Junior quarterback Tyshaun Robinson used his legs, as well his arm, to lead the Maumelle Hornets to a 31-18 victory over the Pottsville Apaches at Hornet Stadium on Friday night.
Pottsville took an 18-17 lead on senior quarterback Michael Perry’s 1-yard sneak with 4:34 left in the fourth quarter. His touchdown completed a 17-play, 80-yard drive that took 7:23.
But Robinson and Maumelle (7-1, 5-0 4-4A) responded, the big play coming when Robinson scrambled for 14 yards on fourth-and-11 from the Pottsville 39.
“I felt very blessed to get that opportunity from our offensive line,” Robinson said.
Two incompletions left Maumelle with a third-and-10 situation, but Robinson ran 10 yards to the Pottsville 29. Two plays later, on thirdand-5, Robinson threw a 14-yard pass to senior running back Corry Cullins to put Maumelle at the Pottsville 11. Robinson carried for 3, 7 and finally 1 yard for a touchdown to give Maumelle a 25-18 lead with 1:11 left in the game.
“We knew it was do or die, so we just tried to play as hard as we can,” Robinson said.
Maumelle made the final score look more convincing when junior defensive back Blake Conner intercepted Perry’s final pass and returned it 66 yards to complete the scoring.
“This was a great game for our team,” Maumelle Coach Mike Buchan said.
Robinson rushed for 54 yards and two touchdowns, and completed 10 of 20 passes for 102 yards. Perry completed 7 of 14 passes for 84 yards and 1 touchdown.
Maumelle gained 228 yards on offense. Pottsville (7-1, 4-1) had 281.
Defense dominated early, and the game’s first score came on a turnover.
Perry, from a Shotgun formation, couldn’t control the snap, and junior linebacker Michael Cole picked up the ball and returned it 35 yards to give Maumelle 7-0 lead with 6:26 left in the first quarter.
Pottsville was within 7-6 after a 15-yard touchdown pass from Perry to senior receiver Blayze Schrepfer with 7:52 left in the second quarter, but failed on a two-point conversion attempt when sophomore halfback Josh Dugger was stopped short.
Dugger’s twin Jake Dugger stopped Maumelle’s next possession and set up Pottsville’s second score when he returned an interception 18 yards to the Maumelle 32.
Junior fullback Austin Moore ran 27 yards two plays later to give Pottsville a 12-7 lead.
DARDANELLE 41, SUBIACO ACADEMY 20
SUBIACO - Subiaco (3-5, 1-4) built a 20-13 halftime lead before Dardanelle’s offense and defense began clicking and came away with a victory in a 4-4A conference game.
Subiaco relied on a ground game led by Julius Lewis, who scored on runs of 24 yards and 12 yards in the first half.
T.J. Tucker helped the comeback for the Sand Lizards (6-2, 3-2), rushing for 238 yards and four touchdowns. Chris Kershner added 108 yards and two more scores for Dardanelle. Its defense shut out the Trojans in the second half.
BOONEVILLE 35, DOVER 0
BOONEVILLE - Matt Berry ran 6 times for 101 yards and 3 first-half touchdowns to help Booneville (8-0, 5-0 4-4A) remain unbeaten with a victory over winless Dover (0-8, 0-5).
MENA 52, WALDRON 7
WALDRON - Hunter Hopson ran 5 yards for a first-half touchdown and returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards for another score in Mena’s victory over winless Waldron.
The Bearcats (4-4, 2-3 4-4A) led 27-0 at halftime. Quarterback Cameron Robinson threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third touchdown. The Bulldogs (0-8, 0-5) have lost 21 consecutive games.
Sports, Pages 27 on 10/26/2013