Senators get to Miners late
ROBINSON 35, BAUXITE 14
LITTLE ROCK — With the game still up for grabs, the Bauxite Miners simply didn’t make enough plays.
Coach Daryl Patton’s team was locked into a gritty, back-and-forth, rain-soaked clash against Joe T. Robinson Friday. But late in the game, it was the host team that did the better job of putting itself in position to win.
In an important 7-4A battle, the Senators outlasted Bauxite 35-14.
“I’m proud of my kids for how they played,” Patton said. “Robinson is a very good team. We were tied with them in the fourth. But we didn’t go over there for moral
victories. We wanted to win and that didn’t happen.”
Fittingly, the final moments of this game impacted the outcome.
With 9:29 left to play, the Senators took a lead they would not relinquish when quarterback Buddy Gaston completed a 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Deunte Moody. Isias Garcia made the extra point to put Robinson up 21-14.
Bauxite’s following possession was cut short due to a turnover. Robinson’s DJ Withers recovered a Miner fumble with just over eight minutes left to give the Senators the ball on Bauxite’s 23.
Robinson needed only three plays to score as Desmond Wilkins caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Gaston. The score was now 28-14 with 7:05 showing on the clock.
Trailing by 14, Bauxite went on a nice drive to the Robinson 12. But the Miners’ surge came to an end when Robinson defensive back KJ Merriweather intercepted a pass from Conner Stacy.
There were now just under four minutes left to play and that was enough time for Robinson to score when running back Hunter Smith ran 32 yards for a touchdown. With 1:17 remaining, the Miners trailed by the final score of 35-14.
“It’s 14-14 in the fourth. We were close. But we fell short on our mission,” Patton said. “Robinson is a good team with a lot of weapons on offense. We knew we had to play keepaway to give our defense a chance. But in the second half our defense was on the field way too much.”
Bauxite is now 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the
7-4A. Meanwhile, the Senators improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in league play.
As expected, with so
much on the line, the two teams competed at a high level.
The first quarter was exactly what the Miners hoped for. Robinson’s offense was held in check mostly because of Bauxite chewing up the clock when it was on offense.
Bauxite used its Dead-t to control the action. Robinson had difficulty stopping the run-oriented offense.
The Miners got on the board first when Stacy bulldozed his way into the end zone on a quarterback keeper. The score was now 7-0 with 54 seconds remaining in the first half.
Early in the third, Robinson tied the game at
7-7 when Gaston connected with Martel Nunally for a 49-yard touchdown pass.
Robinson later grabbed its first lead when receiver Nakiyah Davis caught a short pass from Gaston, followed a great lead block, and raced his way to the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. With 3:01 left in the
third, Robinson led 14-7.
However, Robinson wouldn’t lead for long.
On the first play of the fourth, Stacy eased his way into the end zone on a 2-yard quarterback keeper. With 11:57 on the clock, Robinson and Bauxite were tied at 14.
But Robinson responded by scoring 21unanswered points to pull away for a tough victory.
“In the first half everything went our way. But against good football teams you have to put together four quarters of good football,” Patton said. “In the second half we had too many turnovers and mental mistakes. We just gotta bounce back and clean up our mistakes.”
Bauxite’s offense was led by Fabian Torres’ 113 yards rushing on 17 carries while Braylon Walker had 74 yards receiving.
Nunally had 76 yards receiving, while Moody compiled 62 yards receiving and Gaston finished with 259 yards passing.