Red Devils down Eagles in road matchup
CONWAY — Mountain Pine overcame the Conway Christian Eagles Friday at Mission Field 26-6, moving to 2-0 in conference play.
“We won a pillow fight,” Mountain Pine head coach Sam Counce said. “They’re good, and they do good things, but they’re down right now.”
Conway Christian (1-4, 0-2 2A-5) got on the scoreboard first to take a 6-0 lead, and the teams battled back and forth until a minute before halftime when Josiah Walpole intercepted an errant pass. Quarterback Collin Smith found Walpole in the end zone on the ensuing play, but the conversion failed, leaving the score knotted.
“Josiah had a great game,” Counce mentioned. “He’s been sick all week. Even with that, he came out and played a great game for us. Josiah’s really stepped up for us this year.”
The Red Devils (2-3, 2-0) came out after the half with fresh energy, recovering their own onside kick from Kayden Anzaldua and Smith scoring his first touchdown of the night.
“Coming out and getting the kick, and getting the ball right back midfield. That really gave us a boost of confidence we needed that,” Counce said.
Smith finished out the rest of the evening with two more TDs, and Walpole converted a successful two point attempt.
“Collin did a good job,” Counce said. “He showed his senior leadership and stepped up. … In the first half he was having a hard time finding the holes. At halftime, we talked to him about finding the crease and getting upfield, and he did. That made a lot of difference for us. He’s the guy we go to. He’s the one who’s got to get us going and get our team going in the right direction.”
Counce was satisfied with how his defense executed, pointing out a few of his players that aided in holding Conway Christian to just the one touchdown.
“Our defense line really played good as well. Cobra Barnett, Chance Godwin, linebacker Hayden Barnes — they really stepped up inside; they shut down the running game for us. And when Conway Christian had the throw, in a throwing situation they put a lot of pressure on the quarterback — Bryce Langley and Jace Chacon at our defense ends. We just got after them in the second half and kind of put them away, I guess you could say.”
Smith was 8-for-13 passing for 91 yards and led the Red Devils on the ground with 27 carries for 220 yards. Jeremiah Walker tallied 12 carries for
45 yards, Jace Chacon had three carries for seven yards, and Walpole had one carry for eight yards and two receptions for 36 yards with four interceptions. Anzaldua logged six receptions for 55 yards and one interception.
Mountaine Pine hosts Bigelow (0-5,
0-2) next Friday for homecoming.
Lakeside 42, Magnolia 21
MAGNOLIA — Lakeside got to work and did what it needed to do as the Rams doubled up on Magnolia in Panther Stadium.
Five different Rams (3-2, 1-1 5A South) found the end zone, including two defensemen, in the road victory. Junior Austin Brooks had two fumble recoveries, including a scoop-andscore, for the Rams, and senior Chase Norwood landed on a ball that was fumbled in the end zone for another touchdown.
“We had a good night, and our kids played really well,” said Lakeside head coach Jared McBride. “Our defense came out early and caused turnovers, and we were able to turn those into quick points and kind of get on them early.”
On the second play of the game, the Rams forced a turnover that turned into the team’s first touchdown of the night. Sophomore Chase Cross had a pair of touchdown receptions, and junior Logan White and sophomore Brock Garner also had touchdown receptions.
McBride also praised junior quarterback Will Ross.
“Will Ross, our quarterback, did a fantastic job,” he said. “He delivered the ball well and got the ball spread around to the right people and played just a very solid game.”
Lakeside cruised to a 35-7 lead at the break before adding another touchdown early in the third quarter. Magnolia scored their final two touchdowns in the second half.
McBride was pleased with how well his team performed against Magnolia
(2-3, 0-2).
“It was a tough week for us to prepare for Magnolia,” McBride said. “They offer an offense that was option and tough to defend and it’s tough to prepare for, but our kids prepared well and played well. We have a couple kids out that were sick and we had to play some backups. They stepped in right there and played well and had a good night.”
The Rams travel to Texarkana (3-1,
2-0) next week.
Nashville 42, Fountain Lake 14
NASHVILLE — It wasn’t a one-man show for the Scrappers (5-0, 2-0 7-4A) at home versus the Cobras (1-4, 0-2).
Several players had a hand in Nashville’s six touchdowns.
Senior Carmillas Morrison ran for two touchdowns. Senior Jakobe Jefferson also ran in a touchdown.
Junior Will Pope intercepted a pass a returned it 19 yards for a touchdown.
Junior De’Vay Ragland and senior Ty Basiliere caught one touchdown each.