Perkins leads Pointers into the second round

Van Buren faced one of the stiffest challenges of all the teams that took the field in the first round of the Arkansas high school state football playoffs.

Not only did Van Buren begin postseason play with a losing record, it had to get on a bus and travel across the state to a West Memphis team that stood at 7-3 on the season.

West Memphis is now 7-4 and done for the year after losing to Van Buren 55-32. The Pointers improved to 5-6 heading into Friday’s Class 6A playoff game at Little Rock Christian, which received a first-round bye.

Van Buren’s upset at West Memphis was led by quarterback Bryce Perkins, who completed 21 of 36 passes for 361 yards and 4 touchdowns. Perkins also had five carries for 26 yards, including touchdown runs of 8 and 2 yards.

For his effort, Perkins is the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Player of the Week.

Van Buren’s record is misleading because it plays in the 6A-West Conference, which went 4-0 in first-round games. West Memphis could not contain a Van Buren offense led by Perkins, a senior who now holds the school record with 25 touchdowns on the season. He’s also second at Van Buren in single-season passing yardage (2,766) and career (5,561) passing yardage.

Perkins threw touchdown passes against the Blue Devils to Trenton Cooley for 30 and 23 yards, Cam Keller for 27 yards, and Peyton Pschier for 45 yards. Van Buren increased its lead to 41-17 in the third quarter when Perkins threw 30 yards to Cooley for a touchdown then scored on a 2-yard run following a 12-play, 76-yard drive.

“West Memphis is very athletic team that’s won a lot of games,” Van Buren Coach Mo Henry said. “So, to beat them like that is a big deal. We’re glad to be moving on.”

Van Buren will need a monumental effort this week to get past Little Rock Christian (8-2), which finished second in the 6A-West Conference with a 7-1 record. One of those wins came against the Pointers, which lost 58-3 to the Warriors on Oct. 20.