Badgers ready for showdown with Elkins at War Memorial Stadium –

PHOTO: The Arkadelphia Badgers pose for a team photo after defeating the Southside Southerners 35-6 Friday night in the 4A State semifinals. | Courtesy photo

By CHRIS BABB | specifically for arkadelphian.com

The Arkadelphia Badger football team heard the phrase “get over the hump” several times from the coaching staff last week before the team’s 4A state semifinal game against the Southside Southerners.

That hump referred to the 4A state semifinals, a venue that had marked the end of the season for Arkadelphia twice in the last three seasons. Arkadelphia lost heartbreaking semifinal games in 2021 and 2022, both on the road and both by three points.

Last Friday night, the Badgers got over that hump with a 35-6 win over Southside, handing the Southerners their first loss of the season. The game marked the first time Arkadelphia had hosted a semifinal game at Badger Stadium since it was built just over 20 years ago.

On the other side of the hump rests a date with the Elkins Elks Saturday at noon in the 4A State Championship at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

“We’ve been preaching to our guys for years how we can get there,” Arkadelphia head coach Trey Schucker said in his postgame interview with the broadcast. “The whole deal this week was that we were on top of the hump and we just have to take that extra step to get over it, and we did.”

And they did it in fine fashion, dominating a Southside team that came into the game averaging just over 36 points per game. match. The Southerners found the end zone on the final play of the game after Arkadelphia invoked the mercy rule.

The win puts Arkadelphia in the 4A state championship game for the first time since 2018, a game in which the school won its second straight state title game. Arkadelphia defeated Warren 28-27 in 2017 and capped off a memorable 2018 season with a 28-0 win over Robinson. The Badgers started the 2018 season 0-5 and rattled off 10 straight wins to win the title and defeat the Senators, the last of five losses to open the season. In all, the Arkansas Activities Association recognizes four titles for the Badgers. Arkadelphia also won state titles in 1979 and 1987.

The Badgers will face Elkins, who enters the game with a 14-0 record and as the No. 1 seed from 4A-1. Elkins went on the road to defeat Mills 33-22 last week in their semifinal game in Little Rock.

The Badgers and the Elks have been considered the top two teams in Class 4A this season by many who cover Arkansas high school football. The teams have three common opponents. Both teams defeated Gentry, Dardanelle and Malvern. The results were fairly comparable for the Malvern and Gentry matches, with the outlier being the results against Dardanelle. The Elks defeated the Sand Lizards 51-0 in an early season non-conference game, and the Badgers defeated the Sand Lizards 35-27 in the quarterfinals two weeks ago. Elkins also had an impressive 49-14 victory over Warren in a neutral non-conference game in September.

Elkins will be looking for the program’s first state title Saturday, which would cap off a perfect season. Schucker knows the Elks will pose a strong challenge to the Badgers, which is to be expected in a state championship game.

“Elkins is a good team and we’re going to have to play really well to win,” Schucker said on his weekly coaching show. “They are coached really well and coach (Zach) Watson and his staff do a really good job in everything they do.

“Defensively, they are very healthy. They are physical and they tackle really well. Offensively, they are really good at running and passing with a good quarterback and running back as well as on the offensive line. They also have good special teams. Typically we see not as much the sound of a special teams unit as what we’ll see this week with Elkins.”

Schucker also knows his team is good and needs to be ready to play at a championship level.

“We’re excited to get over the hump and get to championship week,” said Schucker, who will be making his second appearance in a state championship game as he was the offensive coordinator in 2019 when Searcy won a state championship. “We’re excited, but we’re still hungry.”

Because of the placement in the state playoffsArkadelphia will be considered the home team Saturday, and fans will sit on the press box side of War Memorial Stadium. Doors open at 10.30am on Saturday morning. All tickets must be purchased online at this link. Digital tickets will be presented at the entrance by fans. All tickets are general admission and cost $9 each plus applicable fees from GoFan.

Arkadelphia fans should plan to enter the stadium on the press box side of the stadium, which is the west side. The last two times Arkadelphia has made the title game, the Badgers have been the visiting team and sat across from the press box.

Parking will be available in the main parking lot closest to the visitor site. War Memorial Stadium will open up more parking on the site that was formerly the War Memorial Golf Course, should additional spaces be needed.

War Memorial Stadium also strictly enforces a clear bag policy and other security measures. This policy and other safeguards can be found here.

All AAA state championship games are broadcast live on Arkansas PBS affiliates, formerly known at AETN. Fans in the state of Arkansas can watch the game for free online through the Arkansas PBS website. Fans outside the state of Arkansas can watch the game via pay-per-view on the NFHS network. Fans will be required to purchase a month-long or annual subscription to access the game.

The game will also be broadcast live on the radio by The Buzz radio network on 106.7 FM Buzz2.

Arkadelphia’s regular broadcast team with play-by-play from Dr. Jeff Root and color analyst Cooper Darr will produce an audio broadcast of the game at www.arkadelphiabadgertv.com/broadcasts . The Arkadelphia broadcast can also be heard on the Arkadelphia Badger app, available in the Apple App Store or on Google Play. Fans can still hear the Southern Bancorp Badger pregame show and the Roger Wingfield State Farm interview with Schucker beginning at 11:15

Fans are also invited to a State Championship game pep rally Friday afternoon at 2:30 at Badger Stadium.

Fans should bookmark Arkadelphia Public Schools website to stay up to date with game information throughout the week. Those on Facebook can also keep up with that information on the Arkadelphia Public Schools, Arkadelphia High School and Badger Athletics Facebook pages.

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