OZARK — Ozark two-way lineman Charlie VanDenBerg was willing and ready to open the Class 4A playoffs on a cool November night with a physical game.
The Hillbillies recorded seven defensive stops and scored four touchdowns off of them for a 35-20 win over Lamar to open the Class 4A playoffs on Friday night.
Ozark (9-2) will host 4A-1 foe Lincoln in the second round on Friday.
Friday, Ozark’s defense set the tone early with a fourth-down stop on the opening possession of the game, then turning around and scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by Koby Wilbanks. The Hillbillies then got a fumble recovery by Drake Haddick, and they cashed in with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Wilbanks to M.J. Parker for a 14-0 lead.
“That was the biggest thing, shutting them down and getting the fumble recovery at the beginning and then scoring,” VanDenBerg said. “They call it the trenches, fit and squeeze, and pancake people on offense. That’s it.”
Ozark intercepted three passes, recovered two fumbles and had two stops on fourth down.
“We had some big fourth-down stops,” Ozark coach Jeremie Burns said. “Those were big. Their style of play, we’ve had some trouble with. The defense adjusted and bent a little bit but didn’t break. We made them throw a little bit and our defense made some plays in the secondary.”
Lamar (7-4) went into the final week of the regular season among six teams vying for a share of the 4A-4 conference championship but lost to Central Arkansas Christian and dropped all the way to the No. 4 seed, creating a tougher-than-usual first-round game for Ozark, which was the runner up from the 4A-1.
“Lamar’s a good team,” Burns said. “They played in a tough conference down there as well.”
Ozark held Lamar under 200 yards rushing until the very end when they had three plays for 90 yards, including an 82-yard touchdown run by Caleb Green as time expired.
“Just fitting and squeezing up front and not letting them run the ball up the middle like they wanted to do,” said the 6-1, 300-pound VanDenBerg. “They told our coaches that’s what they were going to do, and we shut them down.”
Lamar was within, 21-14, on Green’s 1-yard power sneak with fullback Kaz Crotts pushing him into the end zone with 42 seconds left in the half that capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive.
“That’s what we were worried about, them keeping the ball and driving,” Burns said. “We’ve had some issues with that up front, the Wing-T type offenses so getting those stops and turnovers were a big deal.”
Offensively, the Hillbillies had 37 rushing attempts for 273 yards and Wilbanks was an efficient 9-of-12 passing for 93 yards.
“The offense, we did really well except for the turnovers,” Burns said. “I’m real pleased with that.”
Player of the Game: Wilbanks accounted for all five Ozark touchdowns, running for three and passing for two.
Wilbanks was 9-for-12 passing for 93 yards, and rushed 20 times for 187 yards, all on designed runs.
“That’s a power play for us,” Burns said. “They were cheated everybody toward our tight end so we’d just run and kick, and not having to pull our big guys. We were trying to adjust and run power with those backs basically back to the weak side and keep it in his hands. He’s our fastest dude.”
Wilbanks, who finished 10th in the district track meet in the 100-meter dash in April as a sophomore, had four carries on Ozark’s opening drive, including a 2-yard touchdown run behind Gavin Gilbreth with 5:26 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
After Haddick recovered a fumble for Ozark on Lamar’s next possession, Wilbanks threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Parker, who tiptoed the sideline in the right side of the end zone on the first play of the second quarter for a 14-0 lead.
After Lamar scored on a 57-yard run by Rogers, Ozark countered with a big play of it’s own with a perfectly placed 43-yard touchdown pass from Wilbanks to Demetrius Parish.
“It was a slant-and-go, and he bombed it up to me, and I went and got it,” Parish said. “I was ready. Once I saw him, he was sold on the slant, and I knew I could get him on the vert and it was touchdown.”
Wilbanks put the game away with scoring runs of one yard on the first play of the fourth quarter and a 41-yard scamper with 4:36 left that had Ozark up comfortably at 35-14.
Play of the Game: Ozark led 21-14 at the half but failed on a fourth-down attempt at Lamar’s 22 on the opening drive of the second half.
Lamar reeled off 10 plays and had third down at Ozark’s 27 when Parish intercepted a pass, his second pick of the game, in the end zone to thwart a potential game-tying drive by the Warriors.
“I was reading my guy and saw the ball go up in the air, and I went to get it,” Parish said. “That’s what I’m trained to do.”
Next up: Ozark hosts fellow 4A-1 foe Lincoln in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs. Ozark won the conference game between the two teams, 44-7, six weeks ago. Lincoln defeated Heber Springs, 39-28, on Friday with four fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Notable: Lamar, currently in the 4A-4, and Ozark, in the 4A-1 the last two years, could very well be re-united in the 4A-4 for the next two-year cycle when the conference alignments are announced following the state championship games. … Ozark has now intercepted 17 passes this season and recovered 22 opponent fumbles. … Parish, a move-in from Alma over the summer, caught his team-leading ninth touchdown pass of the season. … The win was the 99th for Burns as head coach at Ozark. … The win marked the eighth season for the Hillbillies to open the playoffs victorious. … The first quarter on Friday took just 19 minutes to play with just 25 offensive plays. … Ozark scored on its first three drives and needed just 138 yards of offense, working with a short field. … Ozark’s conference, the 4A-1, went 4-1 in the first round and was the only conference in Class 4A to win four games.
That figures
7 – defensive stops, including three interceptions, two fumbles and two fourth-down stops, by Ozark
37 – touchdowns accounted for this season by Ozark junior quarterback Koby Wilbanks, including five on Friday night
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