7A/6 A-CENTRAL: Gray shines as Northside nips Catholic

FORT SMITH — Fort Smith Northside couldn’t shake Little Rock Catholic, but the Grizzlies did enough to win.

Nortjhside took the lead late in the third quarter and never relinquished it, but needed 17 fourth-quarter points and an interception by Ty Knight with six seconds left to hold on for a 42-35 victory over the Rockets on Friday at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.

“That’s a good way to end it and to get us off the field,” Northside Coach Darrell Henry said. “That’s the best play in football, the victory play.”

Northside quarterback Gray Stanton accounted for 460 yards and 4 touchdowns. He rushed for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns on 29 carries and completed 23of 40 passes for 324 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Grizzlies went ahead 25-21 with 3:53 left in the third quarter on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Stanton to Savion Williams, who caught 5 passes for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Northside (2-6, 2-3 7A/6A-Central) preserved its lead with a 7-yard touchdown run by Stanton, a 34-yard field goal by Gustavo Hernandez and a 15-yard run by Nigel Spears in the fourth quarter. Spears finished with 67 yards rushing on 17 carries and 10 catches for 101 yards.

“We didn’t stop the run, and our offense couldn’t overcome that,” Rockets Coach David Estes said.

Catholic (1-7, 1-4), which led 21-17 at halftime, trimmed Northside’s lead to 35-28with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Zach Pinter to Grant Pool with 6:07 left in the game and closed the gap to 42-35 on a 12-yard run by DeAntre Brown with 2:03 remaining.

Pinter completed 20 of 38 passes for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns but threw 3 interceptions. The Rockets committed 4 turnovers, compared to 2 for the Grizzlies, and had 13 penalties for 100 yards.

“Penalties have killed us all year,” Estes said. “Shooting ourselves in the foot is going to hurt.”

Gabe Sopshire’s blocked punt for a safety early in the second half also gave Northside a boost, cutting the Rockets’ lead to 21-19.

“It was a great call by our defensive coordinator,” Henry said. “The kids did a great job executing what we’d worked on all week.”