Malvern unveils super soph Reed

MALVERN -- Malvern sophomore Amari Reed touched the football six times Friday night, and he showed he knew what to do when he got his hands on it.

Reed, playing mostly junior varsity the first two weeks, led Malvern to a 34-17 victory over visiting Hot Springs Lakeside with 145 yards from scrimmage and 2 touchdowns.

The Leopards (2-1) led 21-10 at halftime despite being outgained 229-97 by turning three turnovers into 14 points. Teshaun Hart intercepted Lakeside's first pass and returned it to the Rams' 20-yard line, setting up Reed's first touchdown run on the next play.

Lakeside (1-2) scored on a 30-yard field goal by Grant Gaston, but Reed got loose on Malvern's next drive with a 36-yard sweep. That set up a 13-yard touchdown sweep by classmate Devin Shaw, putting the Leopards up 14-3.

Lakeside put together a drive that took up the rest of the opening quarter, capped by Clint Smedley's 5-yard touchdown run with six seconds left. But the Rams fumbled on their next drive, and Shaw returned it to the 7 before Trace Collie's lone first-half completion went 17 yards to Derek Womack for a touchdown on third-and-long.

Collie rushed for a 31-yard touchdown on Malvern's opening drive of the second half for a 28-10 lead. Collie finished with 69 yards on 8 carries; he completed 5 of 13 passes for 59 yards.

Lakeside nearly converted Malvern's one turnover into a touchdown when Maurice Bradford scooped a Jack Henry Hill-caused fumble and went 70 yards, but the play was called back by a block-in-the-back penalty behind the ball and Lakeside got no points. The Rams mounted one second-half scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Smedley to Cody Cockrell to pull within 28-17 by the end of the third.

Cockrell had 8 catches for 85 yards and 1 touchdown.

The Rams finished the second half with 28 yards, and Reed punctuated the night with a 61-yard touchdown run on his final carry.

ARKADELPHIA 35,

HOT SPRINGS 13

HOT SPRINGS — Quarterback Jeff Blake ran for 207 yards and scored three touchdowns as Arkadelphia (3-0)pulled away from Hot Springs (0-3) in the third quarter of their nonconference game.

Blake scored on a 23-yard run on the first quarter and scored twice on sneaks in the decisive third quarter, when the Badgers took control with three touchdowns.

Hot Springs’ Anthony Goffigan threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Alex Tobar.

Sports on 09/20/2014

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