CAC survives shootout with Nashville, advances to 4A quarterfinal round

The Mustangs advance to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs for the first time since 2015

Central Arkansas Christian is one of this year's better turnaround stories in the state largely due to an explosive offense and Arkansas commit Grayson Wilson led the Mustangs to a 59-50 shootout victory over Nashville on Mustang Mountain in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs. 

A late score on a touchdown pass from Nashville quarterback Karson Chambers to Kason Morgan with just over two minutes remaining in the game cut CAC's lead to 52-50, but CAC freshman Gus Smith displayed some impressive running on the next drive that ended up being the knockout blow. 

CAC (9-2) took its first lead, 32-28, on the opening drive of the second half When Wilson found Jackson Hampton on a post pattern and Hampton did the rest all the way for a 44-yards score with 9:27 remaining in the quarter. 

That lead did not last long thanks to the second touchdown connection of the night from Chambers to Morgan from 14 yards to make it 35-32 Scrappers with 6:44 left in the third. 

Like he has done so many times, Wilson found Hampton, who won a 50-50 ball, and sprinted the rest of the way to the end zone as the lead switched again in favor of the Mustangs 38-35. CAC then took advantage of great field position from the Scrapper 33 and freshman Gus Smith put an exclamation on the drive with a one-yard score to extend CAC's lead to 46-35 with 44 second prior to the start of the fourth. 

There was expected to be a plethora of points scored and the opening quarter delivered on that. A great opening kickoff return put the Scrappers at midfield and they quickly made the most of it, capping the drive on Tre Hopkins' 35-yard score less than a minute and a half into the contest. A couple of back-and-forth touchdowns tied it at 14 with 5:35 remaining in the first. 

Facing fourth and one late in the quarter from the CAC five-yard line, Hopkins converted on a short run for a fresh set of downs and finished off the drive with a three-yard touchdown two plays later to put Nashville (8-4) up 21-14. However, on the first play of CAC's next drive the Mustangs fumbled and Nashville jumped on it at the Mustang 47.

Four plays after the fumble recovery, Chambers found Kasen Morgan for a 22-yard touchdown to give Nashville its largest lead of the contest with just 26 seconds remaining in the first. That would not be the last of the scoring in the frame, though, as Wilson immediately punched back, sprinting 65 yards on the first play of the ensuing drive to make it 28-20 in the final seconds of the first. 

The second quarter slowed down immensely and CAC put the only points on the board when Wilson found Josiah Warrior-Benson on a short one-yard score with 6:12 left in the half, but the two-point conversion failed. That cut the Nashville lead to 28-26. 

3 Takeaways 

1

While it may have been in a losing effort, Nashville senior running back Tre Hopkins ended a heralded prep career in impressive fashion. With 150 yards and three touchdowns against the Mustangs, the three-year starter finished just shy of 4,000 rushing yards and 56 touchdowns for his career.

In his three seasons with the Scrappers Hopkins eclipsed 1,000 yards and double-digit touchdowns every year. He had a career-high in yards (1,356) in 2022 and reached 25 scores this season.

2

Central Arkansas Christian surrendered the second-most points it has all season, only to Clinton’s 53, but the Mustangs still managed to pull out the victory as opposed to coming up three points shy like against the Yellowjackets on Oct. 13.

They overcame some slip-ups and took the lead for good halfway through the third quarter.

“We talked at half in the locker room about coming out and executing better on offense,” CAC head coach Ryan Howard said. “We really battled it out and I told the guys that I would not want to be in a fight with anyone else, so they know how to fight.”

3

The majority of CAC’s starters are underclassmen and freshman Gus Smith stepped up late, scoring two of the Mustangs’ final three touchdowns including the last one that gave CAC a nine-point cushion with just over a minute left in the game.

On a drive that started at the CAC 36-yard line, Smith picked up all 64 of those yards on just two plays, first gaining 39 yards followed by the 25-yard scamper to the end zone.

“Gus did a great job protecting the football in a key situation,” Howard said. “He ran hard, ran physical and he has really come on at running back for us so it has been awesome to see.”

--Kyle Sutherland

Photos by Jimmy Jones