CLASS 8-MAN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

STRONG-HUTTIG 66, MOUNTAIN PINE 60 (2OT)

DECEMBER 2, LITTLE ROCK — The inaugural 8-man championship game was an instant classic.

Strong-Huttig stopped Mountain Pine in the second overtime and then scored for a 66-60 win before a crowd of 1,014 that watched the first official 8-man championship game at War Memorial Stadium.

“As far as propaganda, media and advertising for 8-man football this was a helluva game for everybody to recognize 8-man as real football,” Strong-Huttig head coach Sirl Wright said. “A lot of people don’t think this is real football. It was a grind all the way to the end. It went to double overtime, and it was an outstanding game.”

Strong-Huttig finished the season as the only undefeated team in the state at 11-0, also defeating Mountain Pine during the season, 48-30.

The Bulldogs scored five of the game’s last six touchdowns, including the last three in regulation and then one each on their overtime drives.

Mountain Pine led 52-34 with 9:59 left in the fourth quarter before the Bulldogs rallied.

“I’m really proud of my kids,” Wright said. “I told them not to give up, that the fourth quarter is time to grind. We stopped them, and we can score at any time. Once we got the right formula to stop them, then we got a safety and got 10 points just like that.”

Shundarius Shelton scored on third-and-21 on a 23-yard pass, which was tipped right to him, from LeQuincy Shelton to start the rally with 7:36 left in regulation. Bryon Maze added the two-point conversion on a run that also started a strange sequence of plays.

LeQuincy Shelton forced a Mountain Pine fumble six plays later that Keelan Dobbins recovered at Mountain Pine’s 29.

On the first play, though, Ty Vantress intercepted a pass at the 1 and returned it to the 3.

Two penalties on Mountain Pine moved the ball inside the 1, and on the next plays Treveon Daniels tackled Dobbins in the end zone for a safety that had Strong-Huttig within, 52-44, with 4:01 left in regulation.

“That and the tipped ball in the end zone that they came up with; that was the biggest play about turning us around,” Mountain Pine head coach Sam Counce said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. It was the right place and right time.”

After Mountain Pine’s punt, the Bulldogs took over at Mountain Pine’s 46 and needed five plays to score on LeQuincy Shelton’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Maze. Shelton also added the two-point run to tie the game at 52-52 with 2:11 left.

In the first overtime, Isaiah Miles scored on a fourth-down 1-yard run, and Jonah Wilburn pass to Miguel Honey for the successful two-point conversion and a 60-52 lead.

Strong-Huttig answered in three downs with LeQuincy Shelton again tossing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Maze. Shelton also threw the two-point pass to Carneilus Betters to tie the game.

In the second overtime, Gregory Aubrey stopped Mountain Pine’s Brice Langley at the 4 on fourth-down on the opening possession of the second overtime.

On the first play after the stop, Treveon Daniels covered all 10 yards for the touchdown on the first play to lift the Bulldogs to the win.

Mountain Pine finished with 502 yards of offense on 73 plays led by Dobbins, who ran for 142 yards and four scores.

Strong-Huttig had 357 yards on 51 plays with Daniels running for 111 yards and a touchdown, and LeQuincy Shelton adding a touchdown run and throwing for 241 yards and four touchdowns. Daniels also caught two passes for 52 yards and returned a kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown.

Mountain Pine forced five turnovers with Miles and Vantress each intercepting two passes.

Mountain Pine defeated Spring Hill, 62-34, in an unofficial 8-man state championship game in the second of the three-year period as a club sport.