Pulaski Academy put on a show in its home opener Friday night at Joe B. Hatcher Stadium in Little Rock.
The defending Class 5A state champions piled up 773 yards in a 71-40 rout of Warren to improve to 3-0.
The Bruins opened the season with victories at Highland Park in Dallas to end a 84-game home winning streak and at Wynne last week,
"Our guys took advantage," Pulaski Academy Coach Kevin Kelley said. "We pride ourselves on taking what the defense gives us and being really knowledgeable in the game of football. There's somebody that left open, we can get it to them."
Sophomore quarterback Layne Hatcher had his best game of his young career, completing 22 of 27 passes for 535 yards with 7 touchdowns and no interceptions. Hatcher threw six of his seven touchdown passes in the first half with scoring passes of 55, 5, 36, 66, 38 and 18 yards.
Hatcher has thrown 15 touchdown passes in three games this season.
"He played great," Kelley said. "We need him to step up every week. He's a really cerebral kid. If he keeps getting better, he's got a chance to be a really good quarterback."
Senior wide receiver Zack Kelley, the son of Kevin Kelley, returned Friday after injuring his knee in July at the National 7-on-7 Championship in Virginia. Zack Kelley's only reception was a 55-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline in the second quarter.
RJ Anderson, a sophomore, caught 3 passes for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns. Another sophomore, Tra Johnson, had 104 receiving yards on 3 catches and caught a 38-yard touchdown pass.
Pulaski Academy led 22-6 after the first quarter and pulled away in the second quarter.
Anderson's 66-yard touchdown reception made it 36-6 with 11:39 left in the half. Warren pulled within 36-12 on Keemontrae McKnight's 7-yard touchdown catch, but the Bruins extended their lead to 43-12 with Hatcher's 38-yard touchdown pass to Johnson.
Warren's Treylon Burks returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown and Peyton Hargis caught an 85-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Lassiter to cut the Bruins' lead to 43-26.
The Bruins closed out the half with two touchdowns, with Tre Bruce scoring from 2 yards out and Anderson's second touchdown reception of the half, a 18-yard completion, to make it 57-26 with 1:58 left in the half.
In the third quarter, Pulaski Academy invoked the Arkansas Activities Association's sportsmanship rule with Bruce's 15-yard pass to offensive lineman Seth Martin to make it 71-33 with 8:43 left in the quarter.
Lassiter completed 19 of 32 passes for 355 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions for Warren (2-1), which won its first two games against Smackover and Stuttgart. Dennis Daniels rushed for 113 yards on 19 carries while Hargis caught 5 passes for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns.
"I'm not too disappointed with how our offense played," Warren Coach Bo Hembree said. "Our defense, we put them in a bind. We're not a man team. We haven't done that in 15 years."
Pulaski Academy finishes its nonconference schedule Friday hosting Jennings, Mo., a replacement for North Pulaski, which folded its program earlier this year.
"We want to get better next week," Kelley said. "Any time we're playing an out-of-state team, we want to play extremely well for the state of Arkansas. We take a lot of pride in that. We went down to Texas and played well for Arkansas.
"We definitely want to get a little better each week."
SYLVAN HILLS 47, NEWPORT 14
NEWPORT — Jordan Washington threw for 138 yards and three touchdown passes and rushed for 124 yards and another score to lead Sylvan Hills (3-0) past Newport (0-3).
Washington threw a 29-yard scoring pass to Brandon Bracely in the first quarter, a 7-yard touchdown toss to Cameron Sharp and a 43-yard scoring pass to Ryan Lumpkin. Washington also scored on a 1-yard run. Bracely added a 4-yard rushing score.
The Bears defense was keyed by Hunter Phillips’ 45-yard interception return for a touchdown. Phillips and Jonathan Hicks each had 12 tackles.
Sports on 09/19/2015