The Mayflower Eagles scored early, but so did the Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs. The difference was CAC didn't stop until a blowout was assured.
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CAC senior quarterback Noah Evans completed 11 of 11 passes for 281 yards and 5 touchdowns, all in the first quarter, to lead the Mustangs to a 48-27 victory over the Eagles in the season-opener for both teams at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.
"It felt nice to come out like that," Evans said. "I mean, your job as a quarterback is to be as efficient as possible."
Mayflower scored first on a 2-yard touchdown run by senior running back Christian Forrester, set up in part by a 41- yard pass from junior quarterback Sean Harris to sophomore Deon Simmons.
"I was concerned," CAC Coach Tommy Shoemaker said. "They executed on a nice series of plays, and we knew they were serious for sure after that."
CAC responded with touchdowns on its first six possessions, starting with an 83-yard pass from Evans to senior receiver Hunter Corbell from what looked at first like a Wing-T formation.
"They got behind our secondary pretty easily," Mayflower Coach Todd Langrell said. "I didn't expect that to happen, but it did. We were in the right spot, but they just made the play, and we didn't."
CAC switched out of the Wing T after a Mayflower timeout, but Mayflower failed to adjust and Evans found Corbell on a fly pattern, 20 yards beyond the nearest defender.
"We thought they might think we'd line up in the Wing T since they saw our JV do it," Evans said. "I had a feeling that might be open."
"Evan threw a great pass," Shoemaker said. "We really executed that play well."
Evans also threw touchdown passes of 25 and 70 yards to senior Grant Wood, and 20 and 1 yards to senior Josh Johnson.
"They have a lot of weapons, and we're young, but I don't want to use that as an excuse," Langrell said. "We have a lot of work to do."
Junior running back Kamryn Vick completed CAC's 41-point first quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run, and the rout was complete after junior Wilson Word's 16-yard touchdown run gave CAC a 48-7 lead with 2:10 left in the second quarter.
Word led all rushers with 65 yards on six carries. Wood caught three passes for 103 yards.
Simmons scored twice for Mayflower in the second half, on a 48-yard run and a 16-yard pass from Harris. Keon Simmons also scored on a 1-yard pass from Harris in the fourth quarter.
"Coach Shoemaker put in his subs, and we were able to do some things offensively," Langrell said. "We made it look better at the end, but we know how bad it was."
"They played well for a young team," Shoemaker said. "They have a lot of good players, and they'll bounce back."
CAC next plays Sept. 9 at Joe T. Robinson, which began its season with a 51-28 victory over Hot Springs Lakeside on Monday.
"Robinson might have the most talented team in the state," Shoemaker said. "That'll be a little bit of a different team in front of us. Supposedly you're supposed to improve the most between the first and second game, so we'll see."
Sports on 08/31/2016