Southwest Claims Springdale Supremacy

LOSS ENDS CENTRAL’S CONFERENCE TITLE HOPES

By By Matt Watson CORRESPONDENT

Posted: November 6, 2009 at 5:08 a.m.

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SPRINGDALE — Southwest may have finished the season even in the win-loss column, but the Cougars earned city bragging rights with a 14-7 upset of crosstown rival Central on Thursday night in Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium.

Southwest’s do-it-all quarterback Dalton Clinkscales connected twice with wide receiver Alex Scharlau for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, and the Cougar defense held Central (8-2, 6-2) to a single score in the third quarter.

“It’s a good way to go out. We knocked Central out of the championship race. We’re city champs,” Southwest offensive coordinator Rob Wright said.

The Cougars (5-5, 3-5) struck first with a Clinkscales’ 30-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play to a leaping Charlau with a little more than 4 minutes left in the fi rst half.

After a personal foul on the extra point and a touchback on the kicko◊, the Warriors went three-and-out and gave Southwest great field position with a short punt just outside the red zone.

Clinkscales then found Charlau again with an 11-yard pass with less than a minute remaining before halftime.

“Those were daggers,” Central coach Fred Hartsfield said. “Exciting night for Southwest, bad night for Central.”

Almost all of Central’s o◊ense came on one series in the third quarter. Tucker Leefielded a punt at the Warrior 3 and returned it 45 yards, and then he threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Alex Rice on the next play to cut the deficit in half near the end of the third quarter.

The Cougars had one more chance to tie the score with one minute left in the game following a missed Southwest field-goal attempt that would have put the game out of reach.

Lee lined up at wide receiver and Pierce Phillips at shotgun quarterback. Phillips just missed a diving receiver at midfield, and after moving the ball 10 yards to the Warrior 30, Phillips was sacked by Hector Marquez with no timeouts remaining.

Central got one more shot down field, but the Southwest’s stingy secondarybatted the ball away.

“Tucker Lee is our bellcow. Coach Matthew knewthat, and when the other team knows what you’re going to do, you have toexecute better and Southwest outperformed us,” Hartsfi eld said.

Sports, Pages 10 on 11/06/2009

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