LITTLE ROCK — Mountain Home Coach Benji Mahan’s expectation facing Little Rock Central was for the Tigers to be led by their passing attack.
Instead, the Tigers turned to their ground game in piling up 260 yards rushing in a 42-20 victory Friday at Quigley-Cox Stadium in Little Rock.
“They ran the ball the way you expect Central to run it,” Mahan said. “They’d been throwing the ball more the past couple weeks, but they made up for it on the ground.”
Junior Logan Moragne providing 142 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 18 carries and senior Malcolm Robinson added 93 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for Central (3-5, 2-3) in a 7A/6AConference matchup.
Both backs helped the Tigers thwart the Bombers’ attempts to get back into the game after trailing 28-6 at halftime.
Moragne spun free from three tacklers and raced 59 yards for a score to make it 35-13 with 7:07 left in the third quarter to answer a 61-yard touchdown drive by the Bombers (1-7, 0-5) to open the second half.
Robinson got his turn with 6:29 left in the fourth quarter. His 7-yard touchdown run came after the Bombers cut the lead to 35-20 on an 8-yard run by Mountain Home running back Andrew Stople.
Central, helped by the return of wide receiver A.J. Tucker last week, piled up 443 yards of total offense.
“Getting him back last week really opened our offense up the way we need it,” Central Coach Ellis “Scooter” Register said. “We could do what we wanted to with him and on the ground tonight, but it’s going to get tougher down the road.”
Central quarterback Cooper Westbrook completed 8 of 13 passes for 204 yards and touchdown passes of 74 and 12 yards, both to Moragne.
Tucker had three catches for 83 yards, while Moragne’s 86 receiving yards gave him 228 yards of total offense and 4 touchdowns.
Sports, Pages 26 on 10/20/2012