Tigers hold off Grizzlies

LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 42, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 35

FORT SMITH — Little Rock Central coach Kent Laster and his staff individually shook the hand of each of their players after the game Friday night at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.

Laster wanted to let them know it took everybody for Central to beat Fort Smith Northside 42-35 in a back-and-forth 7A-Central Conference game.

“We don’t do this after every game,” Laster said of the handshakes. “We do it after practices sometimes, too. It depends on how we feel. If it’s been tough, it’s time to affirm the kids. We needed every player, every quarter and every series for this win.”

Central was led by junior quarterback Lawson Gunn, who completed 21 of 30 passes for 265 yards with 2 touchdowns. Junior running back Samuel Franklin added 138 yards on 28 carries with 2 touchdowns. Senior wideout T.J. Pennington also had 8 catches for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Tigers.

Northside senior quarterback Matthew Hollenbeck started the game for the Grizzlies because of injury to starter Dreyden Norwood. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 273 yards and 4 touchdowns. His top targets were Tyheen Prosise (8 catches, 174 yards and 2 touchdowns) and J.T. Thorne (5 catches, 73 yards and 2 touchdowns).

Northside (2-3, 0-2) needed just six plays after the break to break the 2121 score at the break. Hollenbeck found Prosise for a 58-yard touchdown pass on the initial drive after the break.

But Central (4-1, 1-1) was about to outscore Northside 21-7 the rest of the way to pull away with the road victory.

“We knew coming into this one Central is a good football team,” Northside coach Mike Falleur said. “But I’m really proud of our kids. We had a couple starters out on offense. Hollenbeck and everybody played their tails off.”

Central took a 42-28 lead with about five minutes left in the game with a 50-yard touchdown run from Franklin.

The Tigers earlier got a 17-yard touchdown run from Jeremiah Sample to tie the game then an 11-yard pass from Gunn to Bobbi Broadway to take a 35-28 lead in the third quarter.

Hollenbeck found Prosise for a 50-yard touchdown to cut the Central lead to 42-35 with 4:50 left in the game.

Northside even got to the opposing 31 on the final drive of the game, but the possession ended with an incomplete pass on fourth down.

Central’s defense helped set up a pair of second-half scores. Northside had an interception and a fumble on offense. Central used the following drives after those to score touchdowns.

“We took advantage of turnovers and made a key

stop,” Laster said. “We just made the right plays in the fourth quarter. We were down and managed to come back. We had all kinds of situations. One team needed to make one more play than the other team.”

Central opened non-conference play 3-0 then lost its initial conference game to North Little Rock, 35-21, last week. This was the bounceback

game Laster was hoping for from his team, he said.

“We needed a road conference win,” Laster said. “We dropped our opening conference game. We needed to come back and get this one. We faced all kinds of challenges. Our kids kept battling. And their kids battled too. They made plays, but we just made a few more. Northside played well.”

FOUR DOWNS

• In the last five games in this matchup, Northside entered the game winning all five dating back to 2014.

• Felicity West was named the homecoming queen before the game.

• Northside defensive back Montay Parks had two interceptions for the Grizzlies.

• Both programs continue 7A-Central play next week. Central will host Bryant, while Northside travels to Little Rock Catholic.