LITTLE ROCK — Pulaski Academy scored 13 points before the Mills offense ever set foot on Rector Field Friday en route to a 53-30 5A-Southeast victory.
The Bruins (7-1-1, 6-0 5ASoutheast) led 20-0 before Mills (4-5, 2-4) scored and quickly eased the fears of head coach Kevin Kelley, who thought his team might be looking ahead to next week's game with Monticello against a Mills team that had plenty to play for trying to earn a playoff berth.
"I was a little concerned at the beginning of the week that we might be looking ahead to Monticello next week, but Mills played us tough last year and after they watched film of Mills and saw that they were a good team, our team got focused on this game," Kelley said. "I was real proud of our special teams tonight, we recovered three onside kicks. Our quarterback (Spencer Keith) played well again. He was able to roll out and get the ball down field andanytime a quarterback can throw on the run, he can be dangerous. The offense as a whole played well tonight. The defense played well at the beginning and kind of let down toward the end."
Keith completed 30 of 39 for 381 yards with 6 touchdowns and an interception as he led his team to victory.
The Bruins invoked the mercy rule with 8:30 to go in the third quarter when Keith connected with Neal Barlow from 7 yards out to put his team up 53-16. Mills would score two fourth quarter touchdowns to cut the final margin down to 23 points.
Cruz Williams was the main target for Keith, who completed passes to eight different receivers on the night. Williams caught 8 pass for 102 yards with three touchdowns, all in the first half. Keith also threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Blake Plyer and a 57-yard touchdown pass to Carson McKnight to open up third quarter scoring.
Pulaski Academy was up 20-0 before Mills scored. Cornerback Zaejon Jones returned a Keith interception 45 yards to cut the lead to 20-8 with nine seconds left in the first quarter, but that would be as close as Mills would get the rest of the night.
Pulaski Academy outgained Mills 512 to 222.
MONTICELLO 23, CROSSETT 13
CROSSETT - Nick Englekes ran for two touchdowns to help Monticello (8-1, 6-0) avoid an upset by Crossett (4-5, 2-4) in the 5A-Southwest Conference.
Englekes scored his first touchdown to give Monticello a 13-7 lead at the half.
After Monticello was successful on a field goal for a 16-7 lead, Crossett drove for a touchdown but missed the extra point to be within 16-13 in the third quarter.
Englekes scored his second touchdown after that to give Monticello a 10-point lead. HELENA-WEST HELENA CENTRAL 40, LITTLE ROCK MCCLELLAN 15
HELENA-WEST HELENA - The Helena-West Helena Central Cougars overcame a slow start and the Little Rock McClellan Lions, getting help from three fumbles to win Friday night at Cad Polk Stadium.
McClellan led only briefly. The Lions scored on their first possession, going 70 yards on six plays, capped by Ricky Simms' 15-yard run with 7:27 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
Helena-West Helena rolled after that with three Lions fumbles leading to touchdowns. It was 7-7 after one quarter but 34-7 at halftime. McClellan didn't score again until late in the game when it cut the score to the final 35-point margin.
After Simms' touchdown run, Helena-WestHelena responded with a five-play, 65-yard drive. The Cougars scored on a reverse pass when receiver Jonathan Johnson threw to Juwan North for a 52-yard score. Darius Watson kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.
The Cougars took the lead for good with 5:21 to play in the second quarter when quarterback Deondra Johnson scored on a 4-yard run to cap a four-play, 22-yard drive.
Then came the flurry of fumbles.
The Cougars' Erik Smiley recovered a Mc-Clellan fumble on the ensuing drive. Deondra Johnson scored on an 11-yard run three plays later, and it was 21-7 with 3:48 left in the first half.
The Cougars scored again after recovering a fumbled McClellan punt snap. Turrell Williams scored from 12 yards away on the first play of the possession for a 28-7 lead with 2:25 left in the half.
McClellan fumbled away the kickoff, and the Cougars scored again with 39.5 seconds left in the half on a 2-yard run by Williams. The extra point was no good to make it 34-7 at the half.
Williams added another score on a 10-yard run to cap off a 9-play, 66-yard drive for a 40-7 lead with 11:23 to go in the game.
McClellan added a late score on a 2-yard run to cap off a 12-play, 70-yard drive. The two-point conversion set the final score.
- Andrew Bagley
Sports, Pages 32 on 10/27/2007