FARMINGTON -- Greenbrier quarterback Harold Ross completed 24 of 27 passes for 236 yards through three quarters Friday night, but that didn't stop Coach Randy Tribble from pulling Ross in the fourth quarter with the Panthers trailing by a touchdown.
Instead, junior receiver Carter Burcham lined up in the Shotgun formation at the Panthers' 32 and immediately flipped the field for Greenbrier (3-2, 2-0) with consecutive runs of 11 and 34 yards, the latter a sideline-to-sideline, tackle-breaking scramble to the Farmington 23.
"Ross wasn't hurt," Tribble said. "It was just something we wanted to do. They can do different things, and we thought we identified an opportunity to run on their weakside so we took a chance.
"Burcham made some big plays quickly, so we kept going with it."
Cody Hopper scored on a 14-yard run three plays later, and the extra point from Ethan Hall gave Greenbrier its first lead of the game with just more than nine minutes remaining and never relinquished it.
Farmington (2-3, 3-0) running back Justice Hobbs ran for 209 yards on 30 carries, but facing third and 2 on the ensuing drive the Cardinals attempted to pass that fell incomplete.
Farmington punted, and thanks to a great roll the punt traveled 57 yards to the Greenbrier 14.
The Cardinals forced the Panthers into a third-and-6 play and had a chance to get the ball back in good field position, but Ross -- who passed for 308 yards -- threw a deep pass to Alex Massey down the right sideline for a 72-yard gain to the Farmington 10.
"They were playing soft coverage early, but they started to play their corners up tight so we wanted to take a shot," Tribble said. "Ross can really throw the ball."
Greenbrier scored two plays later on a pass from Burcham to Denton King to push the lead to eight points.
Hobbs began Farmington's last-chance drive with a 6-yard carry, but that was the last time he touched the ball. The Cardinals nearly hit a big completion on third and 7, but Brice Waggle's pass to Trenton McChristian went off his fingertips and fell incomplete.
Greenbrier took the ball back soon after and ran out the clock.
MORRILTON 38, VILONIA 17
MORRILTON — Graham Heidenreich returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown and caught two touchdown passes as Morrilton (3-2, 1-1) won a 5A-West game over Vilonia (3-2, 1-1).
Oshae Erby rushed 21 times for 150 yards for Morrilton.
Heidenreich had three receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns, including one for 54 yards.
MAUMELLE 41,
CLARKSVILLE 26
CLARKSVILLE — Jacob Acklin scored three times and Maumelle rushed 44 times for 264 yards as the Hornets downed Clarksville for their first 5A-West victory of the season. Acklin scored on runs of 6, 69 and 48 yards for Maumelle (2-3, 1-1). For Clarksville (1-4, 0-2), Mason Schucker completed 21 of 39 passes for 257 yards and 3 touchdowns with 2 interceptions.
Touchdowns by Acklin and Sean Adams gave the Hornets a 13-7 edge at halftime.
Acklin scored on his 69-yard run to give Maumelle a 20-7 edge, only to watch the Panthers tie the score 20-20 on a 65-yard pass from Schucker to Billy Lindsey and a 6-yard run by Jason White.
A 48-yard run from Acklin and two touchdown passes from Cameron Porras, who was 11 of 16 for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns, which gave Maumelle a lead the Hornets would not relinquish.
Sports on 10/03/2015