FOUNTAIN LAKE - On senior night at Beckham Memorial Field, Fountain Lake secured a playoff spot with a 33-14 victory over Pulaski Oak Grove.
The Cobras (5-4, 4-2 4A-7) won their fourth consecutive game and knocked Oak Grove (4-5, 2-4) out of playoff contention.
"We clinched third place tonight, and that's after everyone picked us to finish no better than fourth," Fountain Lake Coach Tommy Gilleran said. "I went into the locker room after our loss to Central Arkansas Christian earlier this season and I told the guys we could win out.
"We still have to take care of business next week at Arkansas Baptist, but if we do we will close out the regular season at 6-4 overall and with five straight wins. That's a great way to enter the state playoffs. We're excited about how we are improving, but we just need to keep it rolling."
Oak Grove took an early lead when junior J.P. Green ran 6 yards for a touchdown with 8:49 left in the first quarter. Senior Charlie Dunn added the extra point to make it 7-0, after which Oak Grove held Fountain Lake scoreless until 5:45 in the second quarter.
Oak Grove answered midway through the second quarter when junior Quinton Lindsey scored from 9 yards out to cap an eight-play, 60-yard drive. Justin Rushing's extra point set the halftime score at 7-7.
Senior quarterback Cody Breshears took control in the second half for Fountain Lake, scoring three touchdowns. The first came on a 41-yard run with 5:40 left in the third quarter. The extra point missed, leaving Fountain Lake ahead 13-7.
Oak Grove regained the lead when Adrian Moreland ran 66 yards for a touchdown and Dunn added the extra point to make it 14-13.
Fountain Lake responded with two touchdowns in the final 2:29 of the third quarter. Breshears threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Eric Pearson, then ran for a 1-yard touchdown.
The Cobras got their final touchdown on a 2-yard run by Breshears in the fourth quarter.
Breshears also threw a twopoint conversion pass to Pearson.
"Cody Breshears continues to mature and our offensive line - four juniors and a sophomore - keeps getting better," Gilleran said."We just started to execute better on the offensive side of the ball in the second half. Cody passed for one touchdown and ran for three - that's not a bad night.
"A big difference for us this year is the fact that we are only playing two guys both ways. I think that is helping us, and I could tell it hurt Pulaski Oak Grove tonight. We wore them down in the second half."
Breshears ran for 77 yards and completed two passes for 55. Andrew Davis carried 16 times for a game-high 130 yards and Lindsey added 84 yards on 16 carries.
Moreland had 106 yards on eight carries for Oak Grove. Brandon Hudson added 74 yards on 17 attempts.
STAR CITY 24, FORDYCE 14
STAR CITY - Sage Gasaway ran for three touchdowns to lead Star City (4-5, 3-3) over Fordyce (2-7, 1-5).
His first touchdown came with 10:05 left in the first half. The extra point attempt was no good and Star City had a 6-0 halftime lead.
Gasaway scored on a 15-yard run with 2:58 left in the third quarter and scored for the two-point conversion to put Star City ahead 14-0.
Delton Rogers scored on a 19-yard run for Fordyce to cut the lead to 14-7. Gasaway's third touchdown came with 1:45 left to give Star City a 21-7 lead.
Fordyce then scored on a 7-yard run by Nick Clary to cut the lead to 21-14. Gill Dreher then hit a 36-yard field goal for Star City.
MARIANNA 33, BALD KNOB 8
BALD KNOB - Tevin Westbrook and Kevin Turner each scored 2 touchdowns to give the Trojans the road victory.
Westbrook's first touchdown came with 8:41 left in the second quarter on a 3-yard run. He also scored on the 2-point conversion to put Marianna (5-3, 4-3) ahead 8-0. Bald Knob (2-7, 1-5) came right back and scored on a 5-yard run by Chad Cates. Their 2-point conversion was also successful and the game was tied 8-8 at halftime.
Turner scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 40-yard run in the third quarter to put Marianna ahead 15-8. Westbrook's second touchdown came later in the quarter on a 1-yard run to increase the lead to 21-8. LeGregory Hinkle scored on a 65-yard fumble return to put Marianna ahead 27-8.
Turner's second touchdown came with 3:35 left in the game on a 45-yard run to complete the scoring for Marianna.
POCAHONTAS 36, TRUMANN 12
POCAHONTAS - Tim Sullivan ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for another to lead a 3-4A Conference win for Pocahontas (6-3, 4-2) over Trumann (3-5, 2-4).
Sullivan ran 4 yards for his first touchdown and 40 yards for his second. He also caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Craig Green. Sullivan finished with 105 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Green completed 13 of 22 passes for 197 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Sean Stone caught six passes for 93 yards.
Clinton Grissom ran 25 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead for Pocahontas in the first quarter. But Blake Jones scored on runs of 5 and 8 yards to give Trumann a 12-7 lead by period's end.
Sports, Pages 33 on 10/27/2007