Senior fullback Tyler Day rushed for 167 yards and 3 second-half touchdowns on 22 carries as defending Class 7A state champion North Little Rock ran to its 29th consecutive regular-season victory, 46-35, over Memphis Whitehaven before a large crowd Friday night at North Little Rock Stadium.
The Charging Wildcats (3-0) rushed 59 times for 373 yards. Day's touchdowns runs covered 25, 1 and 2 yards. His 1-yard run gave North Little Rock a 46-28 lead with 4:42 remaining in the game.
Junior tailback Brandon Thomas ran 18 times for 101 yards while senior tailback Oscar Adaway had 66 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
The Tigers (3-2) were limited to 50 rushing yards on 18 attempts.
"That's just kind of who we are," North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said. "We're going to hang our hat on the run game and hang our hat on defending the run. But I also thought we made some huge passing-game plays tonight."
Sophomore quarterback Kareame Cotton, the nephew of former Arkansas Razorbacks wide receiver Kotto Cotton, completed 7 of 12 passes for 104 yards and 3 first-half touchdowns.
After falling behind 7-0 less than a minute into the game, North Little Rock built a 27-14 halftime lead after Cotton threw touchdown passes of 34 yards to junior wide receiver Bralin Battles, and 22 and 25 yards to Adaway.
Adaway also had a 1-yard touchdown run and a two-point run to give North Little Rock the lead for good, 8-7, with 2:35 remaining in the first quarter.
Whitehaven was led by senior quarterback Vincent Guy, who completed 12 of 30 passes for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns and ran for another score.
Although Whitehaven was without "seven or eight starters" because of injury or suspension, Coach Rodney Saulsberry said, the Tigers were within 34-28 after a 19-yard touchdown pass from Guy to senior wide receiver Mose Frazier with 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
North Little Rock had opened the second half with a 12-play, 85-yard drive, capped by Day's 2-yard touchdown, to lead 34-14 with 5:47 left in the third quarter.
"They've got a good team," Saulsberry said. "They play an old-school brand of football. We knew that it was a throw-back game. We're one of the teams that actually does it some, but with some of the guys out we can't be who we want to be up front.
"Man, I like throwback football. It wasn't indicative of a throwback game with all these points being scored, but hats off to our guys for giving us an opportunity at the end."
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Sports on 09/15/2018