SPRINGDALE - After years of dominating Class 3A, Shiloh Christian made a statement in its first Class 4A playoff game.
The Saints gave up a quick touchdown to Clarksville, then scored on seven consecutive possessions en route to an 84-14 crushing of the Panthers in a second-round game Friday at Champions Stadium.
The Saints (10-1) host Lonoke in the quarterfinals Friday.
The Panthers (8-4) took a 7-0 lead just 1:17 into the game on Damon Redman's 36-yard pass to Wesleigh Foster. Clarksville never threatened again until scoring late in the fourth quarter. By that time, Shiloh Christian had scored 12 consecutive touchdowns.
The Saints scored on their first seven possessions, none taking longer than 1 minute, 45 seconds.
"Some nights you have it and some nights you don't," Clarksville Coach Michael Banning said. "Shiloh is bigger, stronger and faster in all areas of the game. They just dominated."
Running backs Garrett Harper and Chris Bryant did the bulk of the damage in the first half. Harper ran 6 times for 80 yards and 1 touchdown and caught 4 passes for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bryant had 6 carries for 71 yards and 3 touchdowns.
"Our running backs ran hard," Shiloh Christian Coach Josh Floyd said. "It was Garrett Harper's quarter in the first quarter. He's a dual threat."
Harper scored the Saints' firstthree touchdowns on passes of 9 and 35 yards from Kiehl Frazier and a 17-yard run. Tyler Cole's 55-yard run set up a 6-yard run by David Matthews for a 28-7 lead after one quarter.
Bryant took over the scoring load in the second quarter with touchdown runs of 4, 10 and 1 yards. Daniel Petrino pushed the lead to 56-7 at halftime with a45-yard interception return with 4:54 left in the half.
"They drove the football down the first time and you could tell the explosion they had," Floyd said.
"Our defense kept playing physical and our offense was clicking tonight."
The Saints scored four more times in the third quarter despitethe continuously running clock under the sportsmanship rule. Caleb George ran 2 yards, Collin Self ran 5 yards and Jon Hawes (interception) and Jason Schisler (fumble) both had 26-yard returns on turnovers.
The Panthers had seven turnovers for the game, including six interceptions. Hawes had two of them and Harper had one.
Sports, Pages 30 on 11/22/2008