5A Southside humbles Cats in nonconference tilt

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Heber Springs defenders Zachary Parker (12), Jacob McMullin (25), Weston Warden (bottom of pile) and Jordan Tidwell (arm pictured) bring down Southside Batesville’s Gabe Witt. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

By PHILIP SEATON
MarkedTime.com Publisher

SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE – Heber Springs traveled to one of the favorites of the 5A-East conference and were handed a 49-10 setback by Southside Batesville in nonconference play.

The Southerners (3-0) led 28-3 at the half and held the Panthers (0-2) to 11 first-half yards of total offense and minus nine yards rushing.

“I told coach (Southside Batesville coach Kenny) Simpson that they have a good chance to win that conference,” Heber Springs coach Van Paschal, who coached at 5A-East member Wynne last season, said after the game. “They are a good football team. Ain’t no doubt about it.”

The Southerners dominated from the start.

Heber Springs took the opening kickoff on its own 29 and moved the ball for a first down on a fourth-and-2 play, but a penalty pushed the Panthers back forcing a punt.

Gideon Tate’s 42-yard punt switched the field for the Panthers, but Southside Batesville used their senior-laden line to march 74 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead after Louis Calhoun ran 19 yards for the score. Joel Busby added the PAT kick at the 6:02 mark of the first quarter.

A sack stalled the Panthers on their next possession, and the Southerners struck quickly as Savion Hall connected with Seth Case for a 47-yard touchdown pass with 2:30 to play in the opening quarter. Busby’s PAT made it 14-0.

Heber Springs fumbled the ball five times on the night and lost three of them, including on its next possession as Brady Wood recovered the ball for Southside Batesville at the Panther 35.

Three plays later, Calhoun would score from the 1 to push the Southerner lead to 21-0 with 1:36 to play in the opening quarter.

The Panthers went backwards on their next possession. A 45-yard punt by Tate that pinned Southside Batesville inside their own 20-yard line, but the Southerners used a 12-play, 81-yard drive that used 4:39 of the second quarter to a 28-0 advantage. Gabe Witt scored from the 5-yard line with 7:08 left before the half.

Heber Springs put together its best drive on their next possession. Starting on the Southerner 48 after a failed onside-kick attempt, the Panthers marched to the Southside Batesville 8. Junior Weston Warden rushed for 33 yards on five carries and caught a 20-yard pass from junior Liam Buffalo to highlight the drive. The drive stalled after five-yard loss and senior Gideon Tate came on the field and kicked his first career field goal drilling the 30-yarder to make it 28-3 with 1:45 to play in the half.

Despite the good end to first half by the Panthers, Southside would dominate the third quarter using a 12-play drive to make it 35-3 after Isaac Wallis scored from the 4. A Heber Springs fumble gave the Southerners a short field to push the score to 42-3. Witt scored from the 4 for Southside Batesville.

Another Panther fumble with 1:44 left in the third quarter gave Southside Batesville the ball on the Panther 25 and Trey Allen connected with Tyler Myers on an 11-yard touchdown pass on the fourth quarter with a continuous running clock.

With the second-teamers on the field, Heber Springs used a 65-yard drive to set the final score. Nate Eaton (13 yards), Emmett Dwyer (12 yards), Elijah Jones (21 yards) and Bryce Siegrist (16 yards) each had first-down carrying runs to move the ball to the Southerner 3. Eaton would get the touchdown from there with 4:47 showing on third-quarter clock. Tate added the PAT to set the final score.

“Would have liked to have played better tonight,” Paschal said. “We have to watch film, fix things. I told the kids if we were 2-0 in nonconference that’s great, but really doesn’t affect the conference race so we are 0-2, and we have got to work.”

Heber Springs travels to Jonesboro Westside Friday night to close out nonconference action.

HEBER SPRINGS AT SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE
SENIOR HIGH
September 8, 2023
TEAM STATS
TIME OF POSSESSION: Heber Springs 21:19, Southside 26:41
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS: Heber Springs 7, Southside 23
BY RUSH: Heber Springs 6, Southside 18
BY PASS: Heber Springs 1, Southside 4
BY PENALTY: Heber Springs 0, Southside 1
TEAM RUSHING: Heber Springs 34/78/2.3, Southside 54/298/5.5
TEAM PASSING: Heber Springs 1/1-20-0/0, Southside 7/9-105-2/1
TOTAL OFFENSE: Heber Springs 35/98/2.8, Southside 63/403/6.4
3RD CONVERSION: Heber Springs 1/7, Southside 6/10
4TH CONVERSION: Heber Springs 1/1, Southside 3/3
RED-ZONE: Heber Springs 2/2, Southside 6/6
TURNOVERS: Heber Springs 3, Southside 1
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS: Heber Springs 0, Southside 21
FUMBLES/LOST: Heber Springs 5/3, Southside 2/0
PENALTIES: Heber Springs7/51, Southside 7/50
KICKOFF RETURNS: Heber Springs 6/37/6.2, Southside 2/32
PUNT RETURNS: Heber Springs 0, Southside 1/4
PUNTS: Heber Springs 3/120/40, Southside 0
PUNTS INSIDE 20: Heber Springs 1, Southside 0
SACKS: Heber Springs 0/0, Southside 2/15
TACKLES FOR LOSS: Heber Springs 3/7, Southside 11/47
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: Heber Springs, Liam Buffalo 8/(-10), Brodie Basford 7/8, Weston Warden 6/28, Nate Eaton 3/18/1, Parker Brown 3/(-12), Bryce Siegrist 2/24, Emmett Dwyer 2/10, Elijah Jones 1/21, Logan Rutledge 1/(-6), Team 1/(-3). Southside Batesville, Gabe Witt 11/53/2, Louis Calhoun 10/74/2, Seth Case 7/41, Savion Hall 9/78, Isaac Wallis 5/40/1, Braden Simpson 3/14, Nick Lopez 3/4, Zach Johnston 1/(-2), Trey Allen 1/(-4).
PASSING: Heber Springs, Liam Buffalo 1/1-20-0/0. Southside Batesville, Savion Hall 6/8-94-1/1, Trey Allen 1/1-11-1/0
RECEIVING: Heber Springs, Weston Warden 1/20. Southside Batesville, Jaylon Jennings 1/1, Braden Simpson 2/34, Seth Case 1/47/1, Louis Calhoun 1/1, Isaac Wallis 1/11, Tyler Myers 1/11/1.
KICKOFF RETURNS: Heber Springs, Logan Rutledge 3/28, Weston Warden 1/6, Bryce Siegrist 1/3
ALL-PURPOSE YARDS: Heber Springs, Weston Warden 54
PUNTING: Heber Springs, Gideon Tate 3/120/40.0/1. LONG: 45
SCORING
PAT KICKS: Gideon Tate 1/1, Southside 7/7
FIELD GOALS: Gideon Tate 1/1. MADE: 30
POINTS: Nate Eaton 6, Gideon Tate 4
DEFENSIVE STATS
SACKS: Southside 2/15
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: None
FORCED FUMBLES: None
PBU: Eli Buffalo
QB HURRIES: None
TACKLES (U/A/TFL - TOTAL)
Carter Julian  5 5 0 10
Parker Brown   4 2 0 6
Logan Lozeau   1 0 0 1
Bryce Siegrist 3 2 1 5
Eli Buffalo    6 2 0 8
Weston Warden  2 3 0 5
Jacob McMullin 4 3 0 7
Luke Elliott   2 0 0 2
Zachary Parker 2 2 0 4
Nash Farmer    0 1 0 1
Jordan Tidwell 3 0 0 3
Logan Rutledge 1 0 0 1
Nate Eaton     2 1 2 3
Corbin Jones   1 1 0 2
Emmett Dwyer   1 0 0 1
Greg Williams  1 1 0 2
Elijah Jones   2 2 0 4
Gauge Owens    1 0 0 1

Panthers fall in home opener to Southside

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Heber Springs running back Parker Brown looks for running room against Southside Batesville Friday night at Panther Stadium. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

By LARRY “SCOOP” McCARTY

Turnovers and Southside Batesville’s punishing run game proved too big of an obstacle for the Heber Springs Panthers to overcome at Panther Stadium on Friday.

Southside converted 3-of-5 Heber Springs turnovers into touchdowns and gained 509 yards of offense in a 44-6 nonconference win against the Panthers. The Southerners (2-1) won by their largest margin in the series (38 points), which started in 2006, and back-to-back games against Heber Springs (0-2) for the first time.

“When you give another team five turnovers, no matter the team, you are probably going to lose,” Panther coach Todd Wood said. “That is what happened in this game. I told the team at halftime the turnovers gave Southside 21 points. That’s an example you have to score when you have an opportunity.”

Even though Heber Springs only reached the end zone once, Wood said the offense showed more production than in last week’s game at Clinton.

The Panthers gained 270 yards, sparked by quarterback Xander Lindley, and receivers Dalton Yancey and Easton Cusick. Lindley completed 20-of-28 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown pass. Yancey caught seven passes for 75 yards, while Cusick had six catches for 53 yards.

Running back Parker Brown, who gained 165 all-purpose yards, rushed for 88 yards, caught four passes for 35 yards and one touchdown, plus 21 yards on punt returns and 46 yards on kickoff returns.

“We moved the ball on offense well at times,” Wood said. “But we need to find a way to not turn it over. Lindley threw better and had good preparation for this game. He looked more comfortable at quarterback.”

Seth Case rushed for 238 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns for the Southerners. Colby Harris and Louis Calhoun ran for 84 and 83 yards and scored one touchdown, respectively. Southside averaged 11 yards per attempt.

Southerner quarterback Chase Duncan completed 2-of-2 passes for 49 yards.

“We didn’t execute well on defense and were out of position on a lot of plays,” Wood said. “We were getting smashed down the field. We can’t let that happen.”

Heber Springs received the opening kickoff and had one first down before a bad snap on the next series of plays led to a punt.

Southside took the initial lead on a three-play, 73-yard series. Harris broke loose on a 64-yard touchdown with 7:55 left in the first quarter. Brandon Lopez kicked the extra point.

The Southerners regained possession when Blayne Warren recovered a Brown fumble at the Southerner 31. Calhoun finished a nine-play, 69-yard drive by scoring on a 3-yard carry with 2:01 to go in the first quarter. Lopez kicked the conversion for the 14-0 lead.

A fourth-down stop near midfield put the Southerners in scoring position for their third touchdown during the first half. Duncan scored on a 6-yard run with 10:08 left in the second quarter. Lopez kicked the conversion for the 21-0 lead.

An Adam Denison’s interception of a Lindley pass at the Southerner 15-yard line set up the next Southside touchdown. Case scored on an 85-yard touchdown run with 4:29 remaining until halftime. Lopez converted the conversion kick for a 28-0 lead.

The fourth Heber Springs turnover during the first half set up Southside’s next score. Case dashed 63 yards for the score with 2:24 left until halftime. Lopez’ kick for the extra point was unsuccessful.

After the kickoff, Heber Springs drove 60 yards on five plays for its touchdown. Cusick caught a 23-yard pass from Lindley to put the Panthers in scoring position. On the next play, Lindley connected on a short throw to Brown for a 29-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half. The Panthers were unsuccessful on the 2-point conversion try and trailed 34-6 at halftime.

“If we don’t turn the ball over so much during the first half, it might have been a different game in the second half,” Wood told the Panthers at halftime. “We moved the ball on our opening series consistently until the bad snap. It put us behind the chains. Those are the kind of things that we can’t let happen.”

Southside struck quickly following the second half kickoff by driving 82 yards on 12 plays. Pierce Duncan scored on a 7-yard keeper with 6:36 left in the third quarter. Lopez kicked the extra point for the 41-6 lead.

A Tyler Jones interception set up Lopez’ 37-yard field goal with 8:19 left in the game.

Heber Springs will conclude the nonconference schedule by hosting Jonesboro Westside (1-1), which had an open date, at 7 p.m. Friday.

“I told the team after the game we played well on defense at Clinton and this week we played better on offense,” Wood said. “We need to learn how to click on both sides of the ball during the same game. We will learn from our mistakes and look to play a complete game against Westside.”

The Panthers will open the 2-4A Conference schedule and celebrate homecoming against Cave City on Sept. 23.

“That is what these games are for,” said Wood when referring to non-conference games. “I challenged them to finish strong against Westside with a great effort on offense and defense, and then see what kind of team we can be.”

Heber Springs holds off Southside Batesville

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Heber Springs’ Logan Rutledge gets a block and looks downfield for yards against Southside Batesville Thursday night. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE – Liam Buffalo passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns in helping lead the Heber Springs junior Panthers to their sixth win of the season Thursday night, 22-14.

Logan Rutledge had a career-high eight receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown and finished with 182 all-purpose yards, while Weston Warden had four receptions for 122 yards and a score for the Panthers.

Warden’s score came on Heber Springs’ second possession of the game when he took a pass from Buffalo and raced 55 yards for a touchdown. The score capped off a five-play, 95-yard drive, after the Panther defense held the Southerners on a fourth-down play on the Heber Springs 5-yard line.

Rutledge recovered a fumble on the ensuing onside-kick attempt by Heber Springs, but the Panthers’ drive stalled at the Southside 24.

The Panther defense had another fourth-down stop, this time at the Heber Springs 1, but the Panthers couldn’t muster a drive before punting it back to the Southerners.

Southside Batesville took over on the Panther 49 and four plays later, Cameron Foree connected with Brayden Simpson for a 24-yard touchdown. Foree scored on  the 2-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead with 1:23 left in the half.

Two plays later, Heber Springs responded when Buffalo found Rutledge for a 44-yard touchdown pass. Warden caught the 2-point pass from Buffalo to make it 14-8 with 50 seconds left in the half.

In the second half, the two teams traded possessions before Rutledge picked off a Foree pass and returned it 45 yards with 33 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Five plays later, Buffalo rambled 13 yards to for a insurance score for the Panthers. Seth Dudeck’s 2-point pass reception made it 22-8 with 6:51 left.

Southside Batesville responded to the score by using a methodical time-consuming, 12-play, 68-yard drive to close the gap to 22-14 with 1:05 to play.

The Panthers recovered the onside-kick attempts and killed the clock to earn the win.

Heber Springs will close out its season Thursday night at Clinton. A win would give the Panthers the runner-up spot in the 2-4A behind Central Arkansas Christian.

HEBER SPRINGS AT SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE
OCTOBER 21, 2021 
Southside Batesville      0   8   0   6 - 14 
Heber Springs             6   8   0   8 - 22
FIRST QUARTER 
HS - Liam Buffalo to Weston Warden 55-yard pass (pass failed), 4:03
SECOND QUARTER 
SS - Cameron Foree to Brayden Simpson 24-yard pass (Foree run), 1:23
HS - Buffalo to Logan Rutledge 44-yard pass (Buffalo to Warden run), :50
FOURTH QUARTER 
HS - Buffalo 13-yard run (Buffalo to Seth Dudeck pass), 6:51
SS - Louis Calhoun 4-yard run (run failed), 1:05
TEAM STATISTICS 
FIRST DOWNS: HS 11, SS 12
RUSHES-YARDS: HS 13/25, SS 33/197
PASSING YARDS: HS 231, SS 70
TOTAL OFFENSE: HS 256, SS 267
COMP-ATT-INT: HS 15-25-0, SS 4-11-1
FUMBLES: HS 0, SS 1
PENALITIES-YARDS: HS 5/46, SS 3/15
PUNTS-AVERAGE: HS 1/18, SS 1/35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 
RUSHING: HS, Liam Buffalo 7/53, Carter Julian 1/4, Weston Warden 1/2, Cooper Holmes 2/(-2), Team 3/(-32). SS, Louis Calhoun 18/100, Caden Rowlett 4/42, Jonathan Powell 3/41, Brodee Vanwinkle 3/13, Andrew Plumber 2/3, Cameron Foree 3/(-2).
PASSING: HS, Buffalo 15/25-231-2/0. SS, Foree 4/11-70-1/1.
RECEVING: HS, Logan Rutledge 8/114, Warden 4/122, Holmes 3/(-5). SS, Rowlett 2/40, Brayden Simpson 1/24, Rowlett 1/6.
KICKOFF RETURNS: HS, Rutledge 1/23
PUNT RETURNS: None
INT RETURNS: HS, Rutledge 1/45
FUMBLE RETURNS: None
PUNTS: HS, Buffalo 1/18. SS, Payton Barnes 1/35

HEBER SPRINGS JUNIOR HIGH SCHEDULE

(All Games Start at 7 p.m.)

Aug. 26 – Heber Springs 32, Clinton 28

Sep. 09 – Harding Academy 36, Heber Springs 16

Sep. 16 – Heber Springs 26, Dover 12

Sep. 23 – Heber Springs 34, Lonoke 12 *

Sep. 28 – Heber Springs 42, Stuttgart 32 *

Oct. 07 – Central Arkansas Christian 30, Heber Springs 14 *

Oct. 14 – Heber Springs 26, Bald Knob 8 *

Oct. 21 – Heber Springs 22, Southside Batesville 14 *

Oct. 28 – at Clinton *

(* – Denotes Conference Contest)

Southside Batesville at Heber Springs Junior High Stats

SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE AT HEBER SPRINGS
Junior High Football
October 22, 2020
at Panther Stadium

Southside Batesville  0   8   8  16 - 32
Heber Springs         7  14   0  13 - 34

FIRST QUARTER
Heber Springs, Liam Buffalo 2-yard run (Gideon Tate kick), 2:20
SECOND QUARTER
Southside Batesville, Seth Case 2-yard run (Case run), 6:17
Heber Springs, Buffalo to Parker Brown 39-yard pass (Buffalo to Dalton Yancey pass), 5:19
Heber Springs, Brown 62-yard interception return (run failed), 2:10
THIRD QUARTER
Southside Batesville, Case 1-yard run (Kaleb West run), 2:34
FOURTH QUARTER
Heber Springs, Buffalo to Xander Lindley 10-yard pass (pass failed), 7:58
Heber Springs, Brown 44-yard run (Tate kick), 5:09
Southside Batesville, Case 96-yard kickoff return (West run), 4:47
Southside Batesville, West 2-yard run (West run), :00

TEAM STATS
First Downs by Rush: Heber Springs 3, Southside 15
First Downs by Pass: Heber Springs 7, Southside 0
First Downs by Penalty: Heber Springs 0, Southside 2
Total First Downs: Heber Springs 10, Southside 17
Penalties: Heber Springs 4/30, Southside 5/25
3rd-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 2/4, Southside 4/8
4th-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 0/2, Southside 2/2
Fumbles/Lost: Heber Springs 0/0, Southside 0/0
Sacks/Yards Lost: Heber Springs 0/0, Southside 0/0
Rush/Yards/Avg: Heber Springs 11/81/7.4, Southside 48/272/5.7
Passing (A/C-Yards-TD/Int): Heber Springs 13/15-183-2/0, Southside 0/4-0-0/1
Total Offense: Heber Springs 264, Southside 272
Punts: Heber Springs 0/0, Southside 2/60/30
INDIVIDUAL STATS
OFFENSE
Rushing: Heber Springs, Parker Brown 2/51/1, Weston Warden 7/20, Liam Buffalo 2/9/1. Southside Batesville, Seth Case 30/182/2, Kaleb West 13/72/1, Tyson Trucks 3/18, Savion Hall 1/2, Cameron Foree 1/(-2).
Passing: Heber Springs, Liam Buffalo 13/15-183-2/0. Southside Batesville, Savion Hall 0/2-0-0/0, Cameron Foree 0/1-0-0/1, Kaleb West 0/1-0-0/0
Receiving: Heber Springs, Parker Brown 5/60/1, Xander Lindley 4/93/1, Dalton Yancey 3/13, Weston Warden 1/17. Southside Batesville, none.
Kickoff Returns: Heber Springs, Corbin Jones 2/4, Jude Bray 1/0, Chris Roberts 1/0. Southside Batesville, Seth Case 1/96/1, Savion Hall 1/5, Louis Calhoun 2/4, Kaleb West 1/(-10).
Interceptions: Heber Springs, Parker Brown 1/62/1
Total Offense: Heber Springs, Liam Buffalo 192, Parker Brown 51, Weston Warden 20. Southside Batesville, Seth Case 182, Kaleb West 72, Tyson Tucks 18, Savion Hall 2, Cameron Foree (-2).
All-Purpose Yards: Heber Springs, Parker Brown 173, Xander Lindley 93, Weston Warden 37, Dalton Yancey 13, Liam Buffalo 9, Corbin Jones 4. Southside Batesville, Seth Case 278, Kaleb West 62, Tyson Trucks 18, Savion Hall 7, Louis Calhoun 4, Cameron Foree (-2). 
DEFENSE
SACKS/YARDS LOST: None
PUNTS: Southside Batesville, Jaylon Jennings 2/60/30
INTERCEPTIONS: Heber Springs, Parker Brown
KICKING: Heber Springs, Gideon Tate (2/2 XP)