LR Central emerges from hiatus, secures win

It had been a while since the Little Rock Central Tigers played a football game.

The Tigers (2-3,1-1 7A-Central) shook off the rust to dust off feisty Little Rock Southwest 20-12 on Friday night at the Gryphons’ new stadium.

Senior quarterback Lawson Gunn hit junior wide receiver Parker Perry with a 15-yard gain on fourth and 4, and on the next play Jonathan Benson scored from the 1 to break a 12-12 tie with 3:45 left in the game. Gunn and Perry connected for the two-point conversion to set the final margin.

“A lot of rust got knocked off tonight,’’ Little Rock Central Coach Kent Laster said. “I’m just glad we got the win. We found a way to win.

“I’m just proud our guys are not giving in. We have had some games where it was tight, and we didn’t find a way to win in the second half. We found a way to win in this one. We will get better. We have been off for 35 days. We will get some more guys back.”

The final scoring drive covered 73 yards and was aided by a pair of face-mask penalties on Little Rock Southwest (0-6, 0-3). Junior Devon Dunn had a big reception for 17 yards, and Gunn started the drive with a 16-yard scramble.

The Gryphons had tied the game on a 1-yard run by Josh Brown with 8:01 left. The drive was set up by an interception from Chris Allen and a 22-yard return.

Little Rock Central scored on its first drive, a 1-yard run by Sam Franklin. The twopoint pass play failed leaving it 6-0.

Little Rock Southwest tied it on a 1-yard run by Jordan Harris with 5:06 left in the half. The score was set up when George Tucker returned a fumble 45 yards to the 1.

The Tigers made it 12-6 when Gunn and Perry connected on a 29-yard score on fourth and 11. The run for two points failed.

“A lot of those kids know our kids,’’ Laster said. “It is like a crosstown rivalry already even though they are new. Some of those kids played here, they know us and they are going to play hard.

“Whatever you think they are going to play, they are going to play better than that. That is exactly what they did. Southwest did a great job of fighting, and we just found a way. We were just able to make a few more plays.”