FORT SMITH -- All season long, North Little Rock had not seemingly faced adversity, but that was not the case Friday night against Fort Smith Northside.
When push came to shove, though, it was the Charging Wildcats that got the needed inch or two in the final minutes of the game to sneak past the Grizzlies 35-28 in a battle of 7A-Central leaders.
Class 7A-Central
North Little Rock 35, Fort Smith Northside 28
N. Little Rock 7 14 0 14 — 35
FS Northside 7 ^7 7 ^7 — 28
First Quarter
NORTH – Norwood 4 run (Parga kick), 8:02.
NLR – Ruth 2 run (Melton kick), 3:19.
Second Quarter
NLR – Day 6 run (Melton kick), 3:45.
NORTH – Norwood 57 run (Parga kick), 2:00.
NLR – Day 15 run (Melton kick), :32.
Third Quarter
NORTH – Wilkerson 2 run (Parga kick), 4:51.
Fourth Quarter
NLR – Austin 1 run (Melton kick), 10:24.
NORTH – Robinson 11 pass from Norwood (Parga kick), 7:03.
The win gives North Little Rock (8-0, 5-0) control of its playoff destiny as a win over Bryant next week will give the Charging Wildcats the 7A-Central top seed and a first-round bye. Northside also can clinch a first-round bye with a win at Cabot next week coupled with a North Little Rock win.
The Charging Wildcats came into the game averaging 52.8 points per game, but had four turnovers, two of which were converted to Grizzly touchdowns, and were limited to just 400 yards of total offense (290 rushing, 110 passing).
"Right now, I can't even think about next week," North Little Rock coach Jamie Mitchell said. "This bunch just refused to lose. We faced all kinds of adversity with turnovers. Northside is a good football team and took advantage of our mistakes. We just kept be battling. What a ball game."
After stopping Northside by a matter of inches on a fourth-down play with three minutes to play, North Little Rock took the lead with 18 seconds left on a keeper by quarterback Trey Cox, who stretched the ball past the goal line.
Still, the Grizzlies had one last shot. After a 29-yard pass completion to the Charging Wildcat 44, quarterback Trey Norwood heaved a pass into the end zone that was deflected into the air but could not be hauled in by a Northside receiver.
"It was a heck of a high school football game," Grizzly coach Mike Falleur said. "We told our kids that the game was going to come down to a play. We thought we made the first down but the refs don't see it. I was proud of our guys. It was two good football teams and they got the last punch."
Mitchell said the fourth-down stop by his defense was the key play at the end. Norwood kept on a keeper up the middle and the spot by the officials was short of the first down by a few inches with 3:10 left.
"I don't know who made the play, but what a stop it was," Mitchell said. "They had really pounded us in the fourth quarter with the inside run."
After converting a fourth down, the Charging Wildcats faced a second-and-6 at the Grizzly 40. Mitchell called his last timeout, then called a wingback reverse and Wynton Ruth went down the left sideline for 34 yards to the Northside 6 with 50 seconds left.
On third-and-goal with the clock ticking, Cox faked a handoff and went right and stuck the ball across the goal line to clinch the win.
Northside had tied the game at 28-all on a 11-yard pass from Trey Norwood to DeAaron Robinson with seven minutes left.
North Little Rock led at halftime 21-14 as Day rushed for 111 yards on 17 carries in the first half along with a pair of touchdowns runs.
Both teams were sloppy in the first quarter, as the teams combined for five turnovers, two of which were converted into scores as the Charging Wildcats and Grizzlies were tied at 7-all.
North Little Rock hosts Bryant next week while Northside travels to Cabot.
Sports on 10/22/2016