All about tradition

HOT SPRINGS – The Hot Springs football tradition lives on.

Although none of the current roster of players for the Hot Springs Savage Heat football team were on the 2016 State C 6-Man championship team, the current players take the maintaining of the Hot Springs football tradition, which also includes the 2012 State C title, very seriously.

Look no further than the Heat's 49-24 playoff win over visiting Denton-Geyser-Stanford Saturday in Hot Springs for proof.

Now 9-1, coach Jim Lawson and his Savage Heat will host the 8-2 Jordan Mustangs, the No. 3 seeded team from the Eastern C, at 1 p.m. Saturday in the State C 6-Man quarterfinals. Jordan demolished Roy-Winifred 88-40 in that first round game last week.

Lawson appreciates the fact that the Heat have been able to carve out their own championship identity this season, an identity first established in Hot Springs by their predecessors in '12 and '16.

"It is fun to see these kids striving to carry on our winning tradition," Lawson, the coach of both previous State C championship teams, said. "The previous teams set the bar high and this team figures it is their job to live up to the expectations created by those players they looked up to as they were growing up. And they have done a great job in doing just that."

The latest good work the Heat did was in the big win over a very physical DGS team Saturday.

The Heat rushed out to an early lead – scoring 16 points in six seconds of game time in the opening minutes on the way to ringing up the first 30 points of the contest – and held off the visiting Bearcats, the No. 4 seeded team from the ultra-tough Northern C, for the latest big win in Hot Springs football history.

"We were expecting a tough, hard-hitting game and DGS delivered on that," Lawson said. "The Northern C was very tough this year and they had to go through some battles to just get into the playoffs – we knew we would have a fight on our hands."

The Heat struck early after winning the coin flip and electing to kick off, holding the Bearcats on downs after a fake punt and run on fourth and long failed to get DGS a first down and allowed Hot Springs to take over the ball at the Bearcats' 28-yard line.

After a two-yard loss on their first play, Luke Waterbury then steamed 30 yards for a touchdown on a running play for the game's first touchdown, and Tyler Knudsen added the two-point conversion kick for an 8-0 lead. That happened with 7:58 remaining in the quarter.

Following Knudsen's kickoff, which reached the end zone and gave DGS the ball at their own 15-yard line, the Bearcats fumbled the ball on first down, and Knudsen scooped up the rolling ball and ran into the end zone for the Heat's second TD, coming with 7:52 left in the quarter. His two-point boot after the touchdown made it 16-0 Hot Springs.

The Bearcats nearly scored on their next possession – using a 54-yard pass play from Dylan Taylor to Jake Solomon to gain a first down at the Heat's nine-yard line, but Hot Springs eventually repelled the 'Cats, holding them to no gain on a fourth and goal at the one.

Later in the quarter, Jack McAllister recovered a fumble at DGS's 11-yard line to put the Heat back in scoring position. Two plays later, Knudsen bulled in for a seven-yard touchdown run and the conversion kick failed to leave Hot Springs with a 22-0 lead with only seconds left in the first quarter.

Knudsen scored another touchdown on a 31-yard dash in the second quarter and kicked the two-pointer for the 30-0 lead.

DGS got on the scoreboard with a seven-yard pass from Taylor to Arik Ayers with 1:57 left in the half, Waterbury got into the end zone again on a one-yard run and the teams went into halftime with Hot Springs leading 36-6.

Waterbury scored on a four-yard run, and McAllister caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Brandon Knudsen to complete scoring for Hot Springs in the second half.

DGS's Kyle Lee scored three TDs – one on a 30-yard pass from Taylor and the other two on runs of 55 and 57 yards – in the second half to produce the final points in the game.

"We feel good about how we played, DGS was a tough opponent for being a No. 4 seed," Lawson said. "We had to change up our game plan some, but the kids responded well when they had to."

Lawson thought turnovers may have been the biggest difference makers as the Heat generated six and the Bearcats had only two.

Tyler Carr paced the Heat defense with an impressive total of 17 tackles, and Ty Knudsen finished the game with 95 yards rushing on 21 carries.

Looking ahead to what the Jordan Mustangs may bring, Lawson sees another quality opponent coming to the Spa City Saturday.

Composed of many players named Murnion, the Mustangs could prove difficult to corral.

"They have a lot of speed and size, and like to spread it out on offense," Lawson said. "Keenon Murnion is their quarterback and he likes to throw a lot to Ed Murnion. We will have to contain their passing game somewhat if we hope to win."

A previous Murnion in Jordan sport history, Kelly Murnion broke Todd Reich's long-standing Class C record in the 400 meters (breaking the Hot Springs legend's mark set at 400 yards so many years ago) in track and field at the 2016 State C meet, perhaps giving the Heat even more incentive in defending Hot Springs' rich sports tradition.