Hornets in new territory shooting for 12th victory

If the game being played was basketball, the Harrisburg Hornets could now say they are in the elite-eight in the state. It's football, however, and yet still the Hornets can lay claim to being one of the elite programs in 3A football in Arkansas.

They have proved that fact so far with an 11-1 record, a loss to Rivercrest their only blemish. But, now with wins over Jessieville and Camden Harmony Grove, Harrisburg is only three wins away from their first state championship.

Defeating Harmony Grove in Harrisburg last week wasn't a small task, however. Leading 14-0 at the half, it still took a strong effort by the Hornets to come away with a 34-7 win.

As they have all season, Harrisburg's Zach Davis and Zach Pretty did what they do best, pass and run, respectively, their team to victory.

Pretty's running truly came to fruition in the second half when Harmony Grove's behemoth linemen began to show some of the wear and tear brought about by the Hornet's offensive line. Of his 126 total yards, 110 of them were produced in the second half as well as two touchdowns.

Davis finished with his usual outstanding passing performance, going 14 of 25 for 214 yards and three TDs.

"We had kind of a hard time getting started," said coach Keith Davis. "We dropped a couple of balls and seemed a little rusty in the beginning of the game."

Such was apparently the case for both teams as the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.

The Hornets finally lit the scoreboard up in the second period, however, when, after recovering a Harmony Grove fumble at the visitor's 14 yard line, Davis connected with Jake Streeter the second play from scrimmage for a 10 yard touchdown. The two-point play failed, but Harrisburg had a 6-0 lead.

Harmony Grove took the ensuing kickoff and marched to the Harrisburg four yard line. The Hornets held, however, and took over with 2:51 left in the half.

With a passing attack such as Harrisburg possess, that amount of time is easily enough for Davis and Co. to score. And that is just what they did.

In fact, they needed only 2:03 of the time to drive the 96 yards. The scoring strike came when Davis hit Josh Fallon from three yards out.

A Davis to Zach Combs two-point conversion set the halftime score at 14-0.

"They had a huge line," said the coach. "They were hard to block and the backs were hard to tackle. The first half when they were fresh we couldn't run much on them. We did better in the second half, though, and put some points on the board. Overall we were real pleased with the effort."

The Hornets wasted no time scoring in the second half going 61 yards in nine plays Davis hitting Streeter for the six yard scoring play. The conversion was successful on a Davis-to-Fallon pass for a 22-0 lead with 8:37 left in the third period.

Harrisburg scored again in the third period as they finished off a 90 yard drive with Pretty scoring from the three for a 28-0 lead with 3:47 left in the third.

The visitors finally managed to get on the board, but the Hornets came right back with a final score with 8:56 left in the game, Pretty scoring from the three for the 34-7 win.

Statistically, Streeter finished with 157 yards and two touchdowns on nine catches.

Fallon had three catches for 39 yards and one touchdown, Turner Norsworthy one grab for 10 yards and Joe Bornhoft one catch for eight yards.

Following Pretty's rushing effort, Bornhoft gained 19 yards on five touches while Bryant Smith was one for one yard.

Now, for the first time in the playoffs, Harrisburg is going to have to travel. Fortunately for the Hornets, the drive to Searcy to meet the undefeated Harding Academy Wildcats is a relatively short 68 miles. This compares to the 178 miles Jessieville had to drive to get to Harrisburg and the 214 miles Harmony Grove had to traverse to play last Friday night.

As a result, while the Hornets won't have the home field advantage, they won't have to overcome the travel fatigue many teams must deal with. And with the Wildcats ranked third in the state and boasting a perfect 11-0 record, the Hornets will need every advantage they can get.

"(Harding Academy) is a real good team," Davis concluded. "They are going to do things we aren't used to seeing. They'll throw the ball and spread you out, kind of what we do. It'll be interesting to see how things go. Hopefully we'll step up and play good.

"We feel comfortable doing what we did Friday night because we see that (type of team) all year. But now we're going to have to hit another gear. But I think the kids will be up and ready to play."

Game time Friday night is 7:30 p.m.