Wisdom’s 4 TDs help propel Shiloh Christian

SPRINGDALE — Eli Wisdom has never ended his season on any other field other than War Memorial Stadium, and the Shiloh Christian senior quarterback made sure that trend continued Friday night.

Wisdom scored on a 55-yard touchdown on the game’s third play and the Saints never trailed in a 48-19 romp against Camden Fairview at Champions Stadium in a Class 5A state semifinal playoff game.

Shiloh Christian (12-1) will take on Little Rock Parkview at noon next Saturday in the state championship game at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium. The title game appearance marks the fourth consecutive season the program has played in a state title game, but its first in Class 5A after being bumped up a classification last offseason because of the Competitive Equity Factor by the Arkansas Activities Association.

Wisdom played his final home game as a Saint, and he made sure it was a memorable one by rushing for 243 yards and four touchdowns on runs of 55, 12, 25 and 2 yards.

“Scoring that fast, it helps our whole team,” said Wisdom. “It helps our defense, it helps our confidence. To be able to score fast is also hard on their defense.”

Wisdom’s early scoring run set the tone for the Shiloh Christian offense, which built leads of 14-0 and 21-0. While the Saints piled up 426 yards on the ground, the Shiloh Christian defense was equally impressive.

Camden Fairview (10-3) did not record its initial first down of the game until the 8-minute mark of the second quarter, which came on its first scoring drive when Martavious Thomas hit Aaron Alsobrook on a 35-yard scoring pass down the seam to cut the margin to 21-7 with 6:27 left in the first half.

The Cardinals took the opening possession of the third quarter and drove 55 yards in nine plays after a big kickoff return by Trent Haygood set Fairview up at the 45-yard line. Thomas hit Jarvis Reed and Alsobrook in key passing plays that set up Thomas’ short scoring run that pulled the Cardinals within 21-13.

A huge opportunity presented itself to Fairview on Shiloh Christian’s ensuing drive when Wisdom fumbled deep in his backfield. But teammate Noah Dejarnatt wrapped the fumble up and kept the possession for the Saints. On the next play, Wisdom hit Bodie Neal for 20 yards and a first down. Then Bo Williams scored on a 13yard run for a 28-13 lead, and Fairview never recovered.

“After we got within a score, they hit us with a big play,” Fairview Coach Nick Vaughn said. “A couple of mistakes and busted plays put them back up two scores and we just never could get it going offensively after that.”

The score ballooned to 3414 when Williams scored his third rushing touchdown of the game from 27-yards out. Williams finished with 151 yards on 25 carries.

Shiloh Christian extended the margin to 41-13 on the third play of the fourth quarter when Wisdom scored his third touchdown one play after a holding penalty negated a touchdown pass to Neal. He later added a 2-yard touchdown run.

Shiloh Christian Coach Jeff Conaway said the touchdown drive after Dejarnatt recovered the Wisdom fumble was huge.

“It was a drive we needed to score on,” Conaway said. “I felt like after we scored there, it was an opportunity for us to really buckle down and make sure we protected the football. I was very proud of our offense for doing that.”