By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Sports writer
The Camden Fairview Cardinals defeated the Harding Academy Wildcats 40-18 in Searcy last Friday night in a game
The confident Cardinals received the ball to start the game and matriculated the ball down the field while chewing up some clock. CF was deep inside of Wildcat territory before a couple of penalties pushed them out of field goal range and they were turned over on downs. HA took over around their 30 yard line and ended up scoring with 10 seconds before the end of the first when quarterback Owen Miller hit a wide open 28 from 28 yards out. The Wildcats added the PAT to take a lead into the second quarter.
HA elected to go for onside kicks throughout the night and CF was successful covering it and starting on a short field. CF would pick up a first down before facing a third and 10 when quarterback Darre'll Juney Atkins Jr rolled to his right and fired a 40 yard pass that William "Flash" Henton was able to track down and reel in for a touchdown. The PAT was no good.
HA added a 20 yard field goal on its next possession and it wouldn't take CF long to respond. After covering the ensuing onside kick at their 47. On second down, Atkins would look off defenders by faking a pass to the flats before going long again to Henton for another TD pass. This time, CF went for 2 and were successful when Atkins hit Trent Haygood in the end zone.
CF was able to get pressure on the Wildcats back field consistently and forced the Wildcat offense into one of its first big mistakes on the night when Cardinal defenders corralled Miller in the backfield and he threw the ball up in desperation to initiated an intentional grounding on a third down. HA would end up punting from its own end zone and giving the Cardinals another short field to work with at the CF 46 with 7:18 left in the half. CF went to its ground attack offering the Wildcats a heavy dose of Justin Frazier and some physical offensive line play. Haygood would cap the drive from the one yard line to put CF up 20-10 at the 1:24 mark.
Then things got worse for the home team.
Miller would attempt to extend a play before the ball was knocked loose and recovered by JaKyson Harper in the end zone for a TD with 44 ticks left before the half time buzzer. The PAT was no good and the Wildcats would attempt to get some momentum before the half when they hit on a big screen play to get inside of Cardinal territory. On the next play, Zechariah Duhart would chase down a scrambling Miller and force a fumble along the sidelines that his older brother, David Duhart, picked up and returned for a 71 yard touchdown with 10 left in the quarter. Atkins kept the ball on the 2 point conversion to give the Cardinals a 34-10 lead at the half.
Harding did score a touchdown on a 22 yard pass in the third quarter but the Cardinal defense was solid otherwise and the Cardinal offense was content with running clock. Haygood scored a touchdown with under 3 minutes left in the fourth to set the final margin.
Atkins was 13/19 for 170 yards and 63 rushing yards on the night and Frazier ended with 20 carries for 135 yards. Henton caught three passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns and Haygood had 80 all purpose yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Defensively, Zechariah Duhart tallied 10 tackles, including three tackles for losses, and a forced fumble. Jerome Williams, J'Son Moten, Terrell Wilson and David Duhart combined for 7 tackles for losses and Dakylan Hunter had an interception.