Woodlawn Throttles Midland; Advances to 8-Man Semifinals

  • Woodlawn quarterback Ethan Saeler breaks through the line of scrimmage on for a 43-yard touchdown. While he came up gimpy after the long run, he finished the game at quarterback but was not included in the run game. He rushed for 81 yards with one touchdown while throwing for 140 yards and two more touchdowns.
    Woodlawn quarterback Ethan Saeler breaks through the line of scrimmage on for a 43-yard touchdown. While he came up gimpy after the long run, he finished the game at quarterback but was not included in the run game. He rushed for 81 yards with one touchdown while throwing for 140 yards and two more touchdowns.

    Griffin Manes rushed for 201 yards and four touchdowns as the Woodlawn Bears (9-0) pulled away in the second half to knock off the Midland Mustangs, 50-20, in the first round of the Arkansas 8-man football state playoffs. The Bears will host the no. 2 seed from the North Conference, the Rector Cougars (5-3), at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, in the state semifinals at the Carl Jones Sports Complex. The winner will advance to the state championship game set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Midland, a state finalist last year, was sparked by the return of senior Chase Rascoe, who guided a 53-yard scoring drive to start the second half to pull the Mustangs to within 26-20 with 6:44 left in the third. But Manes answered with a 34-yard touchdown drive on the Bears’ ensuing series and then added touchdown runs of 19 and 41 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Woodlawn  quarterback Ethan Saeler finished with 221 yards of total offense after rushing for 81 yards and passing for 140 yards, which included a 51-yard scoring strike to Beau Watson and a 52-yard touchdown to Matthew Green.