FAYETTEVILLE — It’s safe to say fewer people are doubting Tim Johnson’s selection to the All-Star game.
North Little Rock’s Johnson, 5-3, dominated for the East on Friday night, returning two kickoffs for touchdowns and rushing for two more as the East defeated the West 45-21 in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star football game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Johnson, who was named the game’s MVP, heard the trash talk in the days leading up to the game from the West All-Stars. Walking around the dorms or the cafeteria, Johnson saw people - and heard them - doubting his All-Star legitimacy.
“They’d walk by and say, ‘This little guy made it?’ ” said Johnson, who didn’t shy away from responding in kind. “I had to give it back to them.”
He did just that on the field.
Johnson set an All-Star record with a 100-yard kickoff return to end the first quarter, then opened the second half with a 95-yard kickoff return. He also had scoring runs of 3 and 42 yards and finished the game with 310 all-purpose yards.
“What a weapon,” said East Coach Paul Johnston of Bald Knob. “He’s a tremendous athlete with great speed. All-Stars really isn’t coaching, it’s getting them out there on the field. We just put the ball in his hands, and give him a little bit of blocking and he’s gone.”
Johnson will play next year at Langston (Okla.) University after rushing for 1,570 yards and leading the Charging Wildcats to the Class 7A semifinals. He was named the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas return specialist after returning three kickoffs for touchdowns and having 14 plays of 50 or more yards.
“Everybody down there knows about me,” said Johnson, referring to the Little Rock area. “Up here, maybe they don’t know about me. Now they know.”
West Coach Tommy Gilleran of Fountain Lake said rules and a little lax officiating doomed his team. All-Star rules require coaches to play their defense on kickoff coverage, and Gilleran said his defensive linemen had no chance of running down field and tackling Johnson in the open field.
Gilleran also said officials allowed Johnson to return two kickoffs that clearly were in the end zone, which in a high school game would have resulted in an automatic touchback. The most obvious was Johnson’s 100-yard return, which began at least a yard deep.
“You got four fat guys chasing him,” Gilleran said. “The officials didn’t call the [touchback], so it was just bad officiating. But he’s a great talent. He had a lot of speed, and on this field it really showed.”
The West opened the game with an 80-yard scoring drive. Lake Hamilton quarterback Benson Jordan completed two passes for 21 yards and rushed for 9 yards before being injured. Watson Chapel’s C.J Branch replaced Jordan and scored on a 3-yard run as the West took a 7-0 lead with 9:57 left in the first quarter.
Jordan sustained a concussion at the end of his 9-yard run and didn’t return. Gilleran said Jordan took most of the team’s passing offense when he left.
The East answered with a 73-yard drive directed by Bald Knob quarterback Nick Glaze. Glaze completed 6 of 7 passes for 54 yards before Johnson scored on a 3-yard run and the East tied the game with 7:36 left in the first quarter.
The West scored on Branch’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Charleston’s Michael Meador with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Johnson fielded the ensuing kickoff 1 yard deep, broke to the near sideline and outran the West coverage for a touchdown as the East tied the game at 14-14 as the quarter ended.
Johnson’s 95-yard returnto start the second half made him the first All-Star player to return two kicks for touchdowns.
Russellville’s Zach Hocker, an Arkansas recruit, kicked a 36-yard field goal to give the East a 24-14 lead with 9:17 left in the third quarter. The West answered with Bentonville’s Courtney Haskell’s 1-yard touchdown run.
The East scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns, on Johnson’s 42-yard run and touchdown catches of 28 and 14 yards by Gavin.
East ........................14 0 10 21 - 45 West .......................14 0 7 0 - 21 WEST - Branch (Watson Chapel) 3 run (Hartness [Greenwood] kick) EAST - Johnson (North Little Rock) 3 run (Paschal [Monticello] kick) WEST - Meador (Charleston) 25 pass from Branch (Watson Chapel) (Hartness [Greenwood] kick) EAST - Johnson (North Little Rock) 100 kickoff return (Paschal [Monticello] kick) EAST - Johnson (North Little Rock) 95 kickoff return (Hocker [Russellville] kick) EAST - Hocker (Russellville) 36 field goalWEST - Haskell (Bentonville) 1 run (Hartness [Greenwood] kick) EAST - Gavin (Bald Knob) 28 pass from Anderson (Little Rock Parkview) (Hocker [Russellville] kick) EAST - Johnson (North Little Rock) 42 run (Hocker [Russellville] kick) EAST - Gavin (Bald Knob) 14 pass from Glaze (Bald Knob) (Hocker [Russellville] kick) INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING East: Johnson (North Little Rock) 5-59; Anderson (LR Parkview) 8-45; Rycraw (Bryant) 6-8; Glaze (Bald Knob) 2-7; Smith (Lonoke) 1-4; Bowles (Earle). West: Haskell (Bentonville) 15-60; Branch (Watson Chapel) 13-30; Jordan (Lake Hamilton) 1-9; Lewis (Alma) 4-6.
PASSING East: Glaze (Bald Knob) 8-11-0-117; Anderson (LR Parkview) 8-10-0-74. West: Branch (Watson Chapel) 16-38-1-182; Jordan (Lake Hamilton) 2-2-0-21 RECEIVING East: Gavin (Bald Knob) 9-144; Rycraw (Bryant) 4-18; Johnson (North Little Rock) 3-29. West: Murphy (El Dorado) 4-83; Meador (Charleston) 4-31; Morrow (Nashville) 2-31; Lewis (Alma) 2-16; Haskell (Bentonville) 2-7; Wilkerson (Union Christian) 1-12; Head (Greenbrier) 1-11; McKinney (Springdale Har-Ber) 1-9; Apalategui (Danville) 1-3.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/26/2010