Southside rolls over Rogers Heritage 50-17

Mavericks win first game of year

FORT SMITH — In a battle of winless teams, it was Fort Smith Southside’s offense that made the difference against Rogers Heritage.

The Mavericks scored touchdowns on its only four possessions in the first half to seize control of the game, defeating the War Eagles 50-17 Friday at Rowland Stadium.

“Overall, I thought we played well,” Southside coach Jeff Williams said. “Obviously, we wanted to get a win, but we also wanted to play good football and I thought we did that.”

Southside (1-2) gained 477 total yards (223 rushing, 254 passing). Taye Gatewood threw three touchdown passes to Tyrese Solomon, ran for another score, and had three successful 2-point conversions (2 rush, 1 pass). Solomon had 8 catches for 157 yards.

“I thought the backs played well, we were able to throw it when we wanted to and the offensive line did a good job,” Williams said. “We executed on offense really well.

Brendan Ulrich (100 yards, 15 carries) and Ricardo Savoy (89 yards, 15 carries) each scored a touchdown to lead the Southside rushing attack.

The Maverick defense also made stops in critical times that help turn the game into a rout.

“Defensively, we stepped up and made stop plays tonight,” Williams said. “We were getting after it and playing fast. We got a turnover and we stopped a couple of potential scoring drives.”

The War Eagles (0-3) had climbed to within 14-10 with 7 minutes, 13 seconds left in the second quarter on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Trey Kitterman to Zach Gall.

Southside, though scored on consecutive possessions to open up a 30-10 halftime advantage.

Both possessions ended on Gatewood-to-Solomon touchdowns passes, 43 yards and 86 yards respectively.

The last score was just after a missed Heritage field goal.

The War Eagles were still within striking distance when reserve quarterback Zach Brown hit Jay De La Rosa for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 4:06 in the third quarter to cut the Maverick lead to 30-17.

Gatewood then led Southside on a 53-yard scoring march, capped by an 8-yard scoring toss to Solomon for a 37-17 lead with 3 seconds left in the third quarter.

Heritage never threatened after that.

The War Eagles open 7A-West play at home against Springdale next week.

The Mavericks travel to Conway for their 7A-Central opener.

“Defensively, we stepped up and made stop plays tonight. We were getting after it and playing fast. We got a turnover and we stopped a couple of potential scoring drives.”

— Southside coach Jeff Williams