Little Rock Central piled up more than 300 yards rushing and never trailed in a 24-14 victory over Searcy on Friday at Quigley-Cox Stadium.
Senior running back Richard Hayes led the Tigers with with 27 carries for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns as Central opened 7A-East Conference play with a victory.
Searcy trailed 17-7 when the Lions forced a fourth-and-short situation at midfield with 2:43 and called a timeout in hopes of getting the ball back and into the hands of their passing attack. But Hayes took a handoff and made a cut up the middle, sprinting untouched into the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown to put away the game.
"The line ... they played a big roll, creating holes and lanes for me to run," Hayes said. "I got the 'W' for my team."
Both teams saw promising drives stalled by penalties and turnovers in the first half, but the Tigers grabbed the lead late in the first quarter.
After senior back Cavan Polite was shoved out of bounds on a 30-yard run at the Lions 2, Wallace pounded into the end-zone with 1:21 remaining for a 6-0 lead. Polite finished with 122 yards on 23 carries.
The Tigers led 10-0 at the start of the fourth quarter before a 4-yard run by Wallace put the Tigers ahead 17-0 with 6:09 left in the game.
The Lions answered, covering 73 yards in less than two minutes and scoring on a 4-yard run by senior running back Luke Dixon with 4:43 remaining to pull within 17-7.
Dixon added another touchdown on a 40-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Neaville.
Dixon finished with 68 yards on 14 carries and 7 receptions for 99 yards. Neaville finished 19 of 39 for 258 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
JONESBORO 83,
MOUNTAIN HOME 41
JONESBORO — Jonesboro (3-1, 1-0 7A/6A-East) piled up 778 yards of offense to outlast Mountain Home (1-3, 0-1). Jonathan Adams caught 11 passes for 262 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Bombers had 519 yards of offense, but allowed the most points in school history in their eighth consecutive loss to the Hurricane. Jonesboro led 7-0 after one quarter before scoring 41 points in the second quarter to take a 48-34 lead into halftime. The Hurricane led 69-34 going into the fourth quarter. Zane Walker completed 16 of 33 passes for 286 yards for the Bombers.
Sports on 09/26/2015