The Wildcat Way

By CE Butler

Come along and revisit a historical year in high school athletics. Harding Academy, a small private high school in a mid-sized Arkansas town, didn’t just put together a memorable run that led to three state championships. They managed to place themselves into the rare air of the nearly unbelievable.
A perfect mix of former college coaches and an ultra-talented senior class led the way as the Wildcats made a habit of hanging banners in the 2012-13 school year.
The unique relationship between the school and the university it shares a campus with is only part of the story. Recruiting allegations, a private school stigma and dealing with opponents’ perceptions are an ongoing battle.
See how Harding Academy managed to fit together all the pieces and claim an honor shared by very few. Players and coaches share their views on expectations, tradition and winning . . . The Wildcat Way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CE Butler
• Release date: Sep 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781517249250

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For all who dare to dream of perfection

Prologue

Let’s Be Champions.

It’s painted on the wall in the Harding Academy gymnasium – a simple suggestion to the students and athletes who pass through the building each day. It’s a reminder, really, that the school’s students are to be the best at whatever they do. It’s a challenge that’s meant to cover it all: athletics, academics, spirituality.

I covered the Harding Academy Wildcats from 2000-2003 as the sports editor of the local newspaper in Searcy, Arkansas, a town with a population of approximately 20,000. It’s a number that fluctuates wildly depending on whether Harding University, located next door to the Academy, is in session.

During that time, the Wildcats won the 2002 football state championship, a state title in girls basketball and dominated the girls cross country scene. Boys basketball and baseball were light years behind the football program – both in success and interest.

Even when Harding Academy won the 2008 baseball state championship, the school remained true to its athletic roots. It was, as it had always been, a football school.

But then the 2012-13 school year happened.

I was long removed from covering the Wildcats. Names had changed, though only the first names in a lot of cases. A group of students that had watched the earlier successes from the stands did something that had been done just twice before in the history of high school athletics.

Harding Academy fought from behind to win the 2012 football state championship. Then, the boys basketball team won 23 consecutive games on its way to the first state title in the sport in the school’s history. A baseball team that looked to be headed to an early exit following a poor showing in the regional tournament turned everything around and cruised through the state tournament.

No school in the history of Arkansas high school athletics had ever claimed state championships in the three major sports in the same school year. The Wildcats were only the third group of athletes – anywhere - to do it.

That’s the claim here, anyway. More than a year of research has gone into checking and double-checking record books from each state. The problem is that one is being asked to rely on records that, in some cases at least, are nearly impossible to verify. While some state athletic associations have managed to publish extensive information that is readily available, others’ records are spotty at best.

Once this work was begun, records and perfect seasons started to seem like a moving target. I watched as Madison Academy in Huntsville, Ala., captured all three titles in the 2014-15 school year.

I should have written faster.

There will be errors in this book. I feel it’s best to get that out in the open before we continue. I take full responsibility for those that appear and apologize ahead of time for them. I’ve made every conceivable effort to be as accurate as possible.

I’ve had tremendous cooperation and help from many of those featured in this book. A heartfelt thanks goes to all who took the time to talk with me. It wasn’t feasible to personally speak with everyone who was mentioned, though that would have been my wish. I’ve picked athletes not entirely at random, but several who I felt needed their stories told.

It’s been two full school years since this occurred. The idea for a book began soon after the Wildcats took over Baum Stadium at the University of Arkansas in the baseball state championship game. Thanks for your patience.

Chapter 1

Setting the Tone

Caleb Spears stood on the sidelines, cheering along with his teammates as he watched the final seconds of his high school football career tick away.

Glen Rose quarterback Collin Hunter had just connected with James Peterson from 12 yards out to put the Beavers ahead, 45-42, with 1:11 left.

When teammate Kohl Blickenstaff left the field with a shoulder injury, Spears sprinted on. The ball rested on the Glen Rose 20-yard line and just 13 seconds remained.

Spears was something of an anomaly in Harding Academy’s high-powered offense. He was an athletic receiver on a team that had completed 318 passes during the season. Statewide, the Wildcats were known for an electric aerial attack that piled up big numbers both on the stat sheets and on the scoreboard.

Spears had totaled exactly seven catches for the season, which ranked him eighth among his team’s receivers. He’d had just three the year before and none as a sophomore. He’d never – ever – caught a touchdown pass.

Senior quarterback Will Francis, who had taken every meaningful snap the two previous seasons, later admitted he was a little surprised to see Spears in the game.

"What I really remember about the drive is how calm everyone was. Coach (Roddy) Mote talked to us in the huddle before we went out just like it was any other drive. He made sure not to add any pressure . . . he just said, ‘Let’s go’.

Honestly, I didn’t even realize Caleb was in the game until right before the snap, Francis said.

Francis looked left before finding Spears at the 13-yard line. Spears caught the pass, made a quick move, broke two tackles and dived toward the end zone. He landed a yard beyond the end line.

He wasn’t the first option, Francis said with a chuckle. "I don’t think he was the second option, either. The backside, to Hunter Gentry, had been open most of the game. I was able to keep looking off the safety and coming back to Hunter. That didn’t work that time and Caleb just found a spot and sat there. It was just what we needed. We knew a field goal would tie the game. We had another timeout and all we really were expecting to do was get the ball in the middle of the field, call the timeout and kick the field goal.

We were hoping to play overtime.

Spears’ dive into the end zone changed those plans.

I was on the sideline talking to (assistant) Coach (Jon) Newby and I was thinking about 2010, Spears said of the Wildcats’ title game loss to Rivercrest his sophomore season. Spears’ older brother, Josh, was a senior on that Harding Academy team.

"I remember Will completing a pass to Kohl on the sideline that stopped the clock and then I remember an incomplete pass to Kohl and him coming off the