Bye-Week Call Pays Off

NORTH LITTLE ROCK GETS JUMP-START ON ROGERS HERITAGE

By Paul Nielsen

Posted: November 18, 2009 at 5:12 a.m.

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North Little Rock took a gamble the first week of the Class 7A playoffs and the move paid off .

And the Charging Wildcats didn’t even play last week.

When the playoff brackets came out, North Little Rock coach Brad Bolding saw the Charging Wildcats would face the winner of the Little Rock Catholic-Rogers Heritage game in the quarterfi nals.

Bolding, who coached at Rogers High for four seasons, decided last week to use the off week to put in a game plan for Heritage.

The gamble paid off as Heritage beat Catholic 17-10 on Friday night, and the Charging Wildcats are now in their second week of preparation for Friday’s game against the War Eagles in NLR Stadium.

“We had already played Catholic, and we thought Heritage would win the game since they were the No. 3 seed from the West and playing at home,” Bolding said. “We took the chance and we worked on Heritage all last week.”

Heritage (9-2) is the best passing team North Little Rock has faced so far this season as War Eagles quarterback Reed Brown has passed for 2,517 yards and 29 touchdowns. But the Charging Wildcats will counter with a defense that is allowing just 10.3 points a game this season and is equally good against the pass and the run.

North Little Rock (8-2) is riding a four-game winning streak and the defense has given up more than seven points just three times this season.

“North Little Rock hangs their hat on its defense,” said Heritage coach Perry Escalante said. “North Little is big and strong.”

The strength of the North Little Rock defense is up front on the line. Counting his three seasons at Little Rock Central, Darius Hudson (6-foot, 350 pounds) brings four years of starting experience to his nose guard position while defensive end Bryan McCleary (6-1, 215) and tackle Colt Schaller (6-2, 230) are three-year starters for North Little Rock.

Junior Gary Clark (6-1, 215) is the other end and the junior is just one of two underclassmen starters on defense.

“(North Little Rock defensive coordinator) Coach (Larry) Standley has been coaching a long time and he said this is the best group of defensive kids that he has coached,” Bolding said. “That says a lot.”

North Little Rock also has an explosive offense led by running back Tim Johnson (5-6, 145) and wide receiver Davonta Rich (6-0, 180). Bolding said Johnson has more than 1,200 yards rushing and more than 2,200 allpurpose yards. Rich is the top receiver, and like Johnson, has 4.5 speed.

“They are both gamechangers,” Bolding said. “It always helps when you have players that can run like that.”

James Kelly keys the offense at quarterback. North Little Rock will look to run first but Kelly has a strong arm and makes good decisions at the line of scrimmage and in the pocket.

“North Little is going to pound you, pound you with the run and then try and catch you sleeping and throw over the top of you,” Escalante said. “(Rich) can really go and he has good hands.”

“This is his first year to start but he is real smart, a 4.0 kid,” Bolding said of his quarterback.

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