Van Buren shuts out Heritage

Van Buren head coach Casey Dick stood before his team on Friday night and pointed to the scoreboard after his Pointers romped to a 38-0 win over Rogers Heritage. Then he pointed toward the stands, where the Pointer faithful saw Van Buren win for the first time in two years and a week at home. “It’s been 755 days, a long time for the Van Buren community,” Dick said. “That’s big for them. Hopefully, they start to see some improvement and start to see some things are different. That’s our main goal, to support these kids and support what they’re doing and create some excitement.” With the win, Van Buren (3-4, 2-2 7A-West) took a big step toward a berth in the Class 7A playoffs. Friday, the Pointers took a 3-0 lead on a 19-yard field goal by Chris Flores five plays into second quarter after a drive bogged down at the 2. Van Buren threatened on its next two drives, but a bad snap on fourth down set up Heritage at Van Buren’s 48 with 3:21 left in the half. Heritage (0-7, 0-4) drove to Van Buren’s 36 when Trent Ball intercepted a pass and weaved his way to an 87-yard return for a touchdown just 39 seconds left before the half. Gary Phillips took the two-point attempt into the end zone for an 11-0 cushion. “Any turn of momentum like that is just awesome,” Dick said. “Anything you can get like that is a big momentum shift. That was huge for us.” Van Buren’s defense was stellar in the first half, allowing Heritage just 94 yards of offense. In the second half, it was the offense’s turn. The Pointers racked up 326 yards in the second half and scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions. “We just responded,” Dick said. “We responded and played as a whole, as a team. It was awesome to watch them come out and compete and do really well in the second half. They played phenomenal. If we can repeat that, and do that week in and week out, we’re be okay.” All in the second half, Phillips ran 11 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns, and completed 9-of-14 passes for 112 yards and two other scores. Phillips capped the opening drive of the second half with a 45-yard touchdown run, cutting left and going down the visiting sidelines with 10:16 left in the third quarter for an 18-0 lead. On Van Buren’s next drive, he threw a 32-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field to Jude Bartholomew with 5:20 left to push the lead to 24-0. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Phillips broke a couple of tackles near the line of scrimmage on another draw play and ran 71 yards for a touchdown with 2:27 left in the third quarter for a 31-0 lead. Van Buren punted on its next possession, but needed just six plays to invoke the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Bartholomew with 5:53 left in the game. Van Buren’s scoring drives covered 79, 78, 79 and 62 yards in the second half. “That’s the way that offense works,” Dick said. “Once you get in momentum and get some chunk plays, it starts to click. We did a great job in the second half. We didn’t make major adjustments, just some minor things and tweaking some things and putting us in the position to do some things we needed to do.” The Pointers finished with 453 yards of offense on 65 plays with 22 first downs. “We’ve been four or five plays off the whole year,” Dick said. “To finally string it together and put it together, that’s what it looks like when you play as 11, as a team on both sides of the ball in all three phases.” Van Buren’s defense completed the shutout, allowing just 183 yards and seven first downs.

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Van Buren High School Athletics

VAN BUREN SHUTS OUT HERITAGE

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 10/13/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics