LH conversion enough to down Conway Blue

It all came down to a 2-point conversion as Lake Hamilton edged out the Conway Blue junior Wampus Cats 16-14 Thursday night at Bank OZK Field.

An early second-quarter touchdown run by Conway Blue quarterback James Akridge for 28 yards set the pace for both teams after a sluggish start.

The hosts trailed 7-0 after the junior Cats’ kick, but Lake Hamilton found its footing with two minutes remaining in the first half as Kendrick Martin reeled in a Conway pass for an interception placing the junior Wolves on the visitors’ 19 for a Lake Hamilton first down.

With 28 seconds before the break, Lake Hamilton’s Kendrick Martin broke free for a 38-yard run, ultimately securing good field position for the Wolves as the horn signaled the half.

“Came out slow,” said Lake Hamilton junior high head football coach Shane Taylor. “I thought we were focused pregame, but then we came out extremely slow [and] didn’t play up to what we were expecting to play. We went into halftime, made a few adjustments and were able to come out and go ahead, 16-14, and ultimately getting a big turnover defensively [is what] led to us being able to put an excalamation point on the win.”

Less than two minutes into the third period, Lake Hamilton’s Justin Crutchmer ran the seam down the field for a 51-yard touchdown run. Crutchmer ran for 2 more yards into the end zone on the conversion for the go-ahead 8-7 lead for the Wolves at the 6:12 mark.

“Justin Crutchmer and Kendrick Martin both had big plays for us,” Taylor added. “[We] had a couple of new starters step into roles defensively for us, and they played well. Jason Alexander, No. 9, was one of those [and] played well out at corner position for us and we were able to make some stops when we needed to.”

Conway responded with just three minutes left before the break as Akridge connected with Jayden Robinson on a 21-yard pass spotting the Wampus Cats at the 1.

Tavion Briggs rushed inside for a quick score pushing Conway ahead,

14-8, after the kick. Crutchmer responded once again for Lake Hamilton with a 28-yard run for a score with 59 seconds remaining on the clock going into the fourth quarter. Crutchmer carried the ball in on the conversion play to set the final.

Conway made a last-ditch effort to score, but the fumble on the play was recovered by Lake Hamilton’s Austin Barnes on the 1-yard line with

7:28 left in the final frame, securing the win for the Wolves.

“They had two guys that weren’t there tonight that we were expecting,” said Taylor. “A big guy that they were really missing was No. 33; he was really their bellcow for the season. He’s a great, hard runner and combined with No. 10 that they have, they were going to be a tough combo to stop. It kind of worked out for us, but … we were expecting them to have a few more hard runners than what they did.

“No. 10 is a great player for them; he ran extremely hard all night and he was extremely hard for us to tackle. Offensively, we were expecting them to do very, very similar to what they did do. They changed a few little things, but we were able to make adjustments and go from there.”

Crutchmer carried the ball 18 times for 158 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Martin ran 18 times for 126 yards, and Jamarrion Byrd logged two carries for 40.

Defensively, Colton Young tallied six tackles and two for loss. Crutchmer, Izic Clenney, Jason Alexander and Austin Barnes had four tackles a piece. Jason Alexander loggeed one forced fumble and Barnes had a fumble recovery.

“[For] the last two weeks of the season, we’ve got Little Rock Catholic ninth grade game only at Little Rock,” Taylor noted. “They’ve improved from last year and we’re looking for a good game against them; they’re always well coached [and] they execute well. We finish off the season at Hot Springs and like always, they play us tough.

“It’s that cross-town rivalry that they have against each other; the kids all know each other so we’re looking forward to that. That’s two decent games that we’re going to have to prepare for; we can’t overlook anybody and hopefully, we can exclamation point the end of both of those weeks with a win.”