North Little Rock pulls away behind Cooney
LITTLE ROCK — North Little Rock’s Corvasea Cooney threw for four touchdowns, including three in a span of less than six minutes in the second half, and the Charging Wildcats pulled away from Little Rock Central to post a 47-28 victory.
Cooney completed 12 of 19 for 291 yards for North Little Rock (6-4, 6-1), which locked up the No. 2 seed from the 7A/6A-East and will host a playoff game next Friday.
LITTLE ROCK — North Little Rock’s Corvasea Cooney threw for four touchdowns, including three in span of less than six minutes in the second half, and the Charging Wildcats pulled away from Little Rock Central to post a 47-28 victory.
Cooney completed 12 of 19 for 291 yards, with touchdown passes of 65 and 45 yards to Kyleal Lewis, 33 yards to Wynton Ruth and 49 yards to Aaron Griffin.
North Little Rock (6-4, 6-1) locked up the No. 2 seed from the 7A/6A East and will play either Fort Smith Southside or Fort Smith Northside next Friday at Charging Wildcat Stadium.
Central (3-7, 3-4) did not qualify for postseason play.
North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said that Cooney’s second-half performance tilted the balance after the Charging Wildcats led 14-7 at halftime and 14-13 after Central scored at the outset of the third quarter.
“He was the big difference,” Mitchell said. “He threw it with consistency. He never played quarterback until this year and I couldn’t be prouder of him. He made the difference in this game.”
Cooney gave his team the lead on the fourth play of the second quarter when he found Lewis for a 65-yard touchdown pass with 10:06 remaining in the half. Savana Melton, who made 5 of 7 extra-point attempts, made it 7-0.
Central responded with an 88-yard touchdown on a screen pass from quarterback Josh Cole to running back Richard Hayes in traffic. Hayes broke for the sideline and kept on going as the Tigers tied it at 7-7 with 9:46 left in the half.
The Charging Wildcats countered, going 43 yards in nine plays, the last 9 coming on a run by Alex Day.
Cole threw a 57-yard touchdown to Jordan Witcher with 10:23 left in the third quarter, but the Tigers missed the extra point and trailed 1413.
The Tigers would get no closer.
Day got the ball on the second play of North Little Rock’s next possession, ran up the middle and broke free for a 59-yard touchdown with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter.
Day scored the next touchdown with a 15-yard run with 7:41 left in the third quarter and North Little Rock led 2713.
Penalties pushed North Little Rock into a 2nd-and-28 situation before Cooney threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ruth for a 34-13 lead with 2:01 remaining in the third quarter.
Cooney went deep again to Lewis for 50 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Charging Wildcats went up 41-13.
Central’s Hayes scored on a 13-yard run at 9:57 and added a two-point conversion run to make it 41-21 North Little Rock.
A fourth touchdown pass, a 51-yard play from Cooney to Aaron Griffin at 8:27, made it 47-21. Cooney also rushed for 31 yards on 9 carries.
Central finished the scoring on a 52-yard pass from Marlo Thompson to Zach McFadden with 3:32 to play.
Day, referred to as North Little Rock’s “bell-cow” by Mitchell, carried 20 times for 140 yards and 3 touchdowns.