Panther PostGame

Heber Springs tops Mills, heads to playoffs

Heber Springs’ Hunter Kent (21) and Nathan McKee (22) celebrate a touchdown against Mills Friday night. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

November 8, 2019

By PHILIP SEATON

LITTLE ROCK – With a playoff berth and seeding secured for Heber Springs, the Panthers took care of business Friday night with a 28-14 victory over Little Rock Mills.

Earlier in the week the drama had been taken out of Friday’s night game when the Arkansas Activities Association ruled that the Comets had used an ineligible player forcing the Mills to forfeit all four of their wins, including all three conference contests. That ruling assured that the Panthers would be in the playoffs regardless of the outcome of Friday’s game.

Friday night Adam Martin passed for two touchdowns and ran for another while Nathan McKee caught one of those touchdown passes and also had an interception in the win.

The two teams traded possessions to open the contest before the Panthers took over on their own 47 driving to the Mills 13 before the drive stalled on fourth down.

The Comets took over and drove to the Heber Springs 47 after converting on a fourth-and-3 play. On the next play, Lavell Carnell connected with Zack Smith for a 47-yard scoring strike to make it 6-0 after the PAT kick failed with 11:01 to play in the half.

The Panthers responded with an 11-play, 60-yard drive that Martin capped with a 5-yard touchdown run with 6:51 to play in the first half. Jackson Harrod kicked the PAT and Heber Springs led, 7-6

The Panther defense got a stop on the Comets next possession stopping Mills on a fourth-and-3 own their own 40 for a two-yard loss. On the next play, Martin found Hunter Kent in stride for a 38-yard touchdown pass with 3:31 to play in the second quarter.

Mills had a response with a 55-yard drive that Carnell finished off with a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 9 seconds left in the half. Carnell added the two-point conversion to make it 14-all at the break.

Nicholas Hitchcock recovered the onside-kick attempt for Heber Springs to start the second half, and the Panthers appeared to be marching in for a score after Martin connected with Landon Johnson for a 29-yard gain on third-and-10 to move the ball to the Mills 15. But Martin was sacked for a 6-yard loss by Shon Moore forcing a third-and-14, Heber Springs was unable to convert turning the ball over on downs at the Comet 10.

The Panther defense came up big keeping Mills pinned inside the 10, including almost recording a safety on back-to-back to plays. Punting from his own end zone, Carnell shanked the punt giving Heber Springs a short field at the Comet 13.

Four plays later Julio Rubio punched the ball in from the 2 to make it 21-14 with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

Mills’ next drive stalled the Panther 38 when McKee stepped in front of the Carnell pass attempt at the 20 returning to the 36. But Heber Springs went backwards on the ensuing drive thanks in part to holding and false start penalties.

The Panthers got another turnover as junior Diego Rubio pounced on a loose football at the Heber Springs 46, the third straight week Rubio has recovered a fumble. Back-t0-back unsportsmanlike penalties against the Comets after the fumble, which led to the ejection of Carnell, gave the Panthers the ball on the 24.

On the ensuing play, Martin connected with McKee to put Heber Springs up 28-14 with 53 seconds left in the third.

Mills threatened again with 9:06 left after Julius Graves intercepted a Martin pass attempt at the Panther 21, but the Panther defense stiffened in the red zone forcing the Comets to turn the ball over on downs at the 9.

After a three-and-out, Mills got the ball back with 4:37 left at the Panther 40 and reached the Panther 7 with 1:02 to play but an incomplete pass on fourth down sealed the win for Heber Springs.

COACH WILL COX POSTGAME COMMENTS

Heber Springs’ Matthew Cook

SCORING

Heber Springs (4-3, 4-6)                 0  14   0   0  - 14    
Little Rock Mills (0-7, 0-10             0  14  14   0  - 28    

SECOND QUARTER    
Mills - Lavell Carnell to Zack Smith 47-yard pass (kick failed), 11:01 
Heber Springs - Adam Martin 5-yard run (Jackson Harrod kick), 6:51
Heber Springs - Adam Martin to Hunter Kent 38-yard pass (Harrod kick), 3:31
Mills - Carnell 1-yard run (Carnell run), :09
THIRD QUARTER    
Heber Springs - Julio Rubio 2-yard run (Harrod Kick), 6:10
Heber Springs - Martin to Nathan McKee 24-yard pass (Harrod kick), :53
Heber Springs’ Adam Martin

TEAM STATS

First Downs by Rush: Heber Springs 6, Mills 8
First Downs by Pass: Heber Springs 9, Mills 3
First Downs by Penalty: Heber Springs 0, Mills 1
Total First Downs: Heber Springs 15, Mills 12
Third-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 4/11, Mills 4/16
Fourth-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 0/2, Mills 5/8
Red-Zone Conversions: Heber Springs 2/4, Mills 1/3
Time of Possession: Heber Springs 23:23, Mill 24:37
Fumbles/Lost: Heber Springs 0/0, Mills 2/2
Turnovers: Heber Springs 1, Mills 3   
Points Off Turnovers: Heber Springs 7, Mills 0
Penalties: Heber Springs 8/53, Mills 11/90
Plays/Total Offense/YPP: Heber Springs 57/246/4.3, Mills 64/224/3.5
Rushing: Heber Springs 28/70/2.5, Mills 41/121/2.9
Passing: Heber Springs 19/29-176-2/1, Mills 9/23-103-1/1 
Sacks/Yards Lost: Heber Springs 1/0, Mills 2/15
Punts: Heber Springs 3/94/31.3, Mills 3/82/27.3
Punts Inside 20: Heber Springs 1, Mills 0
Heber Springs’ Nathan McKee with a second-half interception return. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

INDIVIDUAL STATS

OFFENSE 
RUSHING: Heber Springs, Julio Rubio 12/39/3.3/1, Adam Martin 10/29/2.9/1, Team 4/(-10)/(-2.5), Landon Johnson 2/12/6. Mills, Lavell Carnell 16/45/2.8, Reggie Swinton II 13/41/3.2, Keilon Davis 7/34/8.0, G'Kyson Wright 5/1.
RUSHING RUNS OF 20+: Heber Springs, Julio Rubio (1) 
RUSHING RUNS OF 10+: Heber Springs, Julio Rubio (2), Adam Martin (1). Mills, Lavell Carnell (2), Reggie Swinton II (1)
PASSING: Heber Springs, Adam Martin 19/29-176-2/1. Mills, Lavell Carnell 7/14-77-1/1, G'Kyson Wright 2/9-26-0/0
RECEIVING: Heber Springs, Nathan McKee 6/62/1, Landon Johnson 5/49, Hunter Kent 3/41/1, Matthew Cook 3/10, Fate Berry 1/12, Julio Rubio 1/2. Mills, Zack Smith 5/90/1, Keilon Davis 2/5, Kammarion Slade 1/6, Eugene Hinton 1/2.
TOTAL OFFENSE: Heber Springs, Adam Martin 205, Julio Rubio 39, Landon Johnson 12, Team (-10). Mills, Lavell Carnell 122, Reggie Swinton II 41, Keilon Davis 34, G'Kyson Wright 27.
PUNT RETURNS: Mills, Keilon Davis 1/11.
KICK RETURNS: Heber Springs, Nathan McKee 1/14, Hunter Kent 1/6. Mills, Keilon Davis 2/25, Tamarion Hunter 2/12.
FUMBLE RETURNS: None 
INTERCEPTION RETURNS: Heber Springs, Nathan McKee 1/16. Mills, Julius Graves 1/14
ALL-PURPOSE YARDS: Heber Springs, Nathan McKee 92, Landon Johnson 61, Hunter Kent 47, Julio Rubio 41, Adam Martin 29, Fate Berry 12, Matthew Cook 10. Mills, Zack Smith 90, Keilon Davis 75, Lavell Carnall 45, Reggie Swinton II 41, Tamarion Hunter 12, Kammarion Slade 6, Eugene Hinton 2, G'Kyson Wright 1.  
DEFENSE 
TACKLES (Shared/Solo/Total): Heber Springs, Landon Johnson 14/1/15, Lawrence Baureis 9/1/10, Fate Berry 7/2/9, Nathan McKee 7/2/9, Nicholas Hitchcock 6/2/8, Julio Rubio 4/3/7, Diego Rubio 7/0/7, Kaden Hughes 4/1/5, Matthew Cook 2/2/4, Dalton McCollum 3/0/3, Levy Phillips 2/0/2, Hunter Kent 2/0/2, Trevor Weathers 1/0/1, Jackson Harrod 1/0/1 
TACKLES FOR LOSS: Heber Springs, Julio Rubio 6, Lawrence Baureis 4, Kaden Hughes 2, Nicholas Hitchcock 2, Landon Johnson 1, Nathan McKee 1
SACKS: Heber Springs, Diego Rubio .5, Landon Johnson .5. Mills, Eddie Brown 1/9, Shon Moore 1/6.
INTERCEPTIONS: Heber Springs, Nathan McKee. Mills, Julius Graves
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Heber Springs, Nicholas Hitchcock, Diego Rubio
PUNTING: Heber Springs, Adam Martin 3/94/31.3. Mills, Lavell Carnall 2/33/22, G'Kyson Wright 1/38
PUNTS INSIDE 20: Heber Springs, Adam Martin (1).

ALMA MATER

FINAL 4A-2 STANDINGS

                            W L CP  W L  PS  PA   
Riverview                   5 2 52  7 3  337 278 
Southside Batesville        5 2 54  7 3  340 246
Central Arkansas Christian  5 2 59  7 3  296 220       
Lonoke                      5 2 47  6 4  293 297
Heber Springs               4 3 41  4 6  274 300        
Bald Knob                   3 4 13  3 7  160 310                 
Stuttgart                   1 7 13  1 9  238 341
Little Rock Mills           0 8  0  0 10 202 264    

Friday, November 1
Central Arkansas Christian 34, Bald Knob 6
Heber Springs 49, Riverview 35
Lonoke 35, Stuttgart 28
Southside Batesville 50, Little Rock Mills 23

Thursday, November 7
Lonoke 26, Riverview 14
Central Arkansas Christian 28, Stuttgart 6

Friday, November 8
Bald Knob 27, Southside Batesville 22
Heber Springs 28, Little Rock Mills 14

CORRECTION FROM LAST WEEK: In preparing the playoff scenarios for the 4A-2 in Friday’s game preview, the conference point was incorrect for Riverview. With the forfeits by Mills, every team that played them in conference received 13 conference points. Riverview had defeated Mills by 10, 37-27, October 11 but those adjusted points were inadvertently left out of the conference totals in Friday’s preview.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS: With Bald Knob’s win over Southside Batesville Friday night, it created a four-way tie at the top of the conference standings. As a result, Lonoke, Riverview, Southside Batesville and CAC all claim a share of the conference crown. It is the first conference title for Riverview. The fifth for CAC. The second for Southside Batesville and the 13th for Lonoke.

PLAYOFFS: No. 1 Riverview hosts Bauxite, No. 2 Southside Batesville hosts Star City, No. 3 CAC hosts Gentry, No. 4 Lonoke travels to Pea Ridge and No. 5 Heber Springs travels to Shiloh Christian.

VIDEO CLIPS

By BILLY SMALLWOOD

Panther GameDay

Panthers head to Mills, playoffs guaranteed

LAST WEEK

Panthers clinch berth with Senior Night win

LAST YEAR

Panthers crush Comets, head to playoffs

4A-2 STANDINGS

                            W L CP  W L PS  PA   
Southside Batesville        5 1 54  7 2 318 219
Central Arkansas Christian  5 2 59  7 3 296 220  
Riverview                   5 2 49  7 3 337 278        
Lonoke                      5 2 47  6 4 293 297
Heber Springs               3 3 28  3 6 246 286        
Bald Knob                   2 4  8  2 7 133 288                 
Stuttgart                   1 6 13  1 9 238 341
Little Rock Mills           0 6  0  0 9 188 236    

Friday, November 1
Central Arkansas Christian 34, Bald Knob 6
Heber Springs 49, Riverview 35
Lonoke 35, Stuttgart 28
Southside Batesville 50, Little Rock Mills 23

Thursday, November 7
Lonoke 26, Riverview 14
Central Arkansas Christian 28, Stuttgart 6

Friday, November 8
Bald Knob at Southside Batesville
Heber Springs at Little Rock Mills

PLAYOFFS

Due to Little Rock Mills forfeiting four wins due to the use of an ineligible player on Monday and Thursday’s results, Heber Springs is locked in the No. 5 seed regardless of the outcome of tonight’s contest with Little Rock Mills. The rest of the conference seeding is set as well, the seeding will be: No. 1 Southside Batesville, No. 2 Riverview, No. 3 Central Arkansas Christian, No. 4 Lonoke and No. 5 Heber Springs.

The only thing left to be determined is if Southside Batesville clinches the outright conference title or has to share it with Riverview, CAC and Lonoke. The seeding will not change regardless of the outcomes.

Playoff Match-Ups for 2A-4

DeWitt at Southside Batesville, Star City at Riverview, Gentry/Gravette/Prairie Grove at Central Arkansas Christian, Lonoke at Pea Ridge/Shiloh Christian loser, and Heber Springs at Pea Ridge/Shiloh Christian winner.

CONSECUTIVE STREAK: Heber Springs has qualified for the playoffs for six straight seasons, and 13 out of the last 14 years.

HEBER SPRINGS COACH WILL COX

GAME NOTES

THE SERIES: Heber Springs leads the series 1-0.

SERIES HISTORY: Though this is the second time the Panthers have faced Little Rock Mills, Heber Springs did play the two of the schools that consolidated to form Mills University Studies. The Panthers went 0-4 from 1955 through 1959 against Little Rock Fuller, and 0-3-1 against Mabelvale from 1955 through 1958.

CLOSE TO A THOUSAND: Julio Rubio needs 43 yards rushing tonight against Little Rock Mills to top the 1,000-yard mark this season. The senior has carried the ball 164 times this season for 957 yards with 14 touchdowns.

WINS, BUT NOT REALLY: Mills had won four games before the forfeiting those contests because of the use of an ineligible player earlier this week. The Comets, under first-year coach Cortez Lee — the former Pine Bluff Dollarway head coach, had defeated Jacksonville in nonconference play, before beating Central Arkansas Christian, Lonoke and Stuttgart.

MISTAKES: Heber Springs is 2-1 on the season when committing 5 or less infractions, and 1-5 when being flagged more than five times. The lone loss was at Greenbrier when Heber Springs was flagged only four times, but turned the ball over three times in that contest.

SON OF FORMER NFL PLAYER: Mills’ Reggie Swinton II is the son of former Dallas Cowboy Reggie Swinton.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: NATE DEARMOND

SEASON STATS

Heber Springs 54 76 40 76 - 246 (27.3)  
Opponent      46 83 90 67 - 286 (31.8)  

TEAM  
First Downs by Rush: Heber Springs 94, Opponent 102  
First Downs by Pass: Heber Springs 55, Opponent 51  
First Downs by Penalty: Heber Springs 7, Opponent 10  
Total First Downs: Heber Springs 156, Opponent 162  
Third-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 52/110 (47.3), Opponent 38/97 (39.2)  
Fourth-Down Conversions: Heber Springs 12/29 (41.4), Opponent 13/25 (52)  
Red-Zone Conversions: Heber Springs 23/30 (76.7) (23 tds), Opponent 28/36 (77.8) (26 tds, 2 FG)  
Fumbles/Lost: Heber Springs 16/8, Opponent 15/7  
Turnovers: Heber Springs 15, Opponent 10  
Points Off Turnovers: Heber Springs 41, Opponent 28 
Penalties/Yards: Heber Springs 73/545, Opponent 60/609 
Plays/Total Offense/YPP: Heber Springs 555/3281/5.9, Opponent 540/3046/5.6  
Rushing: Heber Springs 367/1914/5.2, Opponent 393/1876/4.8 
Rushing Per Game: Heber Springs 212.7, Opponent 208.4  
Passing: Heber Springs 107/182-1366-10/7, Opponent 100/167-1208-16/3 
Completion Percentage: Heber Springs 58.8, Opponent 59.9
Passing Per Game: Heber Springs 151.8, Opponent 134.2 
Sacks/Yards Lost: Heber Springs 19/107, Opponent 10/49  
Punts: Heber Springs 26/1026/39.5, Opponent 26/893/34.4
Blocked Punts: Heber Springs 1 
 
INDIVIDUAL  
OFFENSE  
RUSHING (ATT/YARDS/PER ATTEMPT/PER GAME/TDS): Julio Rubio 164/957/5.8/106.3/14, Adam Martin 151/698/4.6/77.6/7, Landon Johnson 50/227/4.5/25.2/5, Levy Phillips 4/21, Nathan McKee 1/6, Diego Rubio 1/2, Tri Johnson 1/(-2), Team 2/(-41)  
RUNS OF 50+: Julio Rubio 2, Adam, Martin 1 
RUNS OF 40+: Julio Rubio 3  Adam Martin 1
RUNS OF 30+: Julio Rubio 5, Adam Martin 2  
RUNS OF 20+: Julio Rubio 9, Adam Martin 7, Landon Johnson 1 
RUNS OF 10+: Adam Martin 23, Julio Rubio 23, Landon Johnson 4, Levy Phillips 1 
100-YARD RUSHING GAMES: Julio Rubio 5, Adam Martin 3   
PASSING (ATT/COMP-YARDS-TDS/INT): Adam Martin 107/182-1366-10/7     
250-YARD PASSING GAMES: Adam Martin 1  
RECEIVING (REC/YARDS/PER CATCH/TDS): Matthew Cook 19/188/9.9/1, Nathan McKee 18/212/11.8/2, Landon Johnson 16/212/13.3/2, Fate Berry 13/182/14/1, Hunter Kent 13/170/13.1/2, Tri Johnson 12/208/17.3/2, Julio Rubio 12/143/11.9, Jackson West 1/18, Dalton McCollum 1/9, Diego Rubio 1/8  
100-YARD RECEIVING GAMES: Hunter Kent 1, Tri Johnson 1, Julio Rubio 1  
TOTAL OFFENSE (OFFENSE/PER GAME): Adam Martin 2064/229.3, Julio Rubio 957/106.3, Landon Johnson 227/25.2, Levy Phillips 21, Nathan McKee 6, Diego Rubio 2, Tri Johnson (-2), Team (-41)  
KICKOFF RETURNS: Tri Johnson 8/170/21.3, Matthew Cook 4/62/15.5, Hunter Kent 5/46/9.2, Julio Rubio 3/44/14.7, Levy Phillips 4/37/9.3, Jackson West 4/39/9.8, Diego Rubio 2/37/18.5, Nathan McKee 5/65/13, Lawrence Baureis 1/10, Harley Bresnahan 1/ 6, Tristan  Thissen 1/0.  
PUNT RETURNS: Nathan McKee 3/12, Tri Johnson 1/(-3) 
INTERCEPTION RETURNS: Nathan McKee 1/10, Dalton McCollum 1/4, Fate Berry 1/2  
FUMBLE RETURNS: Matthew Cook 1/4 
ALL-PURPOSE YARDS (YARDS/PER GAME): Julio Rubio 1037/129.6, Adam Martin 698/77.6, Tri Johnson 373/53.3, Landon Johnson 438/48.7, Nathan McKee 305/33.9, Matthew Cook 254/28.2, Fate Berry 184/23, Hunter Kent 216/24, Diego Rubio 47/5.9, Jackson West 57/6.3, Levy Phillips 58/7.3,  Lawrence Baureis 10/1.7, Harley Bresnahan 6/1, Dalton McCollum 13/1.6,   
DEFENSE  
TACKLES (ASST/SOLO/TOTAL): Fate Berry 66/24/90, Landon Johnson 56/25/81, Diego Rubio 40/13/53, Kaden Hughes 27/13/40, Hunter Kent 27/11/38,  Nathan McKee 26/11/37,  Levy Phillips 22/11/33, Lawrence Baureis 21/9/30, Matthew Cook 25/5/30, Nicholas Hitchcock 21/6/27, Jackson West 22/4/26, Tri Johnson 9/5/14, Dalton McCollum 8/5/13, Julio Rubio 9/3/12,  Harley Bresnhan 6/4/10,  Trevor Weathers 7/1/8, Preston Jones 2/2/5, Harley Hannah 3/2/5, Hunter Griffin 3/1/4, Devon Doxey 3/1/4, Tristan Thissen 1/2/3, Trent Barnes 2/1/3, Jackson Harrod 2/1/3, Nate Dearmond 0/1/1, Spencer Evans 1/0/1, Gus Hannah 1/0/1.  
TACKLES FOR LOSS:  Fate Berry 15, Landon Johnson 14.5, Kaden Hughes 9.5, Diego Rubio 7, Nicholas Hitchcock 4.5, Julio Rubio 3, Lawrence Baureis 3, Levy Phillips 2, Jackson West 2, Tri Johnson 1.5,  Hunter Griffin 1, Harley Bresnahan 1, Devon Doxey 1.  
SACKS/YARDS LOST:  Fate Berry 4/28, Kaden Hughes 4/24,  Tri Johnson 2.5/22, Levy Phillips 1/ 5, Harley Bresnahan 1/ 4,  Diego Rubio 1/5, Julio Rubio .5/9, Landon Johnson .5/3, Matthew Cook .5/3, Nicholas Hitchcock .5/4. 
INTERCEPTIONS: Dalton McCollum 1, Nathan McKee 1, Fate Berry 1  
DEFENSIVE FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Hunter Kent 2, Diego Rubio 2, Nicholas Hitchcock 1,  Nathan McKee 1, Landon Johnson 1,    
BLOCKED PUNTS: Kaden Hughes 1
PUNTING (No./Yards/Avg./Inside20): Adam Martin  25/993/39.7/6, Matthew Cook 1/33/33
SCORING: Julio Rubio 84 (14 tds),  Adam Martin 48 (8 td), Landon Johnson 36 (6 tds), Jackson Harrod 30 (30-33 PAT, 0-1 FG), Hunter Kent 12 (2 td), Nathan McKee 12 (2 td), Tri Johnson 12 (2 td), Fate Berry 6 (1 td), Matthew Cook 6 (1 td) 

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: BRANDON TATE

MARKEDTIME.COM PLAYERS OF WEEK

WEEK 9 vs RIVERVIEW

OFFENSE – Hunter Kent. DEFENSE – Diego Rubio

WEEK 8 vs SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE

OFFENSE – Julio Rubio. DEFENSE – Diego Rubio

WEEK 7 vs. BALD KNOB

OFFENSE – Landon Johnson. DEFENSE – Fate Berry

WEEK 6 vs. CAC

OFFENSE – Julio Rubio. DEFENSE – Kaden Hughes

WEEK 5 vs. STUTTGART

OFFENSE – Adam Martin. DEFENSE – Nathan McKee

WEEK 4 vs. LONOKE

OFFENSE – Fate Berry. DEFENSE – Landon Johnson

WEEK 3 vs. HARDING ACADEMY

OFFENSE – Tri Johnson. DEFENSE – Dalton McCollum

WEEK 2 vs. GREENBRIER

OFFENSE – Harley Hannah. DEFENSE – Levy Phillips

WEEK 1 vs. CLINTON

OFFENSE – Adam Martin and Julio Rubio. DEFENSE – Fate Berry

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