PEA RIDGE -- Even when things went bad for Malvern, it still turned out good Friday night.
Malvern receiver Derek Womack caught a pass over the middle on the final play of the first half and was headed to the end zone when he lost control of the ball, but teammate Devin Bradford alertly pounced on it for a touchdown as the first-half horn sounded.
It was that kind of night for the Leopards.
Malvern dominated both sides of the ball and unleashed a powerful running game en route to a 45-14 victory in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs at Blackhawk Stadium. The victory sends the Leopards into the third round, where they will face Clinton next week in Malvern.
"Our offensive line has done a great job all year," Malvern Coach Mike Scarbrough said. "Those four seniors have played well. We were a little banged up, but we're getting healthy. Those guys played a lot last year and they gave our backs some pretty good holes tonight"
Malvern running backs Montae Hernandez and Jamari McCollum took advantage of the running lane, tearing through the Pea Ridge defense for 163 and 155 yards respectively. McCollum also scored three touchdowns.
"Jamari, he's a little bowling ball," Scarbrough said. "He runs the ball so hard and he's hard to bring down. Hernanzez, he's a senior and had 1,700 yards last year. I'm so proud of him that he's not been jealous, because Jamari is getting some of the carries that Montae got last year. They do make each other better football players."
Malvern (9-3) scored on five of its six first-half possessions. The Leopards jumped out to a 17-0 lead and hammered the Blackhawks (10-1) over and over with McCollum and Hernandez.
"They put a lot of talent on the field," Pea Ridge Coach Tony Travis said. "Their running backs and receivers get a lot of publicity, and rightfully so, but those five guys up front are pretty dang good."
After Malvern opened the scoring with Elliot Coston's 25-yard field goal, the Leopards took advantage of a short Pea Ridge punt and drove 48 yards, capped by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Trace Collie to Keidric Dickens for a 10-0 lead with 4:19 left in the first quarter.
Malvern extended the lead to 17-0 on McCollum's 24-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. McCollum, 5-5, 199 pounds, showed some nimble feet on the run, leaving a Pea Ridge defender grasping at air on a spin move and racing in for the score.
"Those guys are very fast," Travis said. "You can't take a wrong step or you're going to miss them, and we missed them too many times tonight."
The Blackhawks got on the scoreboard after forcing a Malvern turnover when Thomas Lammey recovered a fumble near midfield. Seth Brumley's 24-yard quarterback keeper set up Shane Ivy's 1-yard touchdown run that cut Malvern's lead to 17-6 with 7:03 left in the first half.
The Leopards answered quickly, driving 65 yards in 11 plays -- all on the ground -- as McCollum capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run before the Leopards added an insurance touchdown on the recovered fumble.
Malvern's defensive plan was to take away the Blackhawks' run game, and the strategy worked. The Leopards had as many as nine players near the line of scrimmage.
"Our defensive staff had a good plan coming in and our kids bought into it," Scarbrough said. "We preached all week that this was going to be a physical game, and for us to win the football game we had to out-physical Pea Ridge on the line of scrimmage."
Ivy had 25 carries for 93 yards and scored both Pea Ridge touchdowns.
Collie, who had more than 2,000 passing yards coming into the game, finished 10 of 16 for 138 yards with 1 touchdown.
CLINTON 21, DOLLARWAY 20
PINE BLUFF — Fielder Dufrene threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Kurt Weaver with 2:37 left to give Clinton (9-3) a second-round Class 4A playoff victory over Pine Bluff Dollarway. Dufrene’s touchdown pass capped a frantic 14-point comeback by the Yellowjackets in the fourth quarter.
After Keshawn Williams had given Dollarway a 20-6 lead with a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:30 left, Dufrene caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Kannon Bradley on a reverse-pass with 7:01 left. The Yellowjackets won it on their next possession.
Dufrene also tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Lester.
Dollarway (9-3) got a 90-yard touchdown run from Markell Scott in the third quarter.
ARKADELPHIA 7, GOSNELL 6
GOSNELL — Alex Buckley’s touchdown run in the third quarter lifted Arkadelphia (9-3) past host Gosnell (9-2-1) in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Buckley scored on a 5-yard run with 8:20 to go in the third quarter for the game’s first score, and Wriley Cooper’s extra-point kick proved to be a game winner.
Gosnell scored on a 2-yard run by Carlos Blackman with 7:40 left in the game, but the extra-point conversion attempt failed. Blackman rushed 20 times for 87 yards.
MENA 34, STAR CITY 24
MENA — Sage Kesterson completed 15 of 19 passes for 272 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Mena (10-2) past Star City (8-4) in a second-round playoff game.
Kesterson threw touchdown passes to Jackson Daugherty, Justin Caston and Brady Davis.
Daugherty also ran for two touchdowns, on runs of 2 and 8 yards, and Eric Esteban kicked a 33-yard field goal. Star City got two touchdowns from Tye Brown and one from Dajunn Harris.
Sports on 11/22/2014