Northside blanks LR Central
7A-CENTRAL
FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 35, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 0
FORT SMITH — Fort Smith Northside Coach Mike Falleur wanted a business-like attitude from his team this week in preparation for its 7A-Central game with Little Rock Central.
The Grizzlies gave Falleur a no-nonsense effort in blanking the Tigers 35-0 Friday at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.
“We needed to put that tough loss [against Bryant] behind us,” Falluer said. “This week, we needed to just take care of business. It was an unemotional, ‘do your job’ kind of game.”
Northside (4-1, 1-1) only gained 272 yards, but took advantage of great field position to build the big lead and invoke the running clock for most of the second half.
The Grizzlies defense allowed just six first downs and 84 total yards.
“The defense was really, really good tonight,” Falleur said. “We made some changes on defense moving Kendre Esaw to defensive end, Seth Fields to middle linebacker and Jett Frazier to outside linebacker. It was good to get them into the game. This will help us down the road.”
Running back Sundquist Church paced the Grizzlies rushing effort with 98 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Ty Massey added 66 yards on six carries and a touchdown.
Northside had 200 yards of offense in the first half (110 rushing, 90 passing) to build a 20-0 halftime lead. The Grizzlies defense limited Central to just three first downs and 48 yards in the first two quarters.
The lone score in the first quarter was a 6-yard reverse by T’kavion King with 3:22 left for a 7-0 lead.
The Grizzlies then marched 68 yards in seven plays, again keyed by a big play – this time a 43-yard pass from Walker Catsavis to Church to the Tiger 23. Four plays later, Ty Massey scored from the Tiger 3. The point-after kick hit the left upright leaving Northside with a 13-0 lead with 8:26 left in the first half.
After Central was stopped again on fourth down near midfield, Northside went on another scoring march. Catsavis hit Josh Hardwick for 27 yards to the Tiger 10 and two plays later, Church scored from 3 yards out to open the 20-0 advantage with 65 seconds left in the first half.
Church’s 43-yard touchdown run with 10:12 left in the third quarter extended Northside’s lead to 27-0.
After Julius Thomas stripped the ball and recovered a Tiger fumble, Walker Catsavis hit Damari Smith on the next play for a 24-yard touchdown pass with 9:12 left in the third quarter. Catsavis kept on the two-point conversion and the Grizzlies invoked the Sportsmanship Rule with the 35-0 advantage.