Class 4A State Championship Review: Shiloh Christian 58, Rivercrest 20

Class 4A State Championship • 2020 • War Memorial Stadium S SHI ILOH C CH HRISTIAN 58, RI IVERCREST 20

Attendance 2,156 • Cloudy 45 degrees • Kickoff noon • Time 2:37

DECEMBER 19, LITTLE ROCK —

The Shiloh Christian Saints were both methodical and succinct.

The Saints scored on all five first-half possessions and their first seven in all while rolling to a 58-20 win over Rivercrest in the Class 4A championship game at War Memorial Stadium before a crowd of 2,156.

The championship is the eighth for Shiloh Christian and first for head coach Jeff Conaway, who is the fourth head coach to take the Saints to the title to join Gus Malzahn (1998, 1999), Chris Wood (2001) and Josh Floyd (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010).

Shiloh Christian lost just one game during the season and that was to Oklahoma’s Sand Springs.

The Saints led the state in scoring with 702 points and did it in a variety of ways with 60 rushing touchdowns, 25 passing, seven special teams and six from the defense.

The Saints finished with 518 yards of offense with a balance of 239 passing and 279 rushing.

Shiloh Christian had scoring drives of 13, 11 and 14 plays, covering 63, 65 and 84 yards. The Saints also had two scoring drives of just one play each.

The Saints won the coin flip and elected to receive rather than defer to the second half and took a 7-0 lead with 8:08 left in the first quarter on a 3-yard run by quarterback Eli Wisdom to cap a 13-play, 63-yard drive.

Rivercrest tied the game on Keyshawn Scott’s 1-yard scoring run with 5:43 left in the opening quarter.

Wisdom hit Jacob Solomon on a 10yard scoring toss, and Cam Wiedemann scored on a 3-yard scoring run to take a State Championship Numbers 8

State championships for Shiloh Christian, and first for coach Jeff Conaway 7

Possessions scored on by Shiloh Christian out of their first seven 13

Touchdowns scored by Shiloh Christian combined on special teams and defense

20-7 lead on the second play of the second quarter.

Rivercrest stayed close with Kam Turner hitting Scott with a 30-yard touchdown pass to trim Shiloh Christian’s lead back to 20-13.

Ben Baker returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards, and Wisdom immediately hit Cooper Hutchinson for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 8:50 left in the half.

Hutchinson intercepted a pass at the 1 to end Rivercrest’s next drive, and the Saints marched 84 yards on 14 plays in four minutes, 31 seconds with Kaden Henley bulling in from two yards out for a 35-13 cushion at the half.

“It was a great feeling in the first half to go five for five on drives,” Conaway said. “Those were huge. We needed every one of them.”

Rivercrest was turned away again as the first half expired at the 1.

Rivercrest then received the secondhalf kickoff but fumbled. The Saint struck quickly after Braden Tutt’s recovery with Wisdom connecting with Wiedemann for a 41-yard touchdown pass just 17 seconds into the new half.

“If you don’t score with them, you’re going to have a hard time,” Rivercrest head coach Johnny Fleming said. “We had a chance right there at the end of the first half to get back with them if we do that, and then we don’t fumble the kickoff to start the second half.”

Rivercrest had another opportunity when Jaylyn West returned an on-side kick by Shiloh Christian to the 9. Four plays later, Shiloh Christian took over on downs and went 91 yards in 10 plays to apply the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule to start the game clock running continuously with a 49-13 lead on Wisdom’s 7-yard scoring run with 7:37 left in the third quarter.

“In the second half, our linemen were the difference,” Conaway said. “They leaned on them and opened up some run lanes.”

Wisdom earned the game’s Most Valuable Player award with 16 runs for 110 yards and three scores and 239 yards passing with three touchdowns on 17-of-21 efficiency.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Eli Wisdom ■ QB ■ Shil Christian

BURLSWORTH AWARD WINNERS Sam Widmer ■ OL ■ Shil Christian Gunnar McCullar ■ OL ■ Rivercrest

SHILOH CHRISTIAN OFFENSE QB Eli Wisdom SO FB Kaden Henley JR RB Cam Wiedemann SR WR Cooper Hutchinson JR SR Andrew Dudley SR LT Sam Widmer SR LG Wyatt Graves SR C Nathan Lentine JR RG Jackson Ball JR RT Zachary Brown JR TE Noah Dejarnatt SO PK Caleb Anderson JR RIVERCREST DEFENSE DE Gunnar McCullar SR NM Trenton Kimbrough SO DE Octavio Chirinos SO OLB Brandyn Brownlee JR ILB Omarion Phillips SR ILB Travian Jones JR OLB Keshawn Scott SR CB Damarco Cuble SR CB Clay Burks JR S Jaylan West SR S Kamron Turner SR P Brandyn Brownlee JR RIVERCREST OFFENSE QB Kamron Turner SR RB Keshawan Scott SR WR Omarion Phillips SR LT Gunnar McCullar SR LG Trenton Kimbrough SO C Andre Harris JR RG Octavio Chirinos SO RT Connor Gray SR SR Jaden Stovall SO SR Clay Burks JR WR Elijah Nichols SR PK Gunnar McCullar SR SHILOH CHRISTIAN DEFENSE DE Cooper Darr SO NM Thomas Reece SO DE Nykile Poor SR OLB Dax Widger FR ILB Gavin Goddard SR ILB Kaden Henley JR OLB Braden Tutt SR CB Andrew Dudley SR CB Eli Wisdom SO S Benjamin Baker JR S Cooper Hutchinson JR P Caleb Anderson JR

CLASS 4A CHAMPIONSHIP STATISTICS

TEAM STATISTICS

RIVERCREST SHILOH CHRISTIAN First Downs 18 25 Total Offense 55-346 72-518 Rushes - yards 33-180 51-279 Passes - yards 8-22-166 17-21-239 Fumbles Lost 1 0 Interceptions Thrown 1 0 Fourth Down Stopped 3 0 Penalties 5-23 7-78 Punts - Average 1-6.0 2-24.0 Big Plays (10+ yards) 13-308 19-425 Zero or Less Plays 24-(-16) 13-(-43) Sacks By - yards lost 2-25 1-4 3rd Down Conversions(avg to go) 4 of 10 (6.7) 11 of 16 (6.1) 4th Down Conversions(avg to go) 2 of 5 (5.8) 2 of 2 (6.0) Punt, Int, Fum Returns - yards 1-35 1-15 Average Drive Start own 36 own 42 Points Off Turnover 0 14 Possession Time 18:46 29:14