Playoff Scores

7 A Bryant and North Little Rock defeated 7A-West teams in the semifinal to shut the once proud conference out of the state championship game for the second straight season. Bryant walloped up-start Bentonville West in the semifinal, 35-0, holding the Wolverines to just 113 yards and eight first downs. North Little Rock went on the road and beat previously undefeated Bentonville, 42-24, behind Brandon Thomas, who ran for 153 yards and two scores. In the second round, Bryant broke a 7-7 halftime tie with 35 points in the second half on the way to a 42-14 win against Fayetteville. North Little Rock beat Springdale Har-Ber, 49-21, with Thomas rushing for 219 yards and three scores. In the first round, Conway’s Nick McCuin threw four touchdown passes in a 63-21 win over Rogers. Little Rock Catholic scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to rally past Van Buren, 35-27.

6 A Searcy warmed up for the championship game with a 50-38 win against Greenwood, which was going for an unprece dented third three-peat. The Lions had 740 yards of offense on 94 plays with quarterback Bryce Dixon completing 30of-42 passes for 445 yards and five touchdowns. Marion Crockett caught 10 passes for 157 yards and touchdowns of 6, 54, and 36 yards. Griffin Love had touchdown grabs of 61 and 43 yards. Benton also had plenty of offense in the semifinals, rolling up 569 yards in a 63-35 win over West Memphis. Garrett Brown completed 25-of-35 passes for 471 yards and six touchdowns. Dixon also threw five touchdown passes in the second-round 55-15 win over Pine Bluff. Benton squeezed past Jonesboro, 18-7, in the second round. The playoff thriller, regardless of classification, was Pine Bluff’s 49-48 four-overtime win in the first round. Elisha Taylor scored on a 9-yard run and Ethan White booted the extra-point kick for the win. Peyton Edwards ran six yards for a touchdown as Sheridan started the fourth over time with the score before missing the extra point. Regulation was tied 21-21 and each team scored in all four of the overtimes. Taylor ran for six touchdowns, including all four for Pine Bluff in the overtime periods.

5 A Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Christian rolled up big numbers in semifinal wins. Pulaski Academy downed Morrilton, 68-41, behind 807 yards of offense. Braden Bratcher completed 28-of-55 passes for 529 yards and six touchdowns. Morrilton’s Jacolby Criswell ran for five touchdowns. Little Rock Christian defeated White Hall, 42-14, in the semifinals after Kendel Givens ran for 119 yards and five touchdowns. Pulaski Academy had to tough out a 28-21 win at Harrison in the second round. Harrison led, 21-20, after Gabe Huskey’s 32-yard scoring run with 54 seconds left in the third quarter. Pulaski Academy answered on Caleb Nichol’s 1-yard touchdown run with 10:18 left in the game. The biggest play, though, for Pulaski Academy was Bratcher’s 45-yard heave to Andrew Cobb, who caught the ball about the 5 among two defenders and scored, on the final play of the first half for a 20-7 lead.

4 A Pulaski Robinson and Shiloh Christian cruised into the championship game. Robinson downed Ozark, 48-21, with quarterback Buddy Gaston throwing touchdown passes of 55 and 45 yards to Martel Nunally on Robinson’s first two plays of the second half. Shiloh Christian downed Crossett, 49-14, behind Eli Reece, who threw four touchdown passes. Two -time defending state champion Arkadelphia, and tri-champion of the rugged 4A-7 conference, was ousted by Crossett in the third round. Tyrique Jones ran for all four of Crossett’s touchdowns, and Crossett’s defense stopped a run around the left side just shy of the goal line on a two-point try after Kyren Harrison scored on a 3-yard run with 44 seconds left.

3 A Harding Academy put up gigantic offensive numbers the entire playoffs and the semifinals were no different as the Wildcats beat Prescott, 49-21, with Stone Sheffield rushing for three scores, including a 1-yard run with 1:04 left in the first half that cracked a 14-14 tie. Osceola cruised past Camden Harmony Grove, 38-6, in the semifinals with quarterback M.J. Vance passing for 202 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 109 yards and two scores. Sheffield also ran for three touchdowns in Harding Academy’s 62-36 win over McGehee in the third round and three more in a 58-24 win against Newport in the second round.

2 A Jaheim Brown threw for 209 yards and a touchdown and ran for two to lead Fordyce to a 38-14 win over Salem in the semifinals. Junction City outlasted Gurdon, 44-37, in the other semifinal on Jakiron Cook’s 256-yard, four-touchdown performance. Brown threw three touchdown passes and ran for one in Fordyce’s 24-20 win over Hazen in the third round. Fordyce had no troubles in wins over Lavaca and Magazine in the first two rounds.

Akaa S Ma P2019

PRE-SEASON FINAL 1. North Little Rock (13) 246 1. Bryant (20) 13-0 200 Buck James 2. Bryant (13) 245 2. North Little Rock 8-5 168 Jamie Mitchell 3. Fayetteville 156 3. Bentonville 11-1 138 Jody Grant 4. Greenwood 138 4. Pulaski Academy 12-2 133 Kevin Kelley 5T. Bentonville 127 5. Searcy 12-1 112 Mark Kelley 5T. Conway 127 6. Benton 9-4 70 Brad Harris 7. Pulaski Academy 89 7. Pulaski Robinson 14-1 54 Todd Eskola 8. Benton 60 8. Bentonville West 7-5 45 Bryan Pratt 9. West Memphis 45 9.. LR Christian 13-1 38 Eric Cohu 10.Harrison 38 10. Harrison 11-1 32 Joel Wells