North Little Rock was good enough to overcome a field full of obstacles to advance to the semifinals of the Class 7A football playoffs with a 48-45 victory over Fort Smith Southside at Charging Wildcat Stadium on Friday night.
Southside scored on senior quarterback Taye Gatewood's 10-yard touchdown pass to senior Colton McBride to cut North Little Rock's lead to 48-38 with 9:34 left in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks then recovered an onside kick and scored on a lateral to senior tackle Keith Turner to cut North Little Rock's lead to three points with 4:57 left.
Southside recovered its second consecutive onside kick to gain possession at its 49. With the aid of a pass interference call, Southside moved to North Little Rock's 31 where it faced fourth and 9. To that point, Gatewood had completed 31 of 49 passes for 456 yards and 4 touchdowns, but junior linebacker Kevin Wallace intercepted his pass with 2:16 left.
North Little Rock was able to run out the clock.
The Charging Wildcats had no trouble running all night behind a veteran offensive line with senior running back Brandon Thomas, who carried 11 times for 218 yards and 4 touchdowns, and senior Tyler Day's 177 yards and 1 touchdown on 17 carries.
"You give a team as good as this one free possessions, and you end up in a mess like we ended up in right here," North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said. "But at the end of the day, all that matters is we're going to the semifinals. That's all that matters."
On Oct. 5, North Little Rock defeated Southside 49-27.
"We knew we had to pull out all the stops, and that's what we did," Southside Coach Jeff Williams said. "They have a great football team, but we thought we had some matchups going into it. I have to give my team a lot of credit. I'm so proud of them."
North Little Rock's second-half mistakes started early. It began the third quarter with possession but fumbled away to junior defensive end Jeremiah Van Hook on the first play from scrimmage at its 37.
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After 12 plays and two fourth-down conversions, Southside was within 34-26 on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Gatewood to McBride.
North Little Rock took five plays to respond, the fifth a 37-yard touchdown run by Thomas to give North Little Rock a 41-26 lead with 6:14 left in the third quarter.
Southside completed a two-play drive with a 34-yard pass from Gatewood to Tyrese Solomon, but failed on a two-point run to leave North Little Rock with a 41-32 lead.
Thomas put North Little Rock's lead at 48-32 on its next possession with three minutes left in the third quarter.
In the first half, Southside took the opening kickoff and scored on a 3-yard run by senior running back Ricardo Savoy set up by a 53-yard pass from Gatewood to Savoy.
North Little Rock answered with an eight-play drive, the last a 4-yard touchdown run by Day. After a missed extra-point attempt, North Little Rock was within 7-6 with 7:10 left in the first quarter.
After North Little Rock (11-0) stopped Southside (6-6) on downs, it scored on a 21-yard run by Thomas to take a 12-7 lead.
Southside scored on the next play from scrimmage, a 65-yard pass from Gatewood to Solomon to lead 14-12 with 3:47 left in the first quarter.
North Little Rock scored the next two touchdowns on a 42-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Kareame Cotton to senior tight end Drew Martin, and a 70-yard run by Thomas. The latter gave North Little Rock a 27-14 second-quarter lead.
Southside responded with a five-play, penalty-aided drive that cut North Little Rock's lead to 27-20 with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Gatewood to Solomon.
A 2-yard touchdown run by Day gave North Little Rock a 34-20 lead with 2:14 left in the second quarter that it would maintain through halftime.
Sports on 11/17/2018