Charleston lets Ty handle it
CHARLESTON 21, BOONEVILLE 14
CHARLESTON—Charleston needed a game-winning drive with the season on the line Friday night at Alumni Field.
The Tigers knew just who to turn to.
Quarterback Ty Storey delivered again, just as he has all season, directing a 58-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter to clinch Charleston’s 21-14 victory over Booneville and send the Tigers back to the Class 3A championship game for a second consecutive season.
“This was a heavyweight battle,” Charleston Coach Greg Kendrick said. “We moved the ball in the first half, but they stopped us in the red zone. I’m proud of our kids making play after to play when needed.”
The Tigers used five plays on its game-winning drive, which was capped with a 6-yard touchdown run by junior Wade Gerlick with 2:03 to play.
Storey had a tough first half that included throwing two interceptions, but he turned it around in the second half. Storey passed for 52 yards on the winning drive, finding senior wide receiver Taylor King for gains of 24 and 12 yards. Storey then found wide receiver Dylan Jones with a pass that put the ball at the 6 and set up Gerlick’s touchdown run.
“If we are going to win this game, we are going to win it in his hands,” Kendrick said of Storey, who is orally committed to the University of Arkansas and was recognized earlier this week by Gatorade as the state’s player of the year. “We wanted him and King to make the plays for us. They did time and time again.”
Storey finished 17 of 37 passing for 368 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.
Charleston (13-0) got the ball for its game-winning drive after Booneville turned over the ball on downs after fumbling the snap on a fourthand-3 play at the 35 with 3:38 left in the game.
“We got a play in wrong, had some miscommunication,” said Booneville Coach Scott Hyatt, whose Bearcats lost to Charleston 47-20 in the regular season. “If we get that first down, we are going to win the ballgame.”
Booneville (11-3) got the ball back with 2:03 left at its own 20 but couldn’t put a drive together to tie the game after throwing an interception.
Fullback Bryson May led Booneville with 30 carries for 227 yards and 1 touchdown.
Booneville led 14-7 at halftime after scoring with 25 seconds left in the second quarter when quarterback James Ray found Matt Berry for a 26-yard touchdown pass.
Charleston tied the game at 14-14 when Storey found Jones for a 92-yard touchdown pass with 2:29 left in the third quarter.
“We had some big plays,” Kendrick said. “They did a good job knocking Ty around, but we got a look we wanted and we made the play.”
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead on the first possession of the game thanks to a big special teams play. Jones blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone as Charleston took a 7-0 lead with 9:35 left in the first quarter.
May led a 12-play, 99-yard drive to tie it up at 7-7 with 1:35 left in the first quarter. May ran for a 46-yard gain that put the ball at the Charleston 39 and eventually capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.
Charleston struggled the rest of the half, throwing two interceptions as if failed to find the end zone on its four remaining first-half drives.
SMACKOVER 18, EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE 12
SMACKOVER — Episcopal Collegiate’s fourth-quarter rally fell short and Smackover (13-1) held on for a Class 3A semifinal victory puts the Buckaroos in line for their first state title in 65 years.
Episcopal senior quarterback Doug Munson completed 10 of 22 passes for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns, the second one coming on a 9-yard pass to Kelvin Robinson with 8:23 to play in the game to cut the lead to 18-12.
Episcopal (9-5) got the ball back minutes later at its 42 after holding Smackover on downs and the Wildcats drove to the Smackover 25 with an eye on tying the game.
On third and 7, Munson fired a pass to Robinson in the end zone that just missed the receiver’s fingers, bringing up a fourth down. Munson tried another long pass, this one intended for wide reciever Allie Freeman, but the throw was broken up and Smackover took over.
Robinson rushed for 53 yards on nine carries and caught both of Munson’s scoring passes.
Smackover, led by junior running backs Keiandre Purifoy and Dwayne Jones, was up 12-0 with 8:34 to play in the third quarter before Episcopal rallied.
Purifoy ran 23 times for 137 yards and Jones rushed 15 times for 86 yards.