Benton HG takes off to beat Magnet Cove

BENTON HARMONY GROVE 20, MAGNET COVE 0

MAGNET COVE — Class 3A Benton Harmony Grove broke open a tight game on the strength of two second-half touchdown passes by quarterback Hunter Hilson en route to a 20-0 victory over Class 2A Magnet Cove.

Magnet Cove, trailing 7-0 at the half, punted on its first possession of the second half, and Harmony Grove wasted no time reaching the end zone.

Jake Brooks broke free on a 37-yard run. Hilson passed to Conner Burrow for a 25-yard gain and two plays later threw a 19-yard touchdown to Zane Vergason for a 14-0 lead.

“We brought in Jake Brooks there in the second half and he broke one for us and gave us a shot in the arm,” Harmony Grove Coach Paul Calley said. “We made some adjustments and tightened up our tackles and that helped to stop their running game after the held the ball for most of the first half.”

In the fourth quarter, Haskell Harmony Grove’s Jason Caple recovered a muffed punt return by Magnet Cove near midfield. Four plays later, Hilson threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Burrow scored to ice the game.

“Coach Calley did a great job making the adjustments they needed to and slowed us down,” Magnet Cove Coach Caleb Carmikle said. “I was proud of our guys for hanging in there and battling to the end.”

Hilson completed 14 passes for 196 yards.

The first half wasn’t quite as easy for Haskell Harmony Grove (2-1) after it scored on Jayce Shelnut’s 10-yard touchdown on its first possession.

Magnet Cove (0-3) controlled the ball for most of the first half, twice driving inside the Harmony Grove 10, but gave up the ball on downs at the 5 and later at the 8.

Both times, Harmony Grove’s defense stopped Magnet Cove on a 4th-and-1 situation.

“The defense bowed up and made the stop,” Calley said. “I was very pleased with the effort. We were playing with a lot of youngsters out there, sophomores, because of injuries.”

Harmony Grove made halftime adjustments to slow down Magnet Cove’s Tim Spiva and James Butler, who both had nearly 40 yards rushing each in the first half.

“We were inside the 10 twice, but if you would have told me we would be down only 7-0, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Carmikle said. “I was proud of our defense and thought we had the momentum going in at halftime.”

CLINTON 35, CAC 0

CLINTON — Clinton (3-0) easily handled Central Arkansas Christian (0-3) at home.

Senior Charlie Sewell ran 61 yards for a touchdown 40 seconds into the game.

With 5:45 left in the second quarter, sophomore Ethan Drake ran 15 yards for a touchdown, and sophomore Sky Davidson followed about three minutes later with a 13-yard scoring run.

In the fourth quarter, sophomore Weston Amos passed to senior Nate Lonnon for a touchdown, and sophomore John Riley Hinchey ran 39 yards for another less than 20 seconds later.

DANVILLE 38, MOUNTAINBURG 14

MOUNTAINBURG — A dominant first half was all Danville (3-1, 1-0 4-2A) needed to defeat Mountainburg (2-1, 0-1).

Danville junior Preston Donnell was 13-for-19 passing for 183 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Junior Trent Cathey opened the scoring for Danville on a 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Donnell followed that five minutes later with a 25-yard pass to junior Evan Lane.

In the second quarter, Donnell connected with Cathey on a 4-yard touchdown pass.

With 3:58 left in the first half, Donnell threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to senior Juan Ponce, to give the Little Johns a 29-0 lead.

Danville scored a late safety to complete the first-half shutout.

In the third quarter, Danville went ahead 38-0 on a 3-yard run by junior Quentin Tolbert.

Mountainburg added the final 14 points.

ENGLAND 46, EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE 44

Darrius Clarkson rushed for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns, while K’Von McPherson ran for 127 yards and 2 more touchdowns as England (1-2) outlasted Episcopal Collegiate (1-2) in Little Rock.

Clarkson had 47- and 23-yard touchdown runs in the first half, while McPherson added a 17-yard scoring run. In the second half, Clarkson scored on 5- and 38-yard bursts and McPherson wrapped it up for the Lions with a 3-yard touchdown run.

FOUNTAIN LAKE 29, SMACKOVER 28

SMACKOVER — Fountain Lake (1-2) overcame a 21-point third-quarter deficit against Smackover (2-1).

Just more than four minutes later, the Cobras scored a safety, putting them within five points of Smackover at 28-23.

With 1:08 left in the game, senior Stephen Turner connected with Johnson for their third touchdown of the night on a 34yard pass, putting the Cobras up 29-28.

Smackover had 152 total yards on the night, while Fountain Lake had 356

GLEN ROSE 14 CAMDEN HARMONY GROVE 7

GLEN ROSE — Jay’shawn Cox rushed 8 yards for a first-quarter touchdown for Glen Rose (2-1) and the Beavers followed up with a second-quarter score in holding on to beat Camden Harmony Grove (0-3)..

MCCRORY 37, MARVELL 0

MARVELL — Devin Taylor ran for three first-half touchdowns to give McCrory (2-1, 2-0 6-2A) a 30-0 halftime lead on the way to the rout of Marvell (0-2, 0-1).

McCrory’s first three scores were Taylor’s on runs of 13, 6 and 27 yards. TJ Alford ran for a 9-yard touchdown before the half and Chance Davis scored on a safety.

Brody Davis’ 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter set the final score.

NEWPORT 35, LONOKE 8

LONOKE — Junior Cash Forrester threw for three touchdowns as Newport (3-0) soundly defeated Lonoke (1-2).

With 4:35 left in the first quarter, Forrester threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to senior Oshae Pruitt. Juniro Rolando Noguez followed with the first of five extra points.

In the second quarter, Forrester threw 6 yards to Pruitt again for a touchdown, putting Newport up 14-0 at halftime.

Forrester threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to junior Garrett Body with 5:44 left in the third quarter.

With 11:53 left in the game, sophomore Monquell Cox ran 22 yards for a touchdown before senior Tydrell Friar returned an interception 70 yards for the Greyhounds’ final touchdown.

Forrester was 6-for-14 passing with 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. Pruitt had 4 catches for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns and added 9 tackles on defense.

Cox had 151 yards on 23 carries and 1 touchdown.

STUTTGART 45, DEWITT 16

STUTTGART — Derrick Amos scored on runs of 1 yard in the first quarter and 19 yards in the third as Stuttgart (1-2) downed DeWitt (1-2).

In the first half, Stuttgart also scored on a Tim Johnson to Zach Geans pass of 65 yards, a Dontrannelle Robinson 76-yard pass to Davion Graham and a 10-yard run by Keondre Davis.

In the second half, Kirk Hughes scored on an 11-yard run and a 66-yard kickoff return by David Walker.

DeWitt scored in the fourth quarter on Donovan Starks’ 60-yard run and a 10yard run by Jay Davis. DeWitt converted two-point plays after both scores.

WALNUT RIDGE 44, HARRISBURG 34

WALNUT RIDGE — A strong offensive performance buoyed Walnut Ridge (21) over Harrisburg (2-1).

Walnut Ridge led Harrisburg 24-8 at halftime before tacking on 20 points in the second half to maintain its lead.