It had been pouring rain throughout Arkansas and especially on War Memorial Stadium’s field all Thursday, but after about an hour and five minutes of a lightning-caused delay, the Eight-man championship game began, with the 10-2 Spring Hill Bears facing the 9-0 Rector Cougars. 

While the Bears got off to a 16-0 early lead after a T.J. Tipton 43-yard scamper on the third play of the game and after Cougars quarterback Drew Henderson lost the ball on a wet-football fumble returned for a touchdown by Tipton, the rest of the game would see Rector’s defense deny the Bears any more points and its offense score 22 of its own to win the game for the Cougars in overtime. 

With drenching rain pouring down, occasionally blown by the wind and a temperature in the mid-40s, the Cougars opted for an on-side kick to begin the game at 8:05 p.m. Blaine Tuttle of the Bears caught it and went down at the Spring Hill 49.  The Bears first offensive play of their first title game in War Memorial was a handoff to running back T.J. Tipton for a four-yard gain. 

It was on second and six that Tipton broke free for a 43-yard run to the endzone with Rector defensive backs left grabbing at air as Tipton hit fifth gear. Zane Minton punched it in for a two-point conversion, making the score 8-0 with 11:27 left in the first quarter. At some point in the first half, Minton, who has been relied upon all season as a speedster back and receiver, left the game because of a collar bone injury. 

The Bears now tried an onside kick of their own with similar results as Rector had had. Rector caught the ball at their own 49.  But the ensuing first and ten play was a fumble by Henderson, which Rector recovered. On the next play, a second and 19 from the Rector 40, Henderson fumbled it again, clearly because of the ball being so wet, but the ball was recovered again by Rector.  On the third and 30 play at their own 27, Henderson was stopped for a loss by Spring Hill’s Mason Moore. 

Deciding to go for it on fourth and 30 proved a disastrous decision for Rector as this time yet another wet-ball fumble occurred and was recovered by Spring Hill and returned 24 yards to the end zone by T.J. Tipton, playing defense.  

The kickoff would find Rector starting its next possession at its own 25. The drive would see one first down as Henderson got the ball the the Rector 36. But the Cougars would stall, unable to overcome a fourth and three and turning the ball over on downs to Spring Hill. 

Spring Hill's drive would result in three first downs and take up the rest of the first quarter and nearly four minutes of the second, but would stall out for a turnover on downs at the eight yard line of Rector after a pass from Smith to Karson Hamilton fell to the end zone turf. It was the closest Spring Hill would get to scoring until being set up at the ten-yard line on the second offensive possession of overtime. 

Rector would score its first touchdown with 24 seconds left in the half.  On a fourth and four play from the Spring Hill 45, a long pass from receiver Ashton Scott to Chance Lopez would get the Cougars to the Spring Hill three. Henderson would score the touchdown on a quarterback keeper and then get in again for the two-point conversion. The score at halftime would stand at 16-8. 

In the second half, Spring Hill would kick off. Rector fumbled and lost the ball with the Bears’ Levin McGuire recovering at the Rector 41.  But on the next play, the Bears would fumble the ball back to Rector’s Dalton Lamar, giving the ball back at the Rector 40. 

Rector’s drive would end in a punt to Spring Hill 15. But Spring Hill was called for holding. Rector chose to go for it on fourth and eight, but the pass attempt resulted in a near interception by Spring Hill that was dropped. It was a turnover on downs and Spring Hill got the ball back at its own 33. But the Bears would go three and out and punt. The punt was returned by Rector to its own 34. 

Henderson would get a big run on the first play of the drive, breaking three tackles for a first down to the Spring Hill 44. Then he would hand the ball off to Kaden Avery, who ran the 44 yards to the endzone at 5:38 left in the third quarter. The conversion attempt was good to tie the game at 16. 

No one scored in the rest of regulation. Both defenses looked impressive with frequent tackles in the backfield. In overtime, each team got four downs starting at the ten yard line to score and try for extra points. Having won the toss, Rector got the first chance. 

On first down, Henderson got two yards on a keeper. On second and eight Rector’s Avery ran it to the four-yard line.  On the third and four, Henderson ran into the end zone to make the score 22-16 Rector. A two-point conversion attempt failed. 

Now Spring Hill got a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and go ahead for the win with an added extra point or conversion.  T.J. Tipton got the handoff on first down, but was stopped. On second down and ten, Karson Hamilton got a pitch but his run got no gain. On third and ten an incomplete pass to Blaine Tuttle was too early for the receiver to turn around to catch it. 

The fourth down play saw the Bears try a passing play in the endzone out of the shotgun. Smith went back for the throw and targeted the Bears’ big receiver Hamilton, who could not come down with the ball. Now the Rector Cougars could celebrate its victory, having gone down in defeat last year in the same stadium against Izard County. 

After the game, Spring Hill’s Coach Greg Smith said of his team, “We're definitely proud of them We took some injuries there in the first half that that kind of started coming down and limited a few things that we could do. And that's just the way the cookie crumbles.” 

Smith added that players did step up in place of the injured and there was one group he was especially proud of. “When it goes that way, we had some guys that stepped up, made some big plays, some young guys. We were absolutely thrilled with our senior class. They played phenomenal.” 

Photos below by Nicki Purifoy.

Photos below by Jeff Smithpeters

More photos will be added to this story as they come in.

The game was broadcast by Arkansas PBS last night.