Little Rock Christian takes advantage of five turnovers to win the 5A title

The Little Rock Christian Warriors took advantage of five Pulaski Academy turnovers to defeat the Bruins 52-38 in Sunday’s Class 5A state title game at War Memorial Stadium. The win ended Pulaski Academy’s Class 5A state title winning streak. The Bruins had won four state titles in a row heading into today’s game.

“They are very poised, they know how to score a lot of points and execute well, but really the intangibles is what allowed our guys to win,” said Little Rock Christian head coach Eric Cohu. “Not worrying about the scoreboard, not worried about being down, just keep fighting and keep competing. That really helped us in that second half sustain and recapture the lead, then hold on to win.”

The win avenged a 56-14 loss at the hands of Pulaski Academy in week one of conference play, a game that the Warriors were missing several key players.

“We had a good first half the last time we played them with our defense, but our offense only had 90 yards of offense roughly,” said Cohu. “Just over time we wore out last time, and they tacked on that third and fourth quarter a lot of points. We really just came out with the same plan, give them a lot of different looks. We felt like with our offense moving the ball and scoring points good things would happen, and they did.”

The win didn’t come without some adversity as the Bruins scored 14 unanswered points in the first quarter beginning with a 14-yard pass from Braden Bratcher to Jayden Kelley followed by a four-yard pass from Bratcher to John David White. However, the Warriors scored 14 unanswered to tie the game up beginning with a 45-yard pass from game MVP Justice Hill to Michael Loggins with 4:56 remaining in the opening quarter.

Braden Bratcher fumbled on the Bruins next possession allowing Drake Bradley to recover for the Warriors. Hill took the next play 23 yards to the one-yard line, and Kendal Givens punched it in on the next play. A successful PAT by Isaiah Hankins tied the game at 14 with 4:36 left in the quarter.

Pulaski Academy scored on a 17-yard pass from Bratcher to White with 2:52 remaining in the quarter, but failed on a two-point conversion attempt making it 20-14 Pulaski Academy at the end of one.

Hill found pay dirt from seven-yards out with 10:50 left in the second half, with Hankins PAT giving the Warriors a one-point advantage before the Bruins scored 10 unanswered points, beginning with a 65-yard pass from Bratcher to White with 6:04 remaining in the half. A successful two-point conversion gave the Bruins a 28-21 advantage. A 29-yard Clay James field goal with 14 seconds remaining in the half gave Pulaski Academy a 31-24 lead at the half.

The second half was all Little Rock Christian, with the exception of a late 35-yard touchdown by John David White with 3:38 remaining in the game Other than that, the Warriors dominated the second half, scoring at will after forcing four turnovers.

The first score came with 9:39 remaining in the third quarter on a 32-yard field goal by Hankins, followed by a 41-yard pass from Hill to Chris Hightower to tie the game up at 31 with 5:04 remaining in the third.

The Warriors then scored 21 more points in the final quarter of the game, beginning with a seven-yard run by Kendal Givens after the Warriors held the Bruins on a fourth down play late in the third. Jack Mabry picked off Bratcher and returned it 20-yards for a touchdown with 11:26 remaining in the game, while Hill scored from four-yards out with 5:02 to play to give the Warriors their final points.

Justice Hill was named MVP of the Class 5A state title game after finishing the day 12-of-25 passing for 218 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. He also ran the ball 15 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns. He will finish up this semester at Little Rock Christian before heading to Fayetteville to join the Razorback basketball team.

“We’ve been planning on winning the state championship after we came out of the big loss in week six,” said Hill. “We had some key starters out, but we’ve been looking forward to this rematch since that day. We just had confidence coming into this game knowing that if we took care of our business we would come out victorious.”

Little Rock Christian finished the year with a 13-1 record, while Pulaski Academy finished 12-2 on the year.

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