FORDYCE — Longtime Fordyce Coach Tim Rodgers made it clear he was going to get the ball to juniors Micah Gamble and Jamartez Stroud. Neither one made Rodgers regret it.
Gamble scored on two 2-yard carries and Stroud hauled in a 58-yard pass from quarterback Andreal Ellison for much-needed insurance, as the Redbugs beat Booneville 18-13 in a 3A state high school semifinal Friday night. The game at Paul “Bear” Bryant Stadium was a rematch of last season’s quarterfinal, which Gamble secured with a long touchdown run in the final seconds.
“I know we couldn’t do this without God,” said Gamble, who ran 15 times for 53 yards. “God helped us all the way. God set it up to where we could go to state.”
Stroud had five catches for 102 yards. Ellison went 10-for-13 for 148 yards.
Fordyce (13-1) will face Mansfield at noon next Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Mansfield, which earned a first-round bye in the playoffs, defeated Salem 48-22.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The championship game will be the fourth in seven years for the Redbugs, who won the 2A title in 2019 and 2020 but lost to McCrory in 2021. They were stopped in last year’s 3A semifinals by Bismarck.
“It feels good. It was tough,” Rodgers said. “I knew Booneville controlling the ball and not giving up big plays and turnovers (was important), and I’m just glad we came away with the win.”
Rodgers also made clear Fordyce would have to stop Booneville senior fullback Hunter Warren from having another big game. Warren, who scored four touchdowns at Fordyce last year, scored on the Bearcats’ opening drive, but finished with 35 yards on 11 carries. Booneville (9-5) managed to outgain Fordyce 242-191 in total yards without completing a pass. Junior Brody Chambers had 109 yards on eight carries, one of them a 39-yard dash with 5:06 left in the game.
Booneville, the third seed from Conference 3A-1, opened with a 13-play, 57-yard drive melting 7:02 off the clock. Warren scored on a 3-yard carry, his ninth of the series, and Oliver Loaeza converted the extra point. But the Conference 3A-8 champion Redbugs responded with a nine-play, 45-yard drive ending in a 2-yard carry by Gamble. Ellison was stopped short on the two-point rushing attempt.
After both teams traded punts, Fordyce caught a huge break midway through the second quarter. A bad snap sailed high over the Booneville punter, whose punt was blocked and the Bearcats covered up at their own 33, setting up a seven-play go-ahead drive capped by Gamble’s second touchdown. Booneville denied Fordyce another conversion, stopping Tyrel Harris short.
In a nearly scoreless third quarter, Booneville forced a turnover on downs on Fordyce’s first possession after dialing up pressure that led to two incomplete throws by Ellison, but went three-and-out on its next drive. A shanked punt that netted 11 yards put the Redbugs at the Bearcats’ 45, but they moved back 25 yards thanks to holding and personal foul penalties.
Booneville never capitalized, and Fordyce went up 18-7 on Ellison’s 58-yard launch to Stroud with 49.3 seconds left.
Chambers broke a 49-yard run to the Fordyce 28 with about 8:40 left, but the Redbugs stopped Droemer short 3 yards short on fourth-and-6 to get the ball back with 6:33 left. Chambers went back to work after a short Fordyce punt and sprinted 39 yards on the next play from scrimmage to narrow the gap to 18-13.
The Redbugs recovered an onside attempt at the Booneville 45 but were forced to boot it away to the Bearcats at their own 20 with 3:59 left. Warren dragged Fordyce defenders on a 17-yard carry to the 46 to convert fourth-and-1. Fordyce then stopped Booneville for minus yardage twice and (10) threw two incompletions to end the threat.