North Little Rock rolls over Conway

CONWAY — Tied at the half, Oscar Adaway was anything but concerned about how North Little Rock was going to handle Conway.

“I knew the only reason they were in the game was because of all of our penalties,” Adaway said. “We were just messing ourselves up. Once you figure that out, you’re OK.”

Quarterback Kareame Cotton scored on three short runs in the second half as No. 1 North Little Rock rolled to a 35-14 victory over the No. 4 Wampus Cats in a 7A-Central game at John McConnell Stadium.

North Little Rock (5-0, 2-0) rolled up 421 yards on the ground and held Conway to zero first downs in the second half in earning their 18th consecutive victory. The Charging Wildcats were guilty of six penalties in the first half — four of them on false starts. They committed only two penalties in the second half.

Although he was held out of the end zone, junior running back Brandon Thomas ran 25 times for 192 yards. Adaway scored North Little Rock’s first two touchdowns and finished with 170 yards on 19 carries. Cotton managed only 15 total rushing yards but scored on runs of 2, 1 and 1 yards. Senior fullback Tyler Day added 40 yards of rushing.

North Little Rock Coach Jaime Mitchell had nothing but good things to say about the Charging Wildcats’ offensive line.

Conway (4-1, 1-1) ran only nine offensive plays and held the ball for only 3:37 of the second half. The Wampus Cats were held to seven first downs, all of which came in the final 5:25 of the second quarter. Conway managed 212 yards of total offense, but only 7 yards in the final two quarters.