Trojans roll over Leopards
Hot Springs did exactly what it was expected to do Friday night as the Trojans cruised to a 35-0 win over the visiting De Queen Leopards at Tommy J. Holt Memorial Field at Joe C. Reese Stadium.
“You kind of know what’s expected, but you can never go off that,” said Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett. “Our biggest thing was we came out played real good. We got the clock running after halftime, so that was good to get some guys in. It’s also good to make sure you get through the game injury-free. The biggest thing was we stopped their key running back, who’s explosive. Had some good licks on him, made him fumble.”
The Trojans (4-2, 3-0 5A South) came out strong with quarterback Isaac Shelor finding Pierce Smalley on a 30-yard pass for the end zone to go up 6-0. Shelor had a strong performance, finishing 22 of 29 passing for 261 yards with two touchdowns, the other a 49-yard pass to Malik Brewer to make it 18-0.
“I don’t like the two interceptions he threw,” Burnett said. “We can’t have those Friday.”
Carlos Brewer accounted for three touchdowns while leading the team on the ground with 12 carries for 35 yards. His brother Malik had nine catches for 155 yards to lead the receivers corps.
Burnett was also pleased with the team’s defensive output, holding the Leopards to a mere 89 yards.
“We forced like four or five fumbles, and I think we recovered four of them,” he said. “We had an interception, so created some turnovers on defense. So that was a good thing, too. We almost scored on one.”
The Trojans travel to Magnolia (3-3, 1-2) next week, and De Queen hosts Camden Fairview (2-4, 1-2).
Lakeside 21, Texarkana 20
TEXARKANA — Lakeside junior defensive back Will Perrigo got a tip on the last point-after attempt by Texarkana, sending the ball off target and giving the Rams a single-point win over the Razorbacks on the road.
With the Razorbacks (3-2, 2-1 5A South) taking a 20-14 lead over the Rams (4-2, 2-1) after a long pass to the end zone, Perrigo managed to get a hand on the kick, giving Lakeside a chance to win with another touchdown and PAT. The Rams then drove the field to score on a run by Issac Echols, and Andrew DeGrasse’s
kick was good to give Lakeside the win.
“It was a really good physical football game,” said Lakeside head coach Jared McBride. “Yards were hard to come by on both sides. Our kids played really well.
“You know, we were without Logan White. He did not play due to injury, and it caused us to shuffle some kids around offensively and defensively. The kids did really well and adjusted well. Our defense played great. They gave up one long pass, but other than that they kind of kept them in front of them and tackled well.”
Echols scored first for the Rams for a 7-0 lead after DeGrasse’s kick, and a pass from Will Ross to Perrigo made it 14-0 following another DeGrasse make.
McBride was also impressed by the Rams defense.
“Jesus Damien had an interception and then had another pass breakup on fourth down to cause a turnover on downs,” he said. “I think we got three turnovers on downs last night. … I know Ben Botter got a fumble recovery last night.”
The Rams host Hope (1-5, 1-2) this week, and Texarkana travels to McClellan (4-2, 2-1).
Poyen 35, Cutter Morning Star 29, 2OT
POYEN — Cutter Morning Star suffered a “heartbreaker on the road” against Poyen, but Eagles head coach T.C. Shamel is optimistic about the rest of the season.
“Can’t ask anything more from my kids,” he said. “[I] wish we had played better in the first half. I can’t fault the effort; the effort’s there. We’re a good football team. We’ve just had a couple tough losses. Our goal is to still get in the playoffs. We’re gonna try and get everything back together this week.”
The Eagles (3-3, 1-2 2A-5) started off slow, but they got energized in the second half, catching up to the Indians (5-1, 2-1) in a game that went into double overtime.
“We’re down 13-0 at halftime,” Shamel explained. “We get ‘em fired up at half, come out, recover the onside kick, and then go down and score to make it 13-6. They recover, [and] we had the next kickoff; they go back down to make it 21-6. And then we score again, go for two to tie it up. And that sends it into overtime. They get a touchdown, 2-point conversion. We get the touchdown and 2-point conversion, putting it into double overtime and then they get the ball first, score the touchdown, we stop them on the two.
“And then we get a couple penalties and aren’t able to do anything in double overtime. So they beat us, and it was a tough loss.”
Shamel recognizes that some things are going to have to improve on the ground game as the team prepares for England (3-3, 2-1) next week.
“Just looking at some scores, they’ve been having some shootouts with some folks,” he said. “They’ve been scoring a lot of points, so we’re gonna have to figure out how they’re scoring those points and build to match them, play a little better on offense also.”
Quarterback Sam Moore was 10-for-16 passing for 127 yards and logged 15 carries for 116 yards with two touchdowns. Keshawn Blevins had 15 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. Matthew Cook had four receptions for 41 yards, and Kaden Prather finished with three for 55 yards with one touchdown.
Arkadelphia 40, Fountain Lake 8
ARKADELPHIA — With a handful of injuries leaving players on the sidelines, Fountain Lake had an even tougher than usual battle as the Cobras fell on the road to Arkadelphia
“We played a talented football team in Arkadelphia,” Fountain Lake head coach Kenny Shelton said. “Very well-coached, tremendous players. They nailed every aspect of the game. We were snake bit from the very beginning. They scored on their first offensive play, and we turned it over on downs. We punted, had a bad snap, and they got the ball on the 1-yard line. They were able to punch it in.”
The Cobras (1-5, 0-3 4A-7) managed to come out strong in the second half, despite the loss of players. Arkadelphia (5-1, 2-1) led 40-0 at the break.
“We had a couple injuries, kind of fighting attrition,” Shelton said. “Our numbers are down already. Came out in the second half, came to fight. We were able to get some things going offensively, punch it in. [We] had one good drive where we felt like were on the verge of scoring but got in the red zone and had a fumble, and they kind of ended the game and ran out the clock.”
Quarterback Jack Wurz snuck it in from the half yard line in the third quarter to get the Cobras on the scoreboard for their only touchdown of the night, and Steven DeArmon was good with the 2-point conversion play.
Bauxite (5-1, 3-0) comes to Allen Tillery Field for homecoming next week, and Shelton isn’t anticipating much disturbance from the event to affect his team.
“I can guarantee you it’s not gonna provide anymore distractions than what we’ve already had this season, so I think we’ll be fine with that,” Shelton said. “We finally made it through the gauntlet these last three weeks. The speed of the game is definitely going to slow down a bit. Bauxite is still a very talented team, not taking anything away from them whatsoever but they’re not quite the same caliber of Joe T., Nashville and Arkadelphia, and hopefully we can lick our wounds a little bit, have a great week of practice. Homecoming’s gonna be a big night, and hopefully we can be more competitive and come away with a win.”
Wurz was 1-for-5 passing for 25 yards with four carries for 17 yards. Owen Barthel tallied 12 carries for 105 yards, and DeArmon had 12 touches for 40 yards. Gavin Nguyen logged seven runs for 27 yards, and Seth Hughes had six for 37.