Malvern hopped on its “war horse” once again Friday night and pulled away for its fifth consecutive victory.
Junior running back Montae Hernandez rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns and had a touchdown catch, leading the Leopards to a 50-34 victory over Central Arkansas Christian at Mustang Mountain in North Little Rock.
“He’s been carrying us this year,” Malvern Coach Mike Scarbrough said. “Been rushing for 180, 200 yards most every game.
“He’s a war horse. We just kind of jumped on his back tonight.”
Hernandez had 13 carries for 55 yards in the first half, but his ability to bust off chunks of yardage in the second half - he ran for 160 yards on 23 carries in the final two quarters - ended up making a major difference in the game.
Malvern (7-1, 5-0 7-4A) was behind 7-3 after the first quarter and led by a point - 23-22 - at halftime. CAC (4-4, 2-3) trailed the entire second half.
Hernandez caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from receiver Kaylen Burks late in the third quarter for a 37-22 lead and had touchdown runs of 12 and 29 yards in the fourth quarter.
“They’re big and physical,” CAC Coach Tommy Shoemaker said of the Leopards. “Have a lot of good athletes. We just couldn’t hold up that front. They did what they had to do.
“We were hoping we could just keep hanging in there, give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter, and it just got away from us a little bit.”
Malvern sophomore quarterback Trace Collie threw touchdown passes of 51, 26 and 4 yards. In addition to his touchdown pass to Hernandez, Burks had a 4-yard touchdown catch and a 4-yard touchdown run.
CAC quarterback Jack Thomas threw touchdown passes of 5, 14, 23 and 29 yards. Wide receiver Stephen Flanigan had two touchdown catches.
Sports, Pages 27 on 10/26/2013