Southerners (7-0) overwhelm winless Mustangs

It was a matchup between a team without a victory and one without a loss, and the result didn’t deviate from prior form.

The Southside Batesville Southerners scored on their third play from scrimmage, led 28-0 at halftime and finished with a 42-0 mercy-rule victory over the winless Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs at Mustang Mountain in North Little Rock on Friday night.

Junior quarterback Koby Rich started the scoring for Southside (7-0, 4-0 2-4A) with an 18-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Dawson Blevins in the game’s first minute.

Rich completed 6 of 11 passes for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“He’s a good ballplayer,” Southside Coach Kenny Simpson said. “He’s a great game manager. He just lets his guys make plays for him.”

CAC (0-7, 0-4) was down two touchdowns after junior running back Brayden Duncan’s 54-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.

Simpson said it was Duncan’s longest run of the season.

“He’s our speedy guy,” Simpson said. “We’ve seen that kind of run in practice, but that’s the first time we’ve seen it in a game.”

Duncan rushed eight times for 74 yards.

Rich’s 64-yard touchdown pass to senior fullback Drew Hicks gave Southside a 21-0 lead on the final play of the first quarter.

CAC, under the direction of sophomore quarterback Eli Garrison, drove into Southside territory three times in the first half but were twice stopped on fourth-down conversions and a third time by Blevins’ interception.

Garrison completed 17 of 32 passes for 146 yards.

“We’re taking baby steps offensively,” CAC Coach Tommy Shoemaker said. “But he’s getting better. We’re going to gradually try to throw a little more at him.”

Rich kept for a 3-yard touchdown run to give Southside a 28-0 lead with 23 seconds left in the first half. His 55-yard touchdown pass to junior Caden Huskey started the mercy-rule clock with 9:32 left in the third quarter.

“We’re getting better,” Shoemaker said. “It didn’t show up on the scoreboard, but they’re just better than we are. We’ve gotten better each week, but I am a little disappointed by tonight. We just have to keep getting better.”

Sophomore reserve quarterback Braden Jones completed the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run with 4:42 left in the game.

“They have an experienced group,” Shoemaker said. “They have a talented group, and it showed tonight.”