LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock Christian quarterback Josh Alberius threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Logan Kuhn with 15 seconds left to complete a come-frombehind 28-27 victory over the Hope Bobcats on Friday night at Warrior Field.
“Logan Kuhn is our leader and it’s fitting that he caught the winning touchdown,” Warriors Coach Justin Kramer said. “I’m just proud of our kids. Obviously we’re young, and we’re learning and taking steps every week. I thought we played as physical as they did tonight.”
The Warriors got the ball with 4:08 left at their 33-yard line and drove the 57 yards in 10 plays to tie it 27-27. Daniel Williams clinched the victory with his fourth extra point.
But it wasn’t quite over yet.
Hope (0-4) got the ball on its 40 with 10 seconds left and passed it to the Warriors’ 39, getting out of bounds with no time left on the clock. However, the play was whistled dead before the clock ran out, giving the Bobcats one last chance with a second left. The Hail Mary attempt was knocked down at the Little Rock Christian 15.
“He [the umpire] was right. And I didn’t like it,” Kramer said. “It gave our defense another chance to make another stop, and they did it.”
It completed a scoreless second half for Hope, which allowed the Warriors to come back from a 27-14 halftime deficit.
The Warriors got within six points when Josh Simpson returned an interception for a touchdown with 10:48 remaining.
“We just got outplayed in the second half. Our offense made way too many mistakes to win the football game,” Hope Coach Jay Turley said. “When you are ahead 27-14, you’ve got to execute and do the things you have to do to win, and we didn’t.”
The Bobcats had little trouble executing early in the game, scoring on their first three possessions.
Hope took the openingkickoff and drove 81 yards in six plays, capped by a 4-yard run by Dean Cage to take a 7-0 lead with 10:03 left in the first quarter. Little Rock Christian responded to Hope’s first touchdown by driving 87 yards in 12 plays to score. A 22-yard touchdown pass from Alberius to Daniel Williams with 6:10 left in the first quarter and Williams’ extra point tied the game.
But Jay Galloway returned the kickoff to the Warriors’ 41 to set up Washington’s first field goal. The Bobcats got to the Warriors’ 11 on the drive, but a sack by Josh Woodruff and Jared Whisenhunt set up fourth-and-17. Cody Washington came on for the 35-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead with 2:13 left in the first quarter.
The Bobcats padded that lead with the help of turnovers, scoring six plays after Deveonte Ross recovered a Simpson fumble at the Warriors’ 22. Galloway capped the drive with a 6-yard run with 11:56 left in the first half.
Demario Woods recoveredthe next fumble at the Warriors’ 35. Six plays later, quarterback Taylor Wood scored on a 6-yard run for a 24-7 lead with 5:29 left in the half.
CAMDEN FAIRVIEW 33, HOT SPRINGS LAKESIDE 19
CAMDEN - Camden Fairview overcame a sloppy first half to win its 5A Southwest conference opener by defeating the Lakeside Rams at Cardinal Stadium.
Despite racking up 203 yards worth of offense in the first half, the Cardinals only led 10-6 after having to settle for a 38-yard field goal from Dillon Fogle late in the first period, and being denied by Lakeside after being stopped on fourthand-goal from the three-yard line late in the second period.
Lakeside took a quick 12-10 lead with 11:34 left in the third following a 66-yard run by Dennis Brunson and a 4-yard pass from Scott Pratchard to Scott Cole. Camden Fairview finished the night with 407 yard in total offense, including 15-of-24 passing by Brandon Keaton for 256 yards. Fred Ross added 116 yards on 14 carries, while Derek Keaton caught eight passes for 80 yards.
The Rams were led by Brunson’s 194 yards on 18 carries, while Pratchard completed 16-of-25 passes for 170 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Cole caught seven passes for 103 yards.
CAC 24, MAGNOLIA 15
MAGNOLIA - After a scoreless first quarter Central Arkansas Christian scored on a 42-yard pass for the conference game’s first touchdown.
CAC shut down Magnolia in the first half. The second half was a closer contest with CAC scoring on a 15-yard run by Marquell Nelson in the third. Magnolia also scored a touchdown.
CAC’s Dylan Sherill threw a 43-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Jaylon Jones and Ryan Newsom scored a 35-yard field goal.
CAC is 1-0 in conference play and Magnolia is 0-1 in conference.
HOT SPRINGS - Devaughn Williams ran 21 times for 122 yards and 1 touchdown to lead Arkadelphia past Hot Springs in the teams’ 5A-Southwest opener.
Garett Rucker completed 7 of 15 passes for 132 yards and 1 touchdown for the Badgers (3-1, 1-0 5A-Southwest). He also ran for 35 yards on 7 carries and another score.
The Badgers marched 66 yards in eight plays as Markeith Arnold caught a six-yard pass from Rucker with one second left in the first half for a touchdown.
Hot Springs (0-4, 0-1) running back Chris Hughes ran for 215 yards on 11 carries and 2 touchdowns, including a 98-yard run in the first quarter. He also had a 6-yard touchdown reception.
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/25/2010