Junior Tyrse Lair returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and the rout was on for the Little Rock McClellan Lions.
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Senior running back rushed Pierre Strong rushed for 184 yards and two touchdowns and junior Bennie Kemp scored three touchdowns, including a 25-yard blocked-punt return that gave McClellan (2-1) its second score on the way to a 52-0 victory over the Little Rock Hall Warriors (2-1) at Lion Stadium on Friday night.
"I thought Strong left a few plays out there, but that's a sign of how good of a player he is," McClellan Coach Maurice Moody said. "Overall, I was pleased tonight, but we were definitely sloppy at times, so we'll just come back Sunday and start getting ready for next week."
"We knew what they were capable of, and we knew we didn't need to give them any help, and I think we did that some tonight," Little Rock Hall Coach Tim Scarborough said. "But that's not take anything at all from McClellan. You've got to respect them."
Strong said Friday's blowout victory eased the sting from McClellan's 52-20 loss at North Little Rock last week.
"We bounced back very well," he said.
Strong's 56-yard touchdown run gave McClellan a 22-0 lead early in the second quarter.
"You have to give Strong a lot of respect," Scarborough said. "He runs hard. He has good peripheral vision. He has speed. I mean, he has everything he needs."
McClellan got the ball right back when Hall senior receiver Kamari Williams fumbled and linebacker Lee Rudley recovered at the Hall 24.
Three plays later, a 2-yard touchdown run by Kemp put McClellan's lead at 30-0.
Hall responded with with an apparent 79-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Jaden McGraw to Williams, but an illegal block put Hall at the McClellan 25. Three incompletions and a penalty for intentional grounding combined to turn the ball over on downs to McClellan at the Hall 47 midway through the second quarter.
McGraw completed 9 of 14 passes for 118 yards.
"He's an intelligent kid and very good for their system," Moody said. "And he's strong. We had trouble getting him down. He's only going to get better."
Kemp's 4-yard touchdown run gave McClellan a 38-0 lead with 6:44 left in the third quarter. Junior back Andre Campbell's 2-yard touchdown run put the lead at 46-0. Lair's 25-yard touchdown run with 4:08 left in the fourth quarter completed the scoring
"You take away those two early scores on special teams we had, and it would have been extremely close there in the first half," Moody said. "Coach Scarborough has done a fantastic job with those guys. I'm happy for him. He's done extremely well."
Sports on 09/17/2016