Conway doubles up Southside

CONWAY — Sophomore Manny Smith might’ve been the last entry in the Conway Wampus Cats’ parade of tailbacks Friday night, but he is now the easiest to remember.

All the 5-foot-5, 150-pound Smith did was score a trio of touchdowns to lead the Wampus Cats to a 42-21 victory over Fort Smith Southside in the 7A-Central Conference opener at John McConnell Field.

“Every time I see him with the ball you are thinking as a coach you are glad he is on your team because he is something special,’’ said Conway coach Keith Fimple. “He has great balance, great speed, sees things extremely fast and again he compliments the other three that we have coming in.”

The Wampus Cats (3-1, 1-0 7A-Central) played four tailbacks, but it was the smallest and youngest who made the biggest impression. Smith scored on runs of 46, 9 and 71 yards. He finished the game with 129 yards on four carries.

“We have four and we knew going into the season they are all four different guys and have different skill sets,’’ said Fimple. “It is really nice to have all four of them. We rotate them in and out, certain things they do better than the other one, so it is good to have.”

Smith’s 46-yard run opened the scoring and Bryce Bohannon, who caught 9 passes for 122 yards, scored on a 1-yard run as Conway built a 14-0 lead with Will Hogue hitting both PAT kicks.

Southside (1-3, 0-1) answered with Parker Wehunt hitting Connor Austin on an 8-yard touchdown pass and added a touchdown on an 8-yard run to tie the score.

Three plays after the tie Conway had the lead again. A pair of passes to Shane Smith for 22 and 39 yards, Manny Smith scored on a 9-yard run with 2:16 left in the third quarter.

Nick McCuin hit Bohannon on an 8-yard scoring pass as Houge kicked the Cats back to a 28-14 with 11:31 left in the game.

Southside answered on fourth down with 5:11 left, Wehunt hit Jake Tyler on a 31-yard TD pass to trim the margin to 28-21.

Smith broke his 71-yard score with 4:11 left. Luke Bailey, the first of the Conway tailbacks, capped the scoring with 2:14 left.

“There were several things, just little bitty details,’’ said Fimple. “We’ve been on the open week, didn’t have a game last week, you kinda expect those things for granted. But we have got to keep working them.”