West Memphis hot
West Memphis jumped on Little Rock Central for three touchdowns in the first eight minutes and cruised the rest of the way for a 41-15 victory over the Tigers. West Memphis’ Curtis Hill intercepted a Jacob Howard pass on the game’s second play from scrimmage and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.
WEST MEMPHIS 41, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 15
West Memphis jumped on Little Rock Central for three touchdowns in the first eight minutes and cruised the rest of the way for a 41-15 victory over the Tigers.
On the game’s second play from scrimmage, West Memphis’ Curtis Hill intercepted a Jacob Howard pass and returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.
After an onside kick by West Memphis’ Dylan Wiggington was recovered by the Blue Devils, Quincy Marshall scored a 3-yard touchdown for a 13-0 Blue Devils lead.
Six minutes later, Blue Devils quarterback Michael Troxler connected with Steven Stone for a 28-yard touchdown and a 19-0 West Memphis cushion.
“Obviously, that set the tone for the rest of the night,” West Memphis Coach Billy Elmore said. “[Hill] did a great job getting underneath that pass for the pick-six, and from there it just kind of snowballed on [Central].”
The West Memphis defense put two touchdowns on the board in the first half as sophomore linebacker Kendarius Moore picked off Howard and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown.
West Memphis (3-0) led 33-0 at halftime thanks to a Troxler rushing touchdown with 2:21 left in the second quarter.
Junior running back Rodney Doby, in his first start of the season, rushed for 121 yards and the Blue Devils’ defensive charged was led for a third consecutive game by senior defensive end Verndarious Hodges, who had three sacks.
The West Memphis defense allowed just 2 rushing yards and 1 first down in the first half, and only 64 rushing yards for the game.
“We knew [West Memphis] was good on defense,” Little Rock Central Coach Ellis Register said. “They’re pretty solid, and they’re wellcoached.”
The Tigers (1-2) got on the board in the third quarter when backup quarterback Donald Richardson threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Sanders to make it 33-8 after a two-point conversion pass by Richardson.
The Tigers got a late fourth-quarter touchdown by Devionn Mosby.
JONESBORO 28, LR CATHOLIC 26
JONESBORO — Daniel Johnson scored three touchdowns on two runs and a reception to lead Jonesboro (2-1) which got a Jaquarius Stafford fumble recovery late in the game to halt a Little Rock Catholic (2-1) drive.
Samy Johnson ran for a 61-yard touchdown with 3:18 to cut Jonesboro’s lead to 21-19. The Rockets went for two, but quarterback Jake James failed to connect with Johnson.
Less than two minutes later, Daniel Johnson scored on a 15-yard run and Jonesboro led 28-19.
In the fourth quarter, Samy Johnson caught a James pass and went 65 yards for a score, breaking seven tackles on the way to the score.