 12th nationally in passing yardage. He was chosen the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s Class 2A Player of the Year.
And he is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Offensive Player of the Year for 2015.
“Unbelievable — if you’d told me before the season everything that was going to happen, there was no way in the world I’d believe you,” Henry said. “I’m not big on personal success, but really and truly, it was God’s blessing.”
Conway Christian School coach Michael Carter said Henry played a major role in the Eagles’ 2015 success.
“He’s an awesome kid — a great person on and off the field,” Carter said. “He’s a great leader, just an all-around great person. He grew into a good leader from his junior year, and he became more confident in doing what he was doing. He did a great job of reading defenses, checking off into different plays and just leading the offense.”
As a junior, Henry threw for 1,756 yards and 21 touchdowns during an all-conference campaign, leading CCS to a 9-2 season and a conference championship.
But he and his nine classmates were aiming for a big senior season.
“I could tell that most of the team really wanted to be good this year,” Henry said. “We put a lot of work in during the summer, in 7-on-7 and in team camps — a lot of hard work.”
The Eagles opened with a 32-24 loss at Episcopal Collegiate and followed that with a 51-21 loss at Haskell Harmony Grove. They then reeled off three straight big wins: 69-13 over Rose Bud, 50-8 at Poyen and 63-0 over Mountain Pine.
But they lost their 2A-5 Conference showdown at England, 27-20, to settle at 3-3 on Oct. 9.
That was the turning point.
“This was the first year that all the seniors came together and bonded into a brotherhood and took control of the season,” Henry said. “From 3-3, we all got up in arms and took control. Our leadership took control.”
Carter agreed.
“Jakob played a big role in the leadership part, along with the rest of our seniors,” Carter said. “As with most teams, the quarterback is the key leader, and he really stepped into that role and took the bull by the horns and led us. He did a great job of getting the ball out to the people who could make plays.”
The Eagles didn’t lose again until the state semifinals against McCrory, 40-14. McCrory
went on to win the state championship.
Meanwhile, the Eagles won seven straight: 54-18 over Quitman, 54-8 over Cutter Morning Star, 27-14 at Magnet Cove and 41-22 at Bigelow to end the regular season, and then 28-8 against Dierks, 41-36 at Junction City and 34-30 over Hazen in the state quarterfinals.
Henry said the Eagles had watched plenty of film and were confident in their game plan as they headed to Junction City.
“We really felt like we had a chance,” he said. “It took a lot of believing. We got really hot at the end of the year, and we were feeling good and had a lot of confidence going in.”
But he admitted to a bit of a team hangover after that big win.
“It took us until Wednesday to come down off cloud nine and get ready for Hazen,” he said.
Conway Christian finished 10-4.
Henry is a three-sport athlete. A left-handed pitcher/first baseman, he signed in November to play baseball for the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. He also drew interest for baseball from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; and for football from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Arkansas Tech University. He was averaging a double-double in basketball after two games before tearing a ligament in his left wrist, putting his senior baseball season in jeopardy.
“I can’t even imagine it,” Henry said of that prospect. “I’m already disappointed enough not to be playing basketball, but I really feel like we have a chance to win state in baseball. Last year we won conference, district and regionals and were riding high and got beat in the second round of state.”
He said he would know in mid-February if he will need surgery.
He sports a 3.95 grade-point average, which ranks him in the top 10 of his graduating class. He said he hopes to study chemistry in college and plans to be a pharmacist.
The son of David and Pam Henry, Jakob Henry has attended Conway Christian since he was a seventh-grader.
“It really provided me a big opportunity,” he said. “I’ve always loved sports. I didn’t necessarily come to Conway Christian for sports, but it definitely opened the possibility for me to play all three sports and, academically, it really challenged me. It helped me grow
spiritually, as well.”
Henry said baseball is “definitely” his best sport and is always going to be his future. He called UCA coach Allen Gum “almost a family friend.” Gum’s son Tyler is Henry’s classmate at CCS.
“I really like the way he does things,” Henry said. “He really does things the right way. I liked everything about the campus, and it’s close to home. It was a pretty easy decision for me.”
But Henry agreed that football season was a special one for him in 2015.
“I really came on in football this year,” he said. “This was the first year I really, really enjoyed it.”
The numbers — and the results — showed it.