Leopards try to rebound from late-season swoon

SEAN SAUNDERS

MALVERN — Things were going well for the Malvern Leopards entering the final two weeks of the 2015 regular season. Upending Fountain Lake on the road, the Leopards put themselves in position to grab the No. 1 seed in highly competitive Class 4A-7.

Then the wheels fell off when state champion Nashville walloped the Leopards 56-14 at Malvern. The Leopards then blew a 14-point lead in the final minutes at Arkadelphia in the regular-season finale, falling to the league’s fifth and final playoff spot, before losing a 42-39 heartbreaker at 4A-2 champion Central Arkansas Christian in their postseason opener and finishing 6-5.

“One of the deals this year is that we’ve talked about finishing, whatever it is,” Malvern coach Mike Scarbrough said. “We’re going to concentrate on finishing the season and finishing every play. We didn’t do a good job of finishing last year.”

One Malvern asset must be replaced with three-year starting quarterback Trace Collie now at Southern Arkansas playing baseball. Collie has started in all but three games of Scarbrough’s varsity career, going 23-11 and guiding the Leopards to the 2014 semifinals.

Malvern is going in a slightly different direction for the new quarterback, a little faster though Collie was an effective scrambler. Junior Demias Jimerson was groomed as the backup QB while starting at receiver last year, but his growth was stunted with injuries that knocked him out by Week 4.

“It’s tough because we had a certain level of comfort with Trace in the game,” said Scarbrough, 25-12 in three seasons, of moving on from Collie. “But we’ve got a young guy, Demias Jimerson, who’s taking his place and is very athletic. He’s shown that he can handle it, and he’s done a very good job for us.”

Senior Devin Shaw, splittingcarries with all-state graduate Jamari McCollum, is Malvern’s featured running back this year, but he was also hurt against Arkadelphia last year and couldn’t go in the playoff game. Shaw, also a three-year starter at safety, reaggravated the hip injury he initially tweaked during the Week 3 loss at Lakeside.

“Last year, part of the reason why we went 0-3 down the stretch was Devin Shaw getting hurt late against Arkadelphia,” Scarbrough said. “When he went off the field, it made a huge difference with our defense. He was our leading tackler. He did everything on defense for us last year. When he’s on the field, he’s a big difference.”

Shaw, recruited by Division I programs, rushed for almost 700 yards last year after a breakout performance during the 2014 quarterfinals against Clinton. His top two junior performances came in Garland County, 238 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries at Lakeside and a career-high 27 rushes for 162 yards and three scores at Fountain Lake.

“Devin is one of the most explosive players, I’d say, in the state of Arkansas,” Scarbrough said. “He’s going to be our bell cow on offense, and he’ll be