PHEBA — Troy Arnold didn’t know what to do.
He dared not walk on the field because he didn’t want to tempt fate. What if there was a penalty? What if it wasn’t real?
As the celebration bubbled over around him, Arnold cautiously ventured off the sideline and then bent at the knees into a catcher’s crouch and put his hands on the top of his helmet.
It was real, and yes, Channing Tapley had just completed a 10-yard to Andrew Myatt. The reality slowly washed over Arnold: Hebron Christian 26, Delta Academy 20 in overtime.
Yet the significance of the victory, something Arnold and his senior classmates had been dreaming about and thinking about all week, still staggered him, which is why refrained from jumping for joy and instead stood near the sideline and accepted congratulations from fans who had just watched the program earn its first playoff victory since the 2008 season.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Arnold said. “That was the best feeling in my life. I really don’t have any words. It was just pure adrenaline, happiness. It was just the best feeling in my life.”
Arnold was just one cog in a motor that helped Hebron Christian (8-3) avenge a 22-16 loss to Delta Academy on Sept. 27 in Marks and advance to play Sharkey-Issaquena next week for a chance to play for a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Eight-Man state championship.
While Arnold and classmate Nick McCrary were making big plays up front to keep the Eagles in the game, Tapley, a sophomore quarterback, Landon Hill, Hayden Carty, and Collin Moore were making big plays on offense to help Hebron Christian rally from a slow start and a 14-0 deficit.
The biggest play came in overtime.
Delta Academy gained only 6 yards on its first three plays before a fade route from Tucker Shook went incomplete on fourth down. Hebron Christian took over and gained zero yards on a rush and an incomplete pass. On third down, Tapley stood in the pocket and looked like he was going to get dropped from behind, only to release the ball just in time. His pass found Myatt, who moved in front of a defender on the right side of the end zone to set off the celebration.
“My receiver called (the play),” Tapley said. “He came to the huddle and said what he was going to do and he did it. He was open and I hit him.”
Tapley said he didn’t feel the pressure pouring down on his back and didn’t even realize how little time he had until he released the ball and was hit.
“We tried to run the ball and had a little success with it, but as athletic as they are we thought we had a better chance spreading on them and trying to run some,” Hebron Christian coach David Foster said. “We thought we could pass on them, which we did. We threw some incompletions, and we had a couple of passes dropped. That is water under the bridge because we ended up getting it in the end — on a pass.”
After the game, Foster pointed to that first meeting against Delta Academy as a key point in the team’s season. Following that loss, Foster said the Eagles started to come together and to trust each other to do their jobs. It also was a turning point for Foster, a veteran coach who last year expressed an affinity for old-school football and the “3 yards and a cloud of dust” philosophy.
If a team can grow in the span of six games, so can a coach. Without key players Justin Gordon and Brandon England, Hebron Christian didn’t resemble a smash-mouth football team and elected to throw the ball 23 times. Tapley made the decision pay off, hitting Carty with a 23-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter to help Hebron Christian creep back to 14-12.
“We had practiced doing some of our spread stuff, and we ran a little bit last week at Calhoun like that and put in a few extra plays, and didn’t even run some of them,” Foster said. “But my guys just never quit and kept battling back. I can’t say enough about them.”
Tapley saved his magic for the second half, though. He showcased his strong arm in the fourth quarter by standing in the pocket and finding Myatt for a 17-yard scoring pass. Earlier in the drive, a block in the back penalty wiped out a touchdown pass to Carty. The Eagles also had to deal with the loss of Hill, who got up after a hit with weak legs and had to be helped off the field. He didn’t return.
If Tapley’s first two touchdown passes were impressive, he did them one better on the conversion run. Even though Cass Tapley, Channing’s father who worked the chain gang and took pictures, said Channing took off from the 4-yard line, Channing’s orange cleats lifted off from the 2-yard line and took him over a defender into the end zone to make it 20-14 with 4 minutes, 27 seconds remaining.
The drama was just beginning.
Delta Academy, which relied on its ground game to build its 14-0 lead, went back to the attack and needed only seven plays to tie the game. Shook used his speed to get to the right corner and slip into the end zone on a 12-yard run. Instead of going for the kick, the Raiders went for the conversion. The Eagles made them regret that choice, as McCrary had the initial hit before Arnold wrapped him up to make sure the game stayed tied.
The hit wasn’t as clean as the third- and fourth-down stops Arnold, Jessie Moore, and Hill made to thwart Delta Academy on back-to-back attempts to gain 1 yard in the third quarter. It also didn’t rival the bear hug Arnold put on Kennon Turner on fourth down for a 3-yard loss.
None of that mattered to Arnold after the game. He smiled when told fans didn’t get to see many true bear hugs in games these days. For a senior still soaking in his first taste of playoff victory, the compliment was an extra bit of spice that made the evening complete.
“We have been working toward this since June when we started lifting and conditioning, and it all paid off,” Arnold said. “We have come a long, long way, We have a good team to play Monday and we have got to come in Monday and prepare and, hopefully, give them a good game.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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