Jordan Washington provided Sylvan Hills with plenty of early offensive punch on Monday night as the Bears routed Vilonia 62-28 at War Memorial Stadium in the season opener for both teams.
Washington threw for 263 yards and ran for 103 as the Bears scored the game's first 35 points.
"He's athletic. He's tall. He throws it well," Sylvan Hills Coach Jim Withrow said of his 6-3 junior quarterback. "And I think he's going to get better every week."
Washington looked good from the start on Monday.
His 13-yard run on fourth-and-13 from the Vilonia 15 on the opening drive started a string of plays that put the Eagles in a hole.
Washington rolled to his right, found his receivers covered but had a huge hole to run through.
"My dad has always taught me that if all of the defenders drop back, just take off," Washington said.
"Those are things we talk about a million times," Withrow said. "If you roll out and nobody's there, take off. Don't try to force it. it's not the hardest thing in the world to do."
Ty Compton followed Washington's fourth-down run with a 2-yard scoring run with 9:35 left in the first quarter. Sylvan Hills scored on its first five possessions, on drives of 65, 80, 77, 75 and 63 yards.
Washington connected with Ryan Lumpkin on a 76-yard scoring pass and Tito Mendoza followed with the first of his five successful extra points for a 13-0 Bears lead.
Washington wrapped up the first-quarter scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run with 1:04 left.
Washington completed 6 of 14 passes for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns.
He also rushed 11 times for 103 yards, scoring on runs of 10 and 4 yards.
Lumpkin caught two passes for 112 yards. Brandon Bracely added 90 yards rushing.
He also scored on a 38-yard fumble recovery after Washington and Lumpkin had combined for a 36-yard pass.
Vilonia rushed for 205 yards and passed for 167. Senior Wade Richards rushed 14 times for 83 yards. Quarterback Luke Gordon completed 18 of 35 passes for 167 yards and touchdown passes of 52 yards to Josh Greer and 7 yards to Tripp Reed in the second quarter.
Sports on 09/01/2015