The newest millennium continues to produce an old result. That’s Pulaski Academy celebrating a football conference championship.
Powered by five first half touchdown passes from senior quarterback Charlie Fiser, Pulaski Academy beat the Beebe Badgers 58-14 on a chilly, windy Friday night at Joe B. Hatcher Stadium in Little Rock to secure a share of its ninth 5A-Central title in the last 10 seasons.
Spanning 21 seasons and three coaches — Kirby Nor-wood (2001-2002), Kevin Kelley (2003-2020) and now Anthony Lucas — the Bruins are 135-6 in conference games, including 78-1 since 2010, and won or shared 17 titles. Pulaski Academy (8-1, 5-0) can claim the outright conference title with a victory in next week’s regular-season finale at Jacksonville.
The Bruins are seeking title their and third 10 th consecutive state champi 5A - onship since 2003.
“Of course, we always set our goal to win a state championship,” said Lucas, who spent roughly a decade as an assistant at Pulaski Academy before being promoted in May when Kelley left for Presbyterian (S.C.) College. “But I can be proud of this one, a conference championship. This is my first one as a head coach.” Pulaski Academy was never threatened by Beebe (3-6, 2-3) in a matchup highlighted by more than 30 penalties and a barrage of short touchdown passes from Fis-er, who played sparingly in the second half and finished 29 of 36 for 272 yards.
The Bruins led 14-0 after one quarter and invoked the sportsmanship rule – a running clock when the score differential reaches 35 points in the second half – after Fis-er lofted a 1-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Charlie Barker with 2:36 remaining in the second quarter for a 45-7 halftime advantage.
Fiser had earlier thrown touchdown passes of 10 and 13 yards to standout senior tailback Joe Himon, 3 yards to Barker and 11 yards to sophomore tailback Kenny Jordan. Himon also scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. Both of his touchdown receptions came after Fiser, rolling right, flipped the pass behind his back to the tailback, who was running left.
“We try to mix up some things to kind of keep people on their toes,” Lucas said. “Just add a little something different because they’re expecting Charlie to keep it, but he goes behind the back with the pass. Kind of makes you think like, ‘Gosh, where did that ball go?’ Next thing you know, one of our tailbacks, Joe Himon or Kenny Jordan, is running down the football field. That’s something Coach Kelley did. We just kind of kept it going. When I took this job, I said I didn’t want to change things from what we’ve done because our kids have been running this system. Just add a couple of pieces, but for the most part keep it the same.” The victory assured Pulaski Academy home-field advantage through at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.