Reserves step up for Hot Springs with top receivers out vs. Texarkana
HOT SPRINGS 50, TEXARKANA 14
HOT SPRINGS — Although Hot Springs dominated Texarkana on Friday night, it felt the absence of two key players out with injury, allowing several other players to step up in the receiving game.
With a final score of 50-14, the Trojans forced the mercy rule with their two star receivers out with injury — T.J. Brogdon and Octavious Rhodes. But while they recovered, other players got a chance to shine, including sophomores Kenyon Woods and Tyrell Honey, junior Justin Washington and senior David Ho. Leading the squad was senior quarterback Matt Contreas, who passed for over 400 yards.
“When you’re missing two DI receivers, it’s big,” Hot Springs Coach Darrell Burnett said. “It’s big for guys to step up. The guys that stepped up, Honey got his opportunities. He got a good week at practice, we said he was going to ball. Justin, man, he’s just been rolling over from the JV games. What he did tonight is what he did at the JV games.”
Texarkana got on the board first with a pass up the middle from the 18 with 1:35 left in the first quarter.
The Trojans quickly answered back with a touchdown of their own on a pass to Washington inside the 10 with less than 30 seconds in the quarter. They, however, did not add the extra point to end the quarter down 7-6.
The Trojan defense held the Razorbacks to seven points almost the entire remainder of the game. Texarkana turned the ball over seven times to Hot Springs’ zero.
In the first moments of the second quarter, the Trojans found the end zone again on a touchdown pass to Honey, again with no extra point. Honey and Washington both scored again on passing plays in the second quarter for a halftime score of 26-7.
The onslaught continued into the second half when Washington scored back-toback touchdowns in the third quarter for a 38-7 total.
The last two touchdowns for the Trojans came from other means as running back Tymar Hollins rushed in from the 6.
This caused the Razorbacks to rally and make serious progress up the field, landing on the 2 with about 5 minutes left in the game. On second down, Texarkana attempted to rush it in, but were stopped short and fumbled the ball. Xzavion Mitchell of the
Trojans scooped and scored with a 99-yard carry.
Texarkana managed a last-minute score on a rushing play by Zephaniah Black, a sophomore running back. With the extra point, the final score of 50-14 was reached.
“Our quarterback, you know he took it personal,” Burnett said. “Arkansas High’s got a good quarterback. He’s got offers that Matt don’t have and Matt wants to show everybody who he is. Hopefully he’s done woke some people up because anytime you can do what he done without two DI receivers, you can’t say it’s just the receivers, it’s him too.”
Helping to move the ball up the field but not scoring, Woods and Ho were integral in the outcome. Ho, diving for a ball in the second quarter, left the game early with an injury to his arm.
According to Burnett, while Rhodes is likely to sit out until at least the last conference game of the season against Lakeside, Brogdon is set to be released for play Tuesday and will play in next week’s game at Camden Fairview.
“Hats off to Coach Burnett,” Texarkana Coach Trey Outlaw said. “Very good team. Hot Springs is going to do well in the playoffs. Proud of our guys for fighting for the 48 minutes.”