Key plays seemed to fall in place for the Little Rock Catholic Rockets as they held on for a 34-26 victory over the Van Buren Pointers on Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.
Catholic's victory assured it a spot in the Class 7A state playoffs, which begin next week.
"Our goal was to make the playoffs," Catholic Coach John Fogleman said. "We know we're going to be the underdog next week. We don't know who we'll play yet, but it'll give us another week of practice, and for these seniors it'll give them a chance to say they made the playoffs two out of their three years."
A muffed punt by Van Buren, recovered by Catholic junior Forrest Dunkum at the Van Buren 7, led to a 5-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Andre Sale to senior receiver Burke Sanders that gave Catholic (5-5, 4-3 7A/6A Central) a 27-19 lead with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter.
On Catholic's next possession, freshman running back Nathan Page scored on an 8-yard run to put the Rockets up by two scores with 6:07 left.
Van Buren (4-6, 2-5) cut Catholic's lead to 34-26 on a 12-yard run by junior Jaylyn Dye with five minutes left, but senior Harper Vondran's interception stopped Van Buren's final drive, and Catholic ran out the clock.
"I wish Catholic the best of luck," Van Buren Coach Brooks Coatney said. "They're a good football team. They were physical, but it's tough for us."
Turnovers led to scores throughout.
An interception by Van Buren junior linebacker Josh Omengebar on the second play of the game led to junior quarterback Jordan Barlow's 3-yard keeper that gave Van Buren a 6-0 lead with 8:57 left in the first quarter.
"Their quarterback was good in the run game, and he made some good throws, too," Fogleman said.
Barlow completed 13 of 22 passes for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Catholic tied the score after its next two possessions led to field goals of 37 and 27 yards by senior Michael Williamson, and took at 13-6 lead on senior receiver Austin Chumley's 5-yard touchdown reception from Sale with 7:16 left in the second quarter.
Sale completed 21 of 33 passes or 274 yards and 3 touchdowns. Catholic senior running back Lance Harville-Thomas led all rushers with 124 yards on 22 carries.
Van Buren pulled even after Barlow passed to junior receiver Jaylyn Dye in full stride, 35 yards downfield for a 75-yard touchdown with 1:34 left before halftime.
"I can't say enough about Dye," Coatney said. "He really played his guts out."
Two plays later, Sale replied with a 66-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Trey Purifoy that gave Catholic a 20-13 halftime lead.
"That helped us making that play," Fogleman said. "Purifoy and Sale have been coming through for us all year. Those guys have to make plays when it counts, and they did it."
Purifoy had been closely guarded near the Van Buren 30 by senior safety Jonathan Banks when Sale's pass arrived. The two struggled for control, but Purifoy managed to secure it and break free for the score.
"In really big games there are usually three or four key plays, and that was definitely one of them," Coatney said. "That really hurt our momentum because we knew we had the ball coming out of halftime. We had just scored, and then that guy made a great play. It kind of took the wind out of our sail."
SILOAM SPRINGS 42, RUSSELLVILLE 21
RUSSELLVILLE — Siloam Springs (4-6, 2-5 7A/6A-Central) scored on its first four possessions as the Panthers rolled past Russellville (2-8, 0-7) to clinch a No. 2 seed in the Class 6A state playoffs.
Chris Lampton completed 10 of 13 passes for 213 yards and 4 touchdown and ran for 2 more scores for Siloam Springs, which had 364 yards of offense in the first half.
Russellville running back Kentrell Scott had 18 carries for 139 yards.
Sports on 11/08/2014