PINE BLUFF - North Little Rock scored two touchdowns in the game’s first five minutes and coasted to a 35-14 victory over Pine Bluff on Friday night.
The Charging Wildcats still might have come away with a loss, though.
Senior running back Juan Day ran for first-quarter touchdowns of 14 and 3 yards before he took a handoff up the middle later in the quarter, was swarmed by a group of Pine Bluff defenders and went down. Day, who has orally committed to Arkansas, was on the field for a brief time before being helped off while not putting weight on his left leg.
Soon after, Day was helped into the locker room, where he remained for the rest of North Little Rock Coach Brad Bolding’s victory over his older brother, Pine Bluff Coach Bobby Bolding.
Brad Bolding said afterward that Day’s knee was twisted in the pile, but that he wouldn’t know the severity of the injury until a magnetic resonance imaging is performed.
“He’ll be the first priority when we can get him in. It’ll either be [today] or Monday,” Brad Bolding said. “We all hate it. Any kind of injury to any player out there, but a high-profile kid like that can sometimes bring your kids down, but I thought our group rallied really well.”
While playing through a steady rain, the game was already in hand for North Little Rock (2-1) by the time Day was lost, thanks to two Pine Bluff miscues that gave the Charging Wildcats a short field on their first two drives.
North Little Rock forced a punt following Pine Bluff’s first possession, but the snap slipped through the hands of punter Austin McGehee. He picked it up and tried to run before being tackled at the Pine Bluff 21.
Day then needed two plays to get into the end zone, with his 14-yard run giving North Little Rock a 7-0 lead.
On Pine Bluff’s next possession, sophomore quarterback Ladarius Skelton was flushed from the pocket and threw a pass that was tipped and then intercepted by North Little Rock’s George Brown at the Pine Bluff 34.
Pine Bluff held on third-and-goal from the 6, but an offsides penalty while North Little Rock was lining up for a field goal put the ball at the 3 and Day ran it in to put North Little Rock up 14-0.
On Pine Bluff’s next possession, McGehee got the punt off fine, but K.J. Hill returned it 79 yards to put North Little Rock up 21-0 eight minutes into the game.
NO. 4 FAYETTEVILLE 27, MUSKOGEE (OKLA.) 22
MUSKOGEE, Okla. - Tailback Brayden Cook ran for 140 yards and 1 touchdown on 28 carries as Fayetteville (3-0) held off a late charge by Muskogee (0-3).
Cook scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter as the Bulldogs built a 27-7 lead, but Muskogee scored twice in a 55-second span in the fourth quarter.
Muskogee drove into Fayetteville territory with less than three minutes to play, but Fayetteville’s defense forced Muskogee to punt with two minutes left.
Fayetteville quarterback Mitch Marshall threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Blake Power.
NO. 10 CAMDEN FV 32, WARREN 7
WARREN - Senior quarterback Matthew Ollison completed 12 of 18 passes for 164 yards and 3 touchdowns as Camden Fairview beat Warren. It was the 17th consecutive victory for the Cardinals (3-0), who won last year’s Class 5A state title.
Ollison threw touchdown passes of 21 and 13 yards to senior utility back Deion Holliman and 29 yards to Damarea Crockett. Ollison also ran 13 yards for a touchdown.
Fairview led 18-7 at halftime.
The Lumberjacks (0-3) were within 12-7 on a 31-yard touchdown run by junior back Darveon Brown in the first quarter.
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/21/2013