ARKADELPHIA — Getting to the championship game was one of the biggest hurdles for Arkadelphia head football coach J.R. Eldridge.
“Playing 15 weeks of football is something that we have talked about in our program for a long time,” he said. “Fifteen weeks is a long season, and that’s just including once you get to the season [opener].
“So I think being able to get over that hump was something huge for our program.”
Eldridge, who just finished his seventh year as head coach at Arkadelphia, led the Badgers to their first state championship in 30 years. For this, he has been named the Tri-Lakes Edition Coach of the Year.
“He’s intense, but he cares about his players, and he finds the best way possible to prepare us for whatever it is we are going to be doing,” said junior Zion Hatley, the Tri-Lakes Edition Offensive Player of the Year. “He cares. He is going to take his time to do his best for us.”
The Badgers defeated Warren 28-27 to win the Class 4A state championship Dec. 9 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The championship was Arkadelphia’s third in school history.
“It has been 30 years since Arkadelphia has won a state championship,”
Eldridge said. “To be able to see the community come together was an awesome experience.
“Having the crowd that we did at War Memorial and to see our community come together and experience something really awesome — that was definitely special to me.”
Arkadelphia finished the season 14-1.
“Some of these 19 seniors were a part of the first group of seventh-graders that I was able to invest in,” Eldridge said. “Their ability to stick together throughout their time and have consistency in the program, just to buy in to what we are coaching them to do and be able to accomplish a goal that we talked about for so long — it was awesome to see.”
Arkadelphia made it to the semifinals in 2015 and lost in the first round of the playoffs last season, after finishing 5-6.
“Getting over the semifinal hump and being able to play for 15 weeks is something really special,” the coach said. “It was a process to get to this point.
“We just wanted to be out there. I think that has to do a lot with the players wanting to be out there with their teammates and coaches.
“Our players did a great job of that this year.”
Eldridge graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1996 and played football at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia until 2001, when he became a graduate assistant. From 2007 to 2010, he was the defensive coordinator at OBU.
“My goal was always to be a head high school football coach,” Eldridge said.
Eldridge credited his coaching staff to the team’s success this season.
“I think we had a coaching staff that was very committed to implementing a vision and a group of seniors and an entire team that really bought in to that vision,” he said. “They were able to put in the effort to pay attention to the little details that make the difference in winning and losing.”
He said the team really focused on the fundamentals this year — “being able to block, tackle, run to the football defensively, all those little things that make a difference in a football game. …
“… To win big games, you have to do those little things right.”
Arkadelphia’s lone loss this season was against Joe T. Robinson in Week 5.
“I can’t point to one specific game,” Eldridge said of the team’s success. “I just felt like our players came back to practice with energy and effort every single week.
“I knew every week that we had a chance to really compete and win each game.”
Eldridge said Arkadelphia plays in the toughest conference in Class 4A.
“As we move forward, the biggest thing I have learned [in my seven years] is the balance of when to kind of back off and when to push,” he said. “I think there is a balance mentally, physically and being emotionally ready.
“Hopefully, by the latter part of the season, they’ve created the habits they need to execute in the games.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.