Harding Academy punishes Eagles, 42-6

By Kevin Black
UCA sportswriting

Mayflower — Mayflower lost to undefeated Harding Academy, 42-6, Thursday night at Patrick Stadium in a special televised game by Fearless Friday and KARZ.

Turnovers and missed opportunities left the defending 3A-2 champion Eagles (3-4-0) wondering what happened to last year’s success against the Wildcats. Mayflower prevailed in Searcy a year ago.

Senior eagle quarterback Jordan Dycus said unforced errors were an issue.

“I had some turnovers I shouldn’t have had; we didn’t do good on offense and put our defense in a bad position,” Dycus said.

James Dillard intercepted Dycus on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a Wildcat touchdown on a one-yard run by the Wildcats’ Ben Lecrone. The Wildcats led 8-0 less than a minute and a half into the game after a successful two-point conversion run by Seth Keese, who had four of the Wildcats’ six touchdowns.

Keese picked off Dycus on the Eagles’ next possession and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 14-0 lead early.

Another turnover by the Eagles, this time a fumble, led to a Wildcat drive that resulted in a touchdown when Keese scored on a 8-yard run to put the Wildcats up 21-0, in the first quarter.

Dycus said playing on TV gave some Mayflower players more of a desire to play well.

“We had some [players] who were not really nervous, but they wanted to show what we had, but it didn’t come out the way we wanted it to,” Dycus said.

The Eagles had a chance to score after getting to the Wildcats' 5 with passes from Dycus of 31 and 14 yards, but a false start followed by a sack put the Eagles back to the 24 where Dycus could not convert.

A 46-yard pass from Keese to James Dillard put the Wildcats on the Mayflower 24, and then Keese ran an option for a touchdown to put Harding up 28-0 at halftime.

Mayflower’s only touchdown came from senior Demetris Lasker in the second half on a night when the Eagles accumulated 306 yards rushing.

“The two interceptions and the fumble really killed our momentum, but we need to forget about the bad stuff and move forward,” Lasker said.

Dycus said the Eagles will move on with their playoff hopes.

“Really we just have to forget about it, and have a good week of practice next week,” Dycus said. “Just learn from our mistakes.”

The Eagles continue conference play at Barton Friday night.