CONWAY — For his senior season, Rob Hogue and his classmates were determined to build on the best showing in Conway Christian School history.
As juniors, they had helped the Eagles to a 10-4 campaign that ended only in the Class 2A state semifinals at McCrory, which went on to win the state title. The highlight was a 41-36 second-round road upset
of Junction City, which had won consecutive state championships in 2012, ’13 and ’14 — its fourth title in six years.
In 2016, Hogue and his mates came up just short, finishing 9-3 after a second-round loss at Mount Ida, the eventual champion.
But the season was anything but a failure.
“I have no regrets,” said Hogue, a 6-2, 210-pound linebacker whose 160 tackles led the Eagles for the second straight season. “Those were some of the best times of my life, playing with some of my best friends.
“Even though we didn’t make it all the way, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
For his efforts, Hogue has been named the River Valley & Ozark Edition Defensive Player of the Year.
Conway Christian defensive coordinator Andrew Roberson said Hogue had been a leader since joining the varsity as a sophomore.
“He is a hard worker,” Roberson said. “He worked hard in the weight room, in the offseason and all the way through his senior year. He’s always been a vocal leader, but he’s always been able to back that up with his play.”
Hogue played quarterback through his junior high career with occasional time at linebacker.
“But once I got into senior high, I realized the guy in front of me (at quarterback) was really good,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to play much quarterback, so I started gaining weight to focus on defense.
“My sophomore season was all right. My junior year, I started developing a linebacker mentality, getting my assignments better, getting quicker and stronger. I realized linebacker was my spot.
“You’ve got to have a special mentality to play defense.”
As a sophomore, he said he recorded about 70 tackles but believed he could improve those numbers.
“I thought I’d push myself a lot harder,” he said. “My goal for my junior year was to lead the team in tackles.”
He did, turning in 128 tackles — 40 more than his closest competition.
“But I still felt like I could’ve pushed myself further,” he said. “For my senior year, I wanted no regrets. My New Year’s resolution [for 2016] was every single day to try to get in the gym and make myself better.”
And he did.
“This year, I set my goal to lead the team in tackles again,” he said. “I wanted 150 and to lead the team, conference and state. I ended up with 160, which was No. 1 in [Class] 2A. Meeting that goal really meant a lot to me because of all the hard work I put in.”
His other goals included improving his speed and strength — the latter of which came at Roberson’s expense over the offseason. They had a friendly bench-press competition, and Hogue’s goal was to beat his coach by 10 pounds.
“I did it,” Hogue said, chuckling. “I got 280 at the time; he had 270. About a month later, I got 300. He was probably up to 280, 285. It’s always good to have competition. He always pushes me.”
On the field, the Eagles picked up with the momentum of the record-setting ’15 season. They opened 4-0 with wins over Episcopal Collegiate, Mountain View, Rose Bud and Poyen to set up a showdown with Hector. The Wildcats prevailed, 44-24; and the next week, the Eagles fell to top-ranked England, 63-21.
“Two in a row,” Hogue said. “After that, we had a team meeting to figure out what was going wrong — just the seniors and the rest of the team, no coaches. After that, we started playing very well, much better as a team and not for ourselves. We overcame the adversity.”
From 4-2, the Eagles reeled off wins over Quitman, Cutter Morning Star, Magnet Cove and Bigelow to finish the regular season 8-2. In the opening round of the playoffs, they went on the road to Bearden, another tradition-rich program, and won, 28-22, after trailing at halftime, 14-0.
“We have never played better than we did in the second half,” Hogue said.
That victory set up the trip to Mount Ida.
“They are a very good team,” Hogue said. “We kind of got a bad draw the last two years. Both times, the team that beat us won the state championship.”
His football honors include all-conference in 2015 and ’16, Preseason Landers Super Team, Farm Bureau Defensive Player of the Year nominee and more.
Hogue, who is involved with student leadership at Conway’s First Baptist Church, also plays baseball (first and third base) for Roberson. He is student-body president, sports a 3.7 grade-point average and is involved in CCS’ drama, history and Beta clubs.
“He is very smart in the classroom, and he takes what he does in the classroom and translates that to the field,” Roberson said.
Hogue, who credits his coaches for his discipline, said he considers the football field to be an extension of the classroom.
“You’re working hard every day, making sure you’re getting your assignments done,” he said. “The test is basically the game.”
He expects to play college football next year, but at press time, he wasn’t sure where. He’s drawn interest from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Harding University in Searcy, Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Hendrix College in Conway and Lyon College in Batesville. He said he would like to make a decision in the next month. He anticipates a career in physical therapy.