LITTLE ROCK — Drenched and loud, the Little Rock Central crowd staked a claim as the Tigers lifted the Principals’ Trophy aloft after a 24-10 victory Friday night at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“This is,” the black-clad group bellowed, “our house!”
Little Rock Catholic might quibble with that, but not Friday in game where the Tigers got two touchdown runs from running back Malcolm Robinson and a sputtering Rockets offense was unable to muster momentum.
Central Coach Ellis Register said he was relieved to escape with a victory on a rainy night where play was stopped twice for lightning delays.
“We’re fortunate to just get out of here,” Register said.
The Tigers opened a 10-0 lead, but they couldn’t put away the young Rockets until Robinson, who rushed for 92 yards on 22 carries, scored from 4 yards out on a toss sweep with 3:06 left to go.
The drive, which consumed 5:18 and covered 80 yards in 10 plays, blunted Catholic’s momentum.
The Rockets, who had 205 yards of total offense, started a 74-yard scoring drive behind a 25-yard pass by quarterback Zac Pinter down the seam to tight end Aaron Hamaker at the Tigers 37.
Even as a heavy downpour started, Hamaker, who had 4 catches for 66 yards, made another grab for 9 yards. And running back D.J. Brown scored from 18 yards out the next play to pull Catholic within 17-10 and 8:24 left in the fourth quarter.
Then came the lightning, and a 15-minute delay. After both teams returned to the field, Central’s drive got a kick start when Logan Moragne, who rushed 6 times for 69 yards, ripped off a 56-yard run to the Rockets 4.
Robinson scored a play later.
“We got the ball and took a lot of time off the clock, and that was the key,” Register said. “Not letting them get the ball back was big.”
Two first-half gaffes by Catholic staked Central an early lead.
Catholic fullback Joe Mariani fumbled inside his own 10, setting Central up at the 7. Four plays later, quarterback Cooper Westbrook, who completed 10 of 14 passes for 142 yards, hit Erik Mason for a 3-yard touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead.
Late in the second quarter, linebacker Tim Quickel intercepted Pinter and returned the ball 10 yards to the Rockets 16, setting up a 28-yard field goal by Wesley Walls for a 10-0 lead with 46.6 seconds left until the half.
“You have two fairly evenly matched teams and we made too many mistakes,” Catholic Coach David Estes said. “They capitalized.”
A 41-yard kickoff return set Catholic up at the Tigers 40 to start the second half, but the Rockets settled for a 26-yard field goal by Barth Onyewkelu to close it to 10-3 at the 9:26 mark in the third quarter.
Central, which finished with 305 yards of total offense, took a 17-3 lead with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter on a 16-yard run up the middle by Robinson.
Sports, Pages 29 on 09/01/2012