SEARCY — Harding Academy recovered five Paris fumbles and turned in plenty of big plays Friday night in a 43-13 victory in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs at Alumni Field. Harding Academy improved to 11-0 and will host Harrisburg next Friday.
The Wildcats scored on plays of 63, 33, 25, 40, 69, 33 and 33 yards against Paris. Harding Academy built a 22-0 lead going into halftime and quickly added to it in the second half with 40-yard run by junior quarterback Seth Keese to go up 29-0 at 10:33 of the third quarter.
Running back Mason Koenigsede got Paris its first points with a 6-yard run with 4:20 left in the third to make it 29-6.
Keese connected with Tyler Curtis for a 69-yard scoring pass with 13 seconds left in the third for a 36-6 lead. Keese then hit Curtis for 33 yards and a touchdown to end the Wildcats’ scoring with three seconds left in the third for a 43-6 lead.
Paris capped on the scoring with a 4-yard run by quarterback Andrew Rieder.
“We’ve had long drives throughout the year, but this just happened to be a game where we had big plays,” Harding Academy Coach Roddy Mote said. “We sometimes have the capability to go the distance.”
Keese finished with 8 rushes for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns and connected on 9 of 14 passes for 237 yards and 3 more touchdowns.
The Wildcats struck quickly with a two-play, 75-yard opening drive that was capped by a 63-yard scoring pass from Keese to Tyler Gentry with 11:37 left the first quarter. Josh Spears added the first of 5 extra points to give the ‘Cats a quick 7-0 lead.
Harding Academy then used a high, short kickoff that led to an Eagles fumble, which the Wildcats recovered at the Paris 28.
Keese showed good speed on a 33-yard run for Harding Academy’s second score just 1:04 into the game. The Wildcats scored on a two-point conversion run by Keese for a 15-0 lead.
Paris drove to the Wildcats’ 6, but Rieder fumbled near the goal line and Harding Academy’s Christophe Karr recovered the ball for a touchback to end the Eagles’ only scoring threat in the first half.
The Wildcats finished out the first half with a 25-yard touchdown run by Benjamin Lecrone with 1:09 left.





