It's amazing what one win can do.
Sylvan Hills brought its two-season, 20-game losing streak to an end last Thursday night in what was the unofficial kick off to the 2025 high school season.
The Bears defeated the Maumelle Hornets 55-54 in Coach Mark Kelley's first game in charge. It marked their first win since Nov. 4, 2022.
"I probably hadn't seen that excitement from winning a football game since we won the state championship when I was at Searcy," Kelley said. "We definitely want to try to keep that excitement for winning."
The winning effort was led by senior quarterback Tyler Hampton, who is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Player of the Week.
Hampton has shown flashes of talent over the past two seasons for the Bears, but it's never resulted in winning football -- until Thursday. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions.
"The biggest thing is that we took care of the football," Kelley said. "We're aggressive with the football, but we were able to take care of it. Whenever you don't turn the ball over, you always have a chance to win."
Hampton scored seven total touchdowns in the win over Maumelle, with four coming on the ground. He rushed 27 times for 172 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. His longest run went for 52 yards. Kelley also noted Hampton's scrambling ability in the red zone as a key factor in the win.
"There were times, especially in the red-zone, goal-line area, when I didn't quite make the right call, or whatever we called wasn't there, and he was able to go make a play with his legs. And that's really what sets him apart from a lot of quarterbacks, is that he can go make plays when it's not there, when the call is not perfect. He can make you look like a good coach."
Not only did Thursday's win snap a 20-game losing streak, it also snapped a streak dating back to 2019 of six straight season-opening losses for Sylvan Hills. This is the first time the Bears have started their season 1-0 since 2018 -- three head coaches ago.
Kelley said he's hoping the effects of this win carry over into future weeks.
"Even when you win, we got to make sure that we're coaching these guys up," he said. "I think our biggest jump will probably be from this week to next week."
Hampton's performance caught the eyes of college coaches as well as high school. The University of Arkansas-Monticello extended him an offer Saturday morning. Kelley said he wouldn't be surprised if there were more to come.
"He's gone to a ton of camps, and everybody's seen him throw, everybody's seen him run, so as long as they know the tools are there. Now they just got to see it on film," Kelley said. "And that's what he was able to do, put it on film, and put a full game together within the offense. And you know, whenever people saw that, I think they kind of took note, and he probably shot up a lot of boards as far as quarterbacks within the state."