By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Seneca football team will play for another state championship.
The Indians, last year’s Class 3 runner up, benefitted from two defensive scores and a safety and rolled visiting Lift for Life Academy 31-0 on Saturday afternoon in semifinal playoff action.
“It’s just been building for four years,” Seneca head coach Cody Hilburn said. “Four years ago we got in and won a district championship, it had been a while since we’d done that. A year later we made a semifinal. A year later we go to the championship game. It’s just been a growing process for our program. Now our kids have seen everything and I think that’s a big part of it.”
Seneca will be making its 9th state title appearance and is seeking its 3rd championship; the Indians last won a title in 1995. They’ll face 12-1 Blair Oaks at 11 a.m. Dec. 7 in Columbia.
The Indians (13-0) played in their third straight semifinal on Saturday and opened the game with a 17-play drive that ate nearly nine minutes from the clock. It ended with a turnover on downs deep in Hawks territory, but Seneca got its first points a few minutes later when a punt was blocked into the end zone for a safety.
Seneca scored its first touchdown with 4:15 left in the first half when Kaden Clouse broke loose for a 31-yard run.
Barely a minute later the Indians had the ball again after a Lift for Life fumble near midfield. This time Roman Miller capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run and Tyrone Harris ran it in for the conversion to make it 17-0 going into the half.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
That was all the scoring in the game from Seneca’s offense. Despite averaging 53 points per game, the Indians settled for two offensive scores against the Hawks but got more than enough from the defensive unit.
Harris intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown with 9:21 left in the game to give the Indians a 24-0 advantage. On Lift for Life’s next possession, Miller recovered a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown for the final points of the game.
Saturday’s game was just the second time this year Lift for Life was held scoreless; the visitors entered the day averaging 32 points a contest.
“Credit our defensive staff,” Hilburn said. “That game plan evolved all week. It probably didn’t look Monday like it did tonight. We kept pushing at it and making some tweaks to it. Credit our front three and our mike linebacker because we essentially played a four-man box all night to limit explosive plays and they were able to stop the run with those four in the box.”
Lift for Life (8-6) managed just three first downs in each half. Twice they drove deep into Seneca territory––the first time advancing to the 12 before two penalties and a sack forced a punt on 4th and 25, and the second time turning it over on downs at the Seneca 18.
Seneca’s offense, meanwhile, threatened throughout the game. The Indians turned it over on downs at the Lift for Life 23, 22, 38 and 36.
“We didn’t want to make a mistake,” Hilburn said. “What we saw on film is teams got behind or it was close and they forced the issue a little bit and they would get a defensive touchdown or a pick 6. We didn’t want to do that today, we didn’t want to make the big mistakes. If it took us punting the ball, if it took us on a fourth down call being really conservative, we were going to do that. Especially with the way our defense is playing.”
“Seneca played with a lot of great fight,” Lift for Life coach Tony Woolfolk said. “They’ve been there twice and they’ve faced adversity and they know how it feels. I feel like they left everything on the line. Early in the first quarter they had a long drive and we came out and went 3-and-out and had to punt. I think that kind of dictated the energy in the game.”
