Strong works (double) overtime to knock off Mountain Pine to earn inaugural 8-man state title

Treveon Daniels’ 10-yard touchdown run in the second overtime capped an 18-point comeback and lifted the Strong Bulldogs to a 66-60 double-overtime victory in the inaugural 8-man state championship game Thursday night.

Author:
Nate Olson, SBLive Sports
Publish date:
Dec 3, 2021 1:42 AM EST

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Jimmy Jones

LITTLE ROCK — Treveon Daniels’ 10-yard touchdown run in the second overtime capped an 18-point comeback and lifted the Strong Bulldogs to a 66-60 double overtime victory in the inaugural 8-man state championship game Thursday night before an attendance of 1,014 at War Memorial Stadium.

“That was a hell of a game for 8-man football,” said Strong coach Sirl Wright. “It was a grind all the way to the end.”

The Bulldogs end the season with an 11-0 record while Mountain Pine ends the season at 8-4.

The Bulldogs trailed 52-34 with 9:59 left after Mountain Pine’s Brice Langley scored from a yard out and Keelan Dobbins, who rushed for 127 yards and 4 touchdowns, ran in the two-point conversion.

Strong started the comeback when LaQuincy Shelton, who was named the game’s most valuable player. after completing 16-of-26 passes for 241 yards and 5 touchdowns, despite throwing 3 interceptions, found his cousin Shundaris Shelton, who caught a tipped pass in the end zone at the 7:35 mark. Byron Maze, who led the Bulldogs with with eight catches for 60 yards, ran in the two-point conversion to cut the score to 52-44.

After both teams turned the ball over, Strong’s defense made the next big play. After consecutive false-start penalties pushed the Red Devils back to their 1, Dobbins was tackled in the end zone for a safety by Daniels, closing it to 52-44 with 4:01 left in the game.

“That play, along with the tipped ball were the big plays in the game,” said Wright. “Those were 10 points right there.”

Mountain Pine coach Sam Counce agreed, “The safety and the tipped ball in the end zone earlier were big and there was nothing you could do about the tipped ball.”

Strong carried that momentum after the free kick to tie the game. Facing third-and 15 from the Mountain Pine 30, Shelton completed a 19-yard pass to Canelius Betters. One play-later, Shelton threw 11 yards to Byron Maze with 2:23 left. Shelton ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 52-all.

Mountain Pine then appeared to have momentum on its side when Dobbins ran the kickoff back 69 yards to the Strong 9. However, JaKiem Woods tackled Dobbins for a five-yard loss and Jonah Wilburn was dropped for a five-yard loss by Maze. After a 12-yard run by Wilburn to the Strong 7 on third down, Mountain Pine called timeout with 15 seconds left but Wilburn, under pressure, threw incomplete to Dobbins, ending the threat.

“They changed their defense on us and came after us,” said Counce.

Wright said. “When we ran them down on the kickoff and we shifted our front on defense and they didn’t have an answer for the rest of the game.”

Mountain Pine got the ball first in overtime. And after a holding penalty on the Red Devils first play pushed them back to the Strong 21, Wilburn picked up 16 yards to the Strong 5. After Dobbins picks up two yards and a neutral zone infraction by Strong pushed the ball to the 1, Daylon Matlock was stopped for no gain before Wilburn scored on fourth down. Wilburn threw to Miguel Honey for the two-point conversion to make it 60-52.

Strong needed three plays to tie the game LaQuincy Shelton thew to Maze for the touchdown from five yards out and to Betters for the two-point conversion.

In the second overtime, a holding penalty pushed Mountain Pine back to the 18 and Wilburn was sacked by Jayme Correa, causing him to leave the game with an injury. After Langley threw 12 yards to Matlock, getting the ball down the Strong 12, Langley was stopped at the Strong five before the Bulldogs took over and won the game.

“I knew it was going to be a fight,” said Wright. “I know it’s hard to believe when you give up 60 points, but our defense came through at the end. A lot of times we were telling them to stop flopping like NBA players and keep fighting because if you do that, they can see the pulling which led to a lot of holding calls.”

Mountain Pine was penalized 12 times for 103 yards in the game.

The Red Devils scored at the end of the first half when Wilburn found Isaiah Miles who made a leaping catch in the end zone. Langley threw to Ty Ventress for the two-point conversion to close to 34-28.

That momentum carried over into the third quarter when Dobbins had two six-yard touchdown runs and the two-point conversion on both scores to push the Red Devils up 44-34 before Langley scored early in the fourth quarter to make it 52-34.

“We told them, we had to weather the storm and when we did that, we were able to settle down,” Counce said.

Both teams combined for six touchdowns in the final 3:51 of the first half which led to Strong holding a 34-28 halftime lead.

Strong led 16-6 after the first quarter and for much of the second quarter, it looked like the second quarter was not going to be high scoring as the Red Devils held the ball on a 13-play drive going from its 6 to the Strong 37 before Wilburn was sacked for a 10-yard loss. After 1-yard pass from Wilburn to Dobbins and horse-collars penalty on Strong gave the Red Devils fourth-and-five from the Strong 37, Langley was stopped for a 2-yard gain.

Then the scoring barrage began.

Two plays after Ventress intercepted LaQuincy Shelton and returned the ball 10 yards to the Red Devil 30, Dobbins fumbled and Strong’s Gregory Aubrey returned the ball 20 yards to the Mountain Pine 12. One play later, Daniels, who ho rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown, scored to put the Bulldogs up 22-6 at the 3:51 mark.

Four plays later, the Red Devils got in the end zone when Dobbins scored from seven yards out at the 2:45 mark. Isaiah Miles ran in the two-post conversion to make it 22-14.

Daniels answered by returning the following kickoff 71 yards down the sideline at the 2:36 mark. Shelton ran in the two-point conversion, but it was later overturned by instant replay, leaving Strong up 28-14.

One play later, Wilburn found Miles down the left sideline, who made a leaping catch at the Strong 20 and went in for a 57-yard touchdown catch. The two-point conversion was no good and Strong led 28-20 at the 2:24 mark.

Strong held the ball for five plays with Shelton bouncing off several tacklers for a 8-yard touchdown run at the 47-second mark. The two-point conversion was no good and the Strong led 34-20.

Strong scored on its first drive of the game marching 85 yards in nine plays with LaQuincy Shelton throwing 17 yards to Betters at the 8:34 mark. Shelton ran in the conversion to make it 8-0.

Mountain Pine came back with an eight-play, 65-yard drive with Dobbins scoring from a yard out at the 5:33 mark. The conversion was no good and Strong led 8-6.

Four plays later, Betters caught a 59-yard pass from LaQuincy Shelton. Shelton ran in the conversion to make it 16-6.

—

SBLive Sports is the official digital content partner of the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA).