Fort Smith Southside outscores Little Rock Catholic

FORT SMITH — With two weeks left in the regular season, Fort Smith Southside now controls its 7A playoff fate.

Taye Gatewood’s firsthalf performance lifted the Mavericks to a 53-29 win over Little Rock Catholic in a 7A-Central game Friday at Rowland Stadium.

Gatewood threw for 435 of his 558 passing yards and 5 of his 6 touchdowns passes in the first half. The junior quarterback also ran for a score in the first quarter. Southside finished the game with 651 total yards.

Jordyn Jackson led the Maverick receiving corps with six catches for 193 yards and 3 scores while Tyrese Solomon added five catches for 182 yards and three touchdowns.

The Mavs (2-6, 1-4) goes to Little Rock Central next week and hosts city rival Northside on Nov. 3. If Southside wins out, it makes the playoffs.

Southside built a 39-26 halftime lead thanks to the offense, but the defense put the game away in the second half. The Rockets (3-5, 1-4) was limited to only a field goal in the final two quarters as the Mavericks forced four turnovers in the game, three in the second half.

Catholic, which hosts Conway next week, took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched to the Southside 6. But a penalty and incomplete pass left the ball at the 11, forcing the Rockets to settle for a Chris Elser 28-yard field goal to get within 39-29 with 5 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Catholic defense stuffed Southside fourth down at the Rocket 25, but the Rockets could do nothing on its possession and punted. On the last play of the third quarter, Gatewood hit a wide-open Jackson for a 58-yard touchdown pass and a 46-29 lead.

Rocket quarterback Jake James was picked off by Heabren Ulrich, who returned it to the Catholic 20. A penalty moved the ball to the 10 and Brenden Ulrich, Heabren’s twin brother, scored on the next play to put the game away at 53-29 with 11:07 left in the game.