Central takes advantage of Heritage miscues to pull away

ROGERS — Little Rock Central took advantage of multple Rogers Heritage mistakes en route to a 31-14 season-opening victory Friday night on the road in Gates Stadium.

The Tigers (1-0) converted three Heritage turnovers into 21 points, including two in the second half to help Central pull away late.

Clinging to a 17-14 lead, Central recovered the third Heritage fumble of the night late in the third quarter, then went 41 yards in just five plays to push the lead to 10. Oscar Adaway covered the final five yards for the touchdown with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

Central junior Tanner Barrett then applied the back-breaker by blocking a Heritage punt, scooping it up and running five yards for a touchdown for a 31-17 Tigers’ lead with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter.

Both coaches agreed mistakes were the difference in the game. Even though Central won, Tigers coach Ellis “Scooter” Register said his team must get better. Central committed four turnovers (two lost fumbles and two interceptions) themselves.

“Our offense played good at times,” Register said. “We turned it over a couple times. You never know what’s going to happen but we just can’t turn it over against any football team and have a chance to win. This is going to give us a chance to see things we can work on.”

Junior Donald Richardson helped Central to a 17-7 halftime lead, running for a 6-yard score after taking the ball from center and also catching a 13-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left in the first half.

“He’s a talented athlete and a very talented basketball player, so we didn’t have him much this summer,” Register said. “So he’s getting more work. He’s a great kid, too. “

Heritage (0-1) learned heavily on the running of junior Dylan Qualls, who rushed for 172 yards on 29 carries and one touchdown. Sophomore Oscar Adaway also topped the 100-yard rushing plateau, going for 143 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown.

Heritage coach Tony Travis said his team just made too many mistakes.

“I told them ‘we’re gonna watch the film on Monday and we’re gonna get sick all over again because of a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” Travis said. “Central’s got a good defense. They’ve got a lot of team speed. It was evident. It gave us some trouble up front. Not just their skill kids, but their d-linemen. Very aggressive. Very quick.

“There was a point in the third quarter where I felt ‘Are we letting go of the rope a little bit here?’, but we came back with a score and showed some fight. The score’s going to say 31 to 14. It doesn’t look that close, but we did some good things.”