MAGNET COVE — The Magnet Cove Panthers clinched the 5-2A Conference championship and ended Conway Christian’s six-game winning streak with a 54-20 victory over the Eagles on Friday night at Kenneth W. Hammons Stadium.
Magnet Cove (8-1, 6-0) has relied on its ground attack for most of the season, but the Panthers’ first three scores Friday were passing plays.
Hunter Linam, who completed 9 of 13 passes for 249 yards, propelled the Panthers to a 20-0 lead on touchdown passes of 25, 68 and 88 yards to Corey Dennison, Austin Stringfellow and Austin Eskola, respectively.
A 5-yard touchdown run by Jeffrey Pinkston stretched the lead to 27-0 with 6:47 left in the second quarter.
Pinkston finished with 17 carries for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns, increasing his season totals to 155 carries for 1,774 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Conway Christian (6-3, 4-2) outscored the Panthers 14-7 over the remainder of the first half to make it 34-14 at halftime.
But the Eagles turned the ball over on each of their first three second-half possessions.
Nick Dyer intercepted a pass and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the third quarter.
Dennison intercepted a pass to end the Eagles’ next drive and returned it 69 yards to the 1, and Pinkston ran for the touchdown to make it 47-14 with 9:21 in the third.
Tanner Stevenson led the Eagles, completing 33 of 54 passes for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has 2,019 passing yards this season.
BIGELOW 41, HECTOR 8
BIGELOW - Bigelow (6-2-1, 5-1 5-2A) pulled its starters with five minutes left in the first half in its victory over Hector (1-7, 0-6).
Marcus Davie had 79 yards on two carries and scored on a 75-yard run in the first quarter. Terrell Dunlap scored twice in the first quarter, once on a 50-yard touchdown run and again on a 57-yard pass from Austin Turner.
Bigelow led 35-0 at halftime.
MOUNTAIN PINE 18, TWO RIVERS 16
MOUNTAIN PINE - Mountain Pine, despite an injury-depleted roster of just 17 players, claimed its first victory.
Playing on Stanley May Field at Red Devil Stadium for the first time since Sept. 23, the Red Devils (1-8, 1-5) topped 5-2A-5 foe Two Rivers (2-7, 1-5).
Mountain Pine scored first on a 10-yard touchdown run by Blake Rynders, his first of three scores. The Gators answered with a 1-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion run by Matt Barnett for an 8-6 halftime lead.
Mountain Pine regained the lead on Rynders; one-yard run early in the third quarter and pushed it to 18-8 on a 1-yard run by Rynders early in the fourth quarter.
Two Rivers quarterback Lane Frost’s 5-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion pass to Tyler Garcia set the final margin.
Caleb Ellison rushed for 103 yards on 13 carries for Mountain Pine; Dylan Rainwater had 68 on 10 carries and Rynders 65 on 22.
3-2A
SALEM 67, AUGUSTA 32
SALEM - Dillon Turner passed for five touchdowns and ran for two as Salem (8-1, 5-1 3-2A) beat Augusta (0-8-1, 0-7-1).
Turner completed 12 of 16 passes for 243 yards. He passed for two touchdowns each to Marcus Cagle and Heath Goodman and threw for another score to Nick Gaskins.
Goodman had 134 yards on four catches. J.J. Gray rushed for 147 yards. Augustus Freeman ran for two touchdowns.
EAST POINSETT COUNTY 63, MARKED TREE 20
LEPANTO - East Poinsett County (9-0, 7-0 3-2A) dominated Marked Tree (3-6. 2-5).
Among those scoring for East Poinsett were Darius Barnes on a 30-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Tristian McDaniel on a 40-yard run in the first.
4-2A
MAGAZINE 35, MOUNTAINBURG 7
MOUNTAINBURG - Magazine (9-0, 8-0) clinched the 4-2A Conference title for the third year in a row with a victory at Mountainburg (7-2, 6-2), winning its 22nd consecutive game in the process.
Magazine quarterback Cory Chambers ran for 106 yards and 1 touchdown on 20 carries and completed 6 of 12 passes for 69 yards with no interceptions.
6-2A
DES ARC 36, MARVELL 0
MARVELL - Luke Devoral and Jaylon Holloway each scored two touchdowns to lead Des Arc over Marvell.
Devorak also threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Trent Whiting.
HAZEN 32, ENGLAND 7
HAZEN - Matt Tenison ran for 165 yards on 24 carries and scored 3 touchdowns to lead Hazen (8-0-1, 5-0 6-2A Conference) over England (4-5, 2-3).
Cameron Vail added 90 yards rushing on 17 carries and scored twice for Hazen.
CLARENDON 53, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY 6
CLARENDON - Jarmarlon Jackson passed for two touchdowns and ran for one more to lead Clarendon (3-6, 2-3) to a 6-2A Conference victory over Palestine-Wheatley (1-8, 1-5).
Jackson threw 55 yards to Aaron Hampton for a touchdown and 18 yards to Steve Tyler for his second. Jackson also had a 30-yard run for a touchdown.
7-2A
MOUNT IDA 48, HORATIO 31
HORATIO - Josh Hall scored four touchdowns and had 216 rushing yards, nearly half of Mount Ida’s 507-yard total.
Mount Ida’s Dylan Robbins had two touchdowns. For the defense, Trevor Scurlock 11 tackles and Travis Beechey added 10 tackles.
GURDON 42, MURFREESBORO 6
GURDON - Juan Williams scored three rushing touchdowns to lead Gurdon (8-1, 6-0 7-2A) past Murfreesboro (2-6, 1-5).
All three of Williams’ touchdowns came on 5-yard runs.
MINERAL SPRINGS 44, SPRING HILL 8
MINERAL SPRINGS - Rashad Williams ran for 246 yards on 19 carries and scored 3 touchdowns to lead Mineral Springs (8-1, 5-1 7-2A) past Spring Hill (7-2, 4-2).
Williams scored on runs of 9, 16 and 12 yards. Jujuan Turner added touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards.
8-2A
BEARDEN 35, PARKERS CHAPEL 0
PARKERS CHAPEL - Javeaz Sleadge ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more to lead Bearden (7-1, 5-1 8-2A) on past Parkers Chapel (4-4, 2-4).
Sleadge threw touchdown passes of 67 yards to Damian Percy and 66 yards to Marcus Flint. He scored on runs of 1 and 62 yards.
B.J. Ross added a 2-yard touchdown run for Bearden.
JUNCTION CITY 42, HAMPTON 0
HAMPTON - Junction City moved one step closer to an outright 8-2A title, and it clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, as the Dragons (6-1, 5-0) rolled to a victory over Hampton (3-5, 2-4).
The Dragons led 35-0 at hafltime.
Bronte Elliott and Dorian Evans each scored a touchdown for Junction City, while Shaquille Hunter ran for one and caught a pass for another. Romunski Flowers scored on runs of 89 and 41 yards.
NONCONFERENCE
CARLISLE 18, MCCRORY 6
CARLISLE - Bo Weddle scored three touchdowns to lead Carlisle (9-0) over McCrory (6-3).
Weddle had 18 carries, rushing for 168 yards. Teammate Zach King had an interception. The team had 368 yards of offense on 48 carries.
McCrory had 189 yards on 36 carries. McCrory’s Logan Best had 21 carries, rushing for 128 yards. William Davis scored on a 14-yard run in the second.
QUITMAN 27, CEDAR RIDGE 22
QUITMAN - Chase Stewart scored two touchdowns to lead Quitman over Center Ridge.
Stewart scored on a 19-yard reception in the second quarter and in the third on an 88-yard pass, both from Hunter Martin. Martin scored on a quarterback keeper in the third.
Center Ridge’s Matt Hudson scored 3 touchdowns and ran for 174 yards on 27 carries.
DANVILLE 43, POYEN 6
POYEN - Senior Blake Noakes returned a punt 50 yards for a touchdown as Danville coasted to a nonconference victory over Poyen.
Danville led 21-6 at halftime before breaking the game open with 22 points in the third quarter, including Noakes’ return.
Michael Jiles and Shawn Tyra scored first-half touchdowns for Danville.
Sports, Pages 31 on 10/29/2011