North Little Rock went to the air late in the first half Friday night to take down the Conway Wampus Cats.
Senior quarterback David Chapple's 48-yard touchdown pass to classmate Deontae Montgomery with 1:39 before halftime helped North Little Rock defeat Conway 24-14 on Friday night in a 7A-Central Conference game at Charging Wildcat Stadium in North Little Rock.
Chapple's touchdown pass to Montgomery along the left sideline extended North Little Rock's lead to 21-7.
"The score before half was just huge," North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said. "It was a nail in the coffin, even at that point. It took a lot of pressure off of us."
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Conway Coach Clint Ashcraft believed the play was the difference in the game.
"That hurt us," Ashcraft said. "We were a little misaligned there. We gave up inside leverage. They were able to take advantage of it. That's something we've got to learn and correct."
Senior Savana Melton's 31-yard field goal made it 24-7 North Little Rock (5-0, 2-0 7A-Central) with 4:39 left in the third quarter. Melton also made three point-after attempts for the Charging Wildcats.
Conway pulled within 24-14 with 2:59 left on senior quarterback Andrew Hreha's 38-yard touchdown pass to junior Will McKenna. But North Little Rock recovered Conway's onside kick attempt, and Chapple's 11-yard completion to senior Erion Cooney on fourth and six with 1:30 remaining sealed the victory.
Chapple was 9-of-14 passing for 142 yards and 1 touchdown and rushed for another score. Montgomery caught 4 passes for 88 yards and 1 touchdown.
Sophomore running back Brandon Thomas rushed for 130 yards on 25 carries for North Little Rock, which outgained Conway 312-284.
"Brandon is doing a phenomenal job," Mitchell said. "But it starts up front with our offensive line. It is second rate to nobody. They're super, super good up there."
One week after compiling 354 yards and 4 touchdowns against Fort Smith Southside, Wampus Cats senior Brandon George rushed for 182 yards and 1 touchdown on 28 carries.
Hreha completed 7 of 19 passes for 108 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
Conway (3-2, 1-1) jumped out to a 7-0 lead on George's 19-yard touchdown run with 9:05 left in the first quarter.
North Little Rock's defense responded on Conway's next possession, with junior cornerback Sedrick Cain intercepting Hreha at the Charging Wildcats 33. Cain returned the interception 47 yards to the Conway 20. Three plays later, junior Tyler Day scored from 3 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter.
After getting the ball back on downs at its own 35, North Little Rock drove 65 yards in 11 plays to take its first lead. Thomas' 19-yard run set up Chapple's 1-yard touchdown run two plays later for a 14-7 lead with 6:09 to play in the first half.
North Little Rock heads to Fort Smith Southside on Friday as it looks to continue its 9-0 run in the 7A-Central dating to September 2016, when it joined the league.
"We're going to enjoy this one," Mitchell said. "This was a huge ballgame for us. We think it could be a pivotal game going forward. Hopefully we'll look back at it in a couple of weeks and see how big this was.
"I'm tickled to death to be 2-0 in the conference."
Sports on 09/30/2017