By CRAIG HALL
CHARLESTON, Ark.—Heavener’s football team went into Friday’s game at Charleston, Arkansas, hoping to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2003.
It wasn’t meant to be.
The Tigers, now 1-2, were hotter than the scorching temperatures as the Tigers recovered two kickoffs, returned an interception for a touchdown and used an offensive machine led by a quarterback, Carter Little, all the colleges in Arkansas should be recruiting, to roar past the Wolves at Charleston’s impressive stadium.
Charleston dropped a couple of passes and might have missed a tackle, but the Tigers were pretty much perfect otherwise, going ahead 48-0 at the half before handing the Wolves their first loss of the season, 55-0.
Heavener was missing a trio of players including senior standout Jaxon Armstrong, who were hoping to get healed up prior to next Saturday’s district opener at Hugo.
With the threat of Armstrong running out of the wildcat and running back Carson Payne, Heavener’s rushing attack had been impressive in wins over Central and Panama.
But the Wolves had trouble moving the ball against the Tigers, which was not a problem for Charleston.
The Tigers used a passing attack relying on rollouts and quick passes Heavener had trouble with throughout. Other than a couple of snacks, Charleston passed and ran the ball like a well-oiled machine.
Charleston, which has won six state championships, including one two years ago, starts only two seniors and should be even better when the Tigers visit Heavener next year.
Under Jeff Broyles, the Wolves didn’t win every game, of course, but this group of Wolves haven’t been blown in for a couple of seasons.
The Wolves have to shake off this loss and bounce back next week at Hugo. It was a win at Hugo last year that propelled the Wolves into a third-place finish in the district and Heavener’s first playoff appearance since 2011.
Despite the relatively short distance between Heavener and Charleston, this was believed to be the first meeting of the two schools in football.
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