Conference action heats up this week, so there's no need for Maumelle to press any kind of panic buttons just yet after suffering another close loss.
The Hornets (1-3) are mired in a three-game losing streak after Shreveport Byrd held on for a 24-21 victory Thursday night. Since beating Sylvan Hills 31-21 on Aug. 26, Maumelle's next three games have been decided by a combined eight points. The Hornets also lost to Joe T. Robinson 47-44 in overtime on Sept. 3, and 34-32 to Vilonia last week.
But the most recent defeat was particularly tough, considering how the game played out late.
The teams were tied at 7-7 at halftime until Byrd stormed ahead in the third quarter. Maumelle did have a chance at a go-ahead score in the fourth after getting the ball at its own 17 with 4:26 left in the game before controversy caused the Hornets' drive to stall.
On fourth and 8 from the Maumelle 41, quarterback Weston Pierce hit wide receiver Roderick Watts for what appeared to be a first down near midfield. But officials placed the ball just short of the 49, which was shy of where the Hornets needed to reach to maintain possession. The Yellow Jackets took over and were eventually able to run out the clock to win the game.
Pierce did what he could to keep his team afloat by completing 20 of 28 passes for 264 yards and 2 touchdowns for Maumelle, which held the Yellow Jackets to 225 yards rushing -- 170 less than their season average. Watts totaled 12 catches for 169 yards and a score as well.
The good news for the Hornets is that all three setbacks were nonconference contests. League play officially begins Friday in the 5A-Central for the Hornets, who'll start their playoff push at No. 10 Little Rock Christian.
More border wars
Maumelle wasn't the only team from Arkansas to find itself locked in an interstate tussle with a team from Louisiana.
Junction City and Warren both traveled south to face opponents from the Pelican State, with only one coming away with a victory. The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 20-0 lead and never blinked in cruising to a 42-10 spanking of Franklin (La.) Parish. The win was the second in a row for Warren (2-1) after it opened the year with a loss at White Hall.
Haynesville (La.) scored the final 12 points to hold off Junction City (2-2) 40-28 despite a 160-yard, two-touchdown outing from Jordavion Williams. Jamal Johnson also had a rushing and passing touchdown for the Dragons.
Impressive in loss
Top-ranked Bryant (2-1) saw its 32-game winning streak come to an end at Longview (Texas) on Friday, but that wasn't enough to knock the Hornets off their No. 1 perch.
Carson Burnett threw for 230 yards and a pair of touchdowns for Bryant, which led late in the third quarter before Longview, the No. 6-ranked team in Texas' Class 5A Division I classification, made just enough plays in the fourth to win 24-21. The loss was the first one for Bryant since 2018.
The Hornets, who trailed 10-7 at halftime, did hold Lobo wide receiver and University of Arkansas target Jalen Hale to just two catches on the night. However, both of his receptions went for touchdowns -- the latter of which gave Longview a 10-point lead in the fourth.
Bryant will now turn its attention to its 7A-Central opener at No. 7 Fort Smith Northside (3-0) on Friday.
Leopards pounce
Fans and students of De Queen had a very good reason to storm the field Friday night at Leopard Stadium.
Donyea Whitmore finished with 170 yards rushing for De Queen (1-3), which put a stop to its 28-game losing streak by beating Fouke 14-7. Dylan Williamson closed the door on the victory with a touchdown run in the third quarter for the Leopards.
The last time De Queen won a game prior to Friday was during Week 4 of the 2018 season when it beat Hope 21-14. Over their next 28 games, the Leopards scored nine points or less 18 times and were shut out eight times, including once this season. But De Queen showed signs of improvement last week in a 41-27 loss to a Nashville team that had won their three previous encounters by a combined 166-26.
That improvement carried over against Fouke. De Queen will try to make it two in a row next week against Hope, losers of its past 10 games.
Still searching
And then there are four.
Going into Friday, there were seven teams in the state that hadn't scored a point. Two of those schools, Palestine-Wheatley and Cross County, didn't play but the other five – Conway Christian, Mountainburg, Parkers Chapel, Green Forest and Blytheville – did.
Only three managed to end their scoring droughts. Parkers Chapel lost to Magnet Cove 35-8 and Blytheville was beaten by Riverview 21-6, and Green Forest, which was shut out a week ago, beat West Fork 14-7 to pick up its first victory of the year.
The same couldn't be said for Conway Christian and Mountainburg.
The teams lost by a combined 103 points to Perryville and Hackett, respectively.
Flyin' high
Baptist Prep Coach Zach Welchman believed his team had a chance to knock off Class 2A No. 1 McCrory if they stuck to their game plan throughout.
The Eagles did that and more and stunned the Jaguars 31-24 in overtime. Baptist Prep (3-0) did have to survive some antsy moments, like when quarterback Tyler Hesley was tackled in the end zone for a safety with 27 seconds left in regulation that allowed McCrory to send the game into overtime, or when Jaguar quarterback Cason Campbell delivered a strike to Reid Kennon on fourth down in the extra session in an attempt to tie it up.
But the Eagles stopped Kennon inside the 2 to come away with one of their biggest victories in recent memory. Baptist Prep hadn't won its first three games in a season since 2011 when it went 11-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs. Welchman is hoping for a similar deep playoff run in 2021.
Getting offensive
Fort Smith Northside's game at Springdale Har-Ber was expecting to be high scoring, but no one could have anticipated what transpired at Wildcat Stadium.
The Grizzlies scored 28 points in the fourth quarter and got a game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback Walker Catsavis with 23 seconds left to stroll away for a 63-56 victory. Northside (3-0) trailed by 14 points in both the first and third quarters before rallying.
The teams combined for 1,408 yards of offense, with the Grizzlies getting the bulk of their 785 yards on the ground. Sundquist Church ran for 233 yards and Ty Massey added 146 yards. The 63 points were the most Northside has scored since putting up 69 in a shut-over victory over Rogers Heritage in 2018.
Of Har-Ber's 673 yards, 436 of them came through the air, courtesy of quarterback Luck Buchanan. The last time the Wildcats scored that many points was when it was beaten 84-68 by Pulaski Academy in the opening game of the 2019 season.