Zebras running roughshod into semifinal

— The only difference between the first Pine Bluff-Benton meeting and the second were the stakes.

Two weeks after Pine Bluff closed the regular season with a rout of its 7A/6A-South Conference foe, the Zebras scored on six consecutive first-half possessions, and again three plays into the second half, to work up another blowout, this time a 63-7 victory over Benton (4-8) in the second round of the 6A playoffs at Jordan Stadium.

The victory followed the Zebras’ 57-0 victory over Little Rock Hall in last week’s first-round, and a 42-6 victory over Benton on Nov. 1, and sends them to the 6A semifinals next week against Jonesboro.

“They’re a much better football team than we are,” Benton Coach Scott Neathery said. “That’s the bottom line. They just lined up and whooped us.”

Pine Bluff (11-1) did so with an array of backs who rushed for 380 yards, and a bigger and quicker defense that engulfed Benton’s Wallace Foote, who rushed for 453 yards and 6 touchdowns in a playoff victory over Russellville last week.

Foote, who had 1,791 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns before Friday, had 36 yards on 12 carries against Pine Bluff two weeks ago.

Friday, while lining up at quarterback, running back and receiver, he was held to 5 yards on 6 carries, all in the first half, and he caught one pass for 7 yards and completed 2 of 5 passes for 27 yards.

Neathery said Foote had so few carries partly because his offense was on the field so rarely. The Panthers’ first seven possessions ended without them gaining a first down and at halftime they had just 62 total yards. They finished with 154 yards.

“We just didn’t have very many plays,” Neathery said. “They just took it to us, and we didn’t block. You’ve got to show up to compete, and I don’t feel like we competed very well.”

Walter Ashley gained all of his 129 yards rushing on 13 carries with 2 touchdowns in the first half, while Trever Hunt rushed for 61 yards and 2 first-half touchdowns.

Eight different Zebras had runs of 14 yards or more and five different players scored rushing touchdowns.

“I was pleased with our run-game tonight,” Pine Bluff Coach Bobby Bolding said. “We’ve been a little bit inconsistent lately. I thought we did a good job. ... I thought our offensive line did a good job. We were more physical.”

It didn’t take long to show it, either.

Pine Bluff punted on its first possession, but then Rickey Clements threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Paris Mack, Hunt scored on a 1-yard run and Ashley scored on runs of 28 and 4 yards to go up 28-0 midway through the second quarter.

Clements added a 27-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw and Hunt scored from 20 yards out with 1:59 to go in the second quarter and the Zebras led 42-0 at halftime after piling up 266 yards of offense.

Meanwhile, Benton (4-8) struggled to go much of anywhere.

Pine Bluff heads to the playoff semifinals having beaten their last three opponents by a combined score of 162-13. Next week’s semifinal against Jonesboro in Pine Bluff is the Zebras’ only remaining hurdle to clear to get to its first state title game since 2009.

“We’re playing well right now,” Bolding said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence, we’re healthy, so we don’t have any excuses.”

Sports, Pages 25 on 11/17/2012

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