State Champions!!

Posted Date: 12/16/2025

In an entertaining contrast in styles, Mansfield High School won its first state championship in football Saturday afternoon at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium!

Against the tradition-rich Fordyce Redbugs, former home to Alabama coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant, Mansfield had a record day in securing a 40-30 win for the class 3A state football championship. On the legs of senior fullback, Andrew Burton, Mansfield, as a team, rolled up an Arkansas championship record for total rushing yards in a game to outduel a similarly effective passing game by the Redbugs.

The Mansfield Tigers tallied 489 yards on the ground to surpass a previous final’s record of 485 yards set by the Barton Bears in 1987. Burton, the 3A State’s Most Valuable Player, had an amazing 321 yards on the ground to break his own MHS school record for most rushing yards in a game.

“It’s not a lot about the records,” said Burton in one of many postgame interviews the game’s best player endured after the final 3A game of the season. “I say it’s about the team. We’ve never won one (state football title). I knew this town wanted it bad, and this team wanted it bad. It’s awesome that we won!”

“I’m so proud of our guys,” said an emotional Mansfield head coach, Whit Overton, immediately after the game to an Arkansas PBS Sports sideline reporter. “They fought so hard. So proud of this town, this community. They’ve had to do this for so long - and to bring them this state championship is beyond my wildest imagination, dreams!”

The “for so long” referenced by Overton was no doubt in regard to the school's absence of any type of boy’s state title with the exception of a long ago 1978 baseball title. Since 1912, a date in which those in Tiger authority recall Mansfield playing football for the first time, no Tiger team has ever won or played for a state championship in football.

In Overton’s third year at the helm, the 2004 MHS graduate not only took the Tigers to a title game, they won it. They won it by sticking to a set of principles revolving around “hard work and effort” that he outlined when he took over the job in 2023.

“I mean I can’t even really explain it,” shared the visibly passionate mentor about winning a state championship for his alma mater. “A long time ago, I was unloading trailers at Walmart. I wanted to be the coach at Mansfield that brings them a state championship!

“People thought I was crazy for coming back here,” continued the coach who saw the richer side of football traditions as an assistant for several years at Booneville. “These kids bought into what I was preaching. I just love all these guys so much. They believed in what I was saying and we came out here and we did it! It’s incredible!”

Overton has preached strength and toughness since returning to Mansfield as coach. As part of that mentality, he has emphasized running the ball, and converting 2-point conversions. In this state finals game, two of those foundational pieces came into play in a large way.

The Tigers and the Redbugs each scored 5 touchdowns. Mansfield put 4 of 49 rush attempts into the endzone behind 5 starting offensive linemen that have basically been together since day one of the Overton regime. Count Zander Walters, Cadien Ore, Ethan Martin, James Bausley, and Logan Ore as the starting 5 linemen. The Tigers also added 1 touchdown by way of 1 completion off 3 total pass attempts all distributed before half.

Fordyce, in contrast, abandoned the run game early as Mansfield climbed to a 16-0 lead off two big plays all within a minute and a half of each other in the final 3:31 of the second quarter. That and the Redbugs struggling to gain ground yards against a stout Tiger defense forced Fordyce to rely on the arm of 6’ 3’, 250 pound quarterback Andreal “Cadillac” Ellison. To his credit, Ellison kept his second ranked team in the game by completing 28 out of 48 with 5 completions reaching the endzone.

The “fly in the ointment”, however, was the fact Fordyce missed on all five of their 2-point conversions. Mansfield, who has made 2-point conversions an emphasis after dropping winnable games last season because of PAT mishaps, made all five of their conversion runs. 

By elementary math skills, 5 times 2 equals 10. Ten is the exact difference in Mansfield’s 40-30 state title victory.

“We put a lot of emphasis on that this year,” said Mansfield’s head coach after they beat Walnut Ridge in the second round of the state playoffs. “If we can get three darts, and that’s always our goal, it’s like an extra touchdown and we’re on the plus side.”

That was certainly the case in Saturday’s 3A final against Fordyce. After Mansfield broke open a scoreless contest with 3:31 to go in the second period, the Tigers’ Jeremiah Burton tacked on the first of five successful conversion runs. That immediately put pressure on the Redbug coaches as to their in-game PAT strategy.

Andrew Burton cut loose on a 90-yard sweep into the south endzone to get the scoring party started for Mansfield. The senior fullback, repositioned as a tailback in the Tigers extra I-Formation arsenal inserted for these 2025 state playoffs, followed freshman fullback Colton Moore around the right edge. Senior wide receiver Joe Carter assisted with an additional block on the Redbugs’ edge-setting cornerback to spring Burton loose.

Burton’s 90-yard TD sprint tied for the second longest rush in state championship game play. Only Jimmy Morgan’s 94-yard rush for Earle in 1952 stands ahead of Burton’s ground breaker. Erik Ragsdale of Bentonville ran a 90-yard touchdown in 2008 against Ft. Smith Southside as the only other player to reach a 90 yard longest distance dialup.

Burton was the focal point of both teams. On Mansfield’s side, the senior All-State running back was called upon frequently as part of the Tigers’ Flex-Bone attack with some change of pace I-Formation material sprinkled into the game plan. On Fordyce’s side, #0 had 11 hats and 22 eyes focused on the 3A’s top running back. At a workload that included 30 carries, 321 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a 2-point conversion, the attention was well-warranted.

Mansfield’s elongated field position on its third possession of the game was created because the Tigers staved off a Fordyce redzone visit. The Redbugs worked their way as close as the Tiger 3-yardline as part of a 14 play drive that went unfulfilled. 

Mansfield’s defense bent to critical conditions as Ellison hit four long passes among some decent runs and a few penalty yards to put the visitors within striking distance. The Tigers bowed up behind some hard hits by Logan Ore, Zander Walters, James Bausley, Joe Carter, and Andrew Burton among others. 

The Redbugs were denied this second redzone trip off their second possession giving Mansfield the ball at their own 10-yardline. From there, Burton needed one snap to start the combined 70 point scoring frenzy between the two teams.

Exactly 1 minute and 31 seconds later, Mansfield's Joe Carter found his way to the same south endzone with a 48-yard touchdown reception off a Jubal Parks’ pass. Carter got behind the Fordyce secondary as Parks and Burton fooled the defense on a well timed play-action pass.

Carter had to work his way back to the slightly underthrown aerial to pull the football over the retreating defender's helmet. From near the 10-yard line, Carter put on his dancing shoes to stumble the would-be tackler and scoot across the goal line for the game’s second touchdown. When Silas Burton turned up a toss to the right for the second successful 2-point conversion, Mansfield suddenly had all the momentum with 2:00 minutes to intermission.   

"We told them (Fordyce players) all week long, and everybody I interviewed with before the game - we couldn’t give up the big play nor turn the ball over,” pointed out Fordyce head football coach Tim Rodgers at the half. “We turned the opening kickoff over. We threw an interception. We gave up two big plays…Everything I said we couldn’t do we’ve done in the first half.”

On the opposite end, Mansfield’s Overton was juiced with the way his team stayed the course to come up with a 16-0 lead going into intermission.

“Filling these guys out,” explained Overton as to his team’s lack of scoring in the first 12 minutes and 29 seconds. “We haven’t played these guys. We’re just trying to trade punches, trying to figure out how these guys defensively are playing us - made a couple of adjustments there and it’s always good when you give #0 the ball.”

Giving #0 the ball was exactly what happened. Mansfield’s 190 pound speedster was on house call for the rest of the evening. He would score two more times in the game. One was a 59-yard response to Fordyce’s first score which occurred in the third period. The other was a 15-yard burst as the Tigers began seeing the shimmer of that first place trophy making its way into the stadium.

Jamartez Stroud hauled in an 80-yard bomb from Ellison to make the game 16-6 with 4:13 to go in the third quarter. He would score twice more, a 42-yard catch and run at 9:28 in the fourth quarter and a 15-yard reception with 4:10 to go in the game.

Micah Gamble and Zavier Jones would also score on Ellison pass plays as the Redbugs refused to go quietly even as Mansfield built a three score game at 32-12 with 10:21 in the final frame.

“We were in the right spots,” offered MHS defensive coordinator Layton Robinson. “We just weren't making the plays. We just had our eyes in the backfield and not where they were supposed to be. They just had so many athletes, but the defense came up big when it had to. We had two picks, two stands within the ten yard line, and I don’t think they had a two point conversion all night. That was huge. We were counting by 8 and they were counting by 6.”

Safety Silas Burton stole a “Cadillac” pass two plays into the fourth period. His came after edge rusher Ethan Martin came up with the second of his two sacks on the night.

Senior Cooper Edwards picked off the other errant Redbug forward pass off a deflection. His takeaway came near the end of the second period. 

After Edward’s 24 yard return and a Fordyce unsportsmanlike penalty, Mansfield threatened for a third time before the break. That possession went empty as the ball returned to Fordyce on a long interception at the opposition's 8-yardline with 16 seconds left in the first half.

“Logan (Ore) did a good job getting to the flats,” said Edwards of his interception. “That made the guy jump for the ball. He tipped it and it fell into my arms - ran as much as I could.

“We knew they were going to make big plays, but once they got to the red zone they just couldn’t beat us over the top. We could drop down low and play tighter coverage.”

Offensively, Mansfield’s Jeremiah Burton got in on the running game action with an option pitch to the left. He converted that into a 36 yard scoring scamper with just over 10 minutes to go in the game. The scoring play was a big chunk of the 103 rushing yards on 7 carries the sophomore slotback would have on the day. When Andrew Burton followed with his only 2-point try to complement little brother’s score, Mansfield was feeling good with its largest lead of 20 points.

Stroud answered with his second TD. Andrew Burton countered with the last of his three touchdowns. Freshman Isaac Carson added the final two points for Mansfiled after Andrew’s final plunge of his illustrious career. Then Stroud and Jones posted consecutive Redbug TDs to tighten the tension at 4:10 and again at 2:02.

Fordyce failed on back to back onside kickoff attempts. Mansfield got into victory formation soon after to secure the undefeated 14-0 state title.

“Making history all year is a great feeling,” shared MHS senior Logan Ore, one of two inside linebackers for the Tigers with 10 or more tackles in the game. “It really is. 

“The people of this town, they came out and supported us. They haven’t seen anything like that, ever, and so for them to have the opportunity to watch real football is amazing.”

Zander Walters was the other inside Tiger linebacker that took care of business with double digit tackles. He spoke, as usual, from his spiritual side.

“God is my strength and power, and he makes my way perfect. I prayed that verse from second Samuel with my group right before the game,” said Walters. “All in Him, all in Him - I trusted Him that I would succeed. I didn’t fear anything. I went in there with no fear and there we went - we won! We took it!”