Duo strikes early, often

Kyron Sanders' first pass Friday night wasn't a sign of things to come.

Sanders threw for four touchdowns -- all in the first half and three of them to fellow senior Joe Hampton -- as unbeaten Little Rock Christian defeated Vilonia 40-23 in a 5A-West Conference game at Warrior Field.

Friday's final was largely deceiving. The Warriors (6-0, 3-0) led 40-0 at the half.

"I told our boys I was really, really proud of the first half and the way we played," Little Rock Christian Coach Jeff Weaver said. "I just wish it would have been cleaner in the second half, but you know what? It's homecoming. We're getting everybody in the game. Those guys need to play too. We just need to clean it up a little."

Sanders and Hampton cleaned house in the first quarter, connecting on TD passes of 60, 34 and 56 yards in the game's first 6:24 as the Warriors raced out to a 20-0 advantage.

It was the only three passes Hampton caught, but they went for a combined 150 yards.

"Joe was outstanding," said Sanders, who was 7 of 14 for 215 yards. "Coach always tells him to run, and I just put it in his vicinity. He's going to make plays. That's what I did tonight. I put it up for him to go make plays."

Sanders admitted there was some miscommunication on the Warriors' first pass. On the Warriors' first play, Hampton raced down the left sideline but stopped. Sanders threw the ball 20 yards beyond Hampton, and Vilonia almost came away with an interception.

"[Hampton] decided to shut his route down," Weaver said. "We basically told Joe, 'We don't ever want you to shut the route down.' "

Three plays later with only 59 seconds off the clock, Hampton got behind Vilonia's secondary for a 60-yard TD reception and Little Rock Christian was never threatened the rest of the way.

Hampton and Sanders hooked up for the second time with 8:21 left in the first quarter and again at the 5:38 mark.

"[Hampton] had a big night for us in the first half," said Weaver, whose team has outscored its opponents 304-97 this season. "He can really, really run and stretch the field.

"We're hard to defend. We've got a bunch of guys all across the field who can run and make plays."

Little Rock Christian put away the game by scoring 20 more points in the final 4:54 of the first half.

Sanders tossed a 22-yard TD pass to junior Henley Bland. Senior Isaiah Harper added a 34-yard scoring run, and senior strong safety Jack Lee returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown with 1:43 left in the half to cap the Warriors' scoring.

Senior Damarea Crockett did not score but led all ball carriers with 99 yards on nine carries.

Vilonia (3-3, 1-2) managed 330 total yards and made more first downs than Little Rock Christian, 19-12, but the Eagles did not score until the opening minutes of the second half.

Josh Greer's 53-yard run set up a 1-yard scoring run by quarterback Luke Gordon, who completed 18 of 32 passes for 154 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Vilonia tacked on a safety and two touchdowns by Michael Morris, who caught a 15-yard TD from reserve quarterback Jeremy Kendall and returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown.

Cameron Broach led the Eagles in receiving, catching five passes for 59 yards.

Little Rock Christian finished with 532 yards of offense, 375 of which came through the passing game.

5A-SOUTH

HOPE 55, WATSON CHAPEL 49

HOPE — Austin Stubber’s touchdown reception late in the game sealed the victory for Hope (5-1, 3-0) as it outlasted Watson Chapel (2-4, 2-1) in a 5A-South Conference matchup.

Andrew Washington and McTelvin Agim also scored for Hope.

Sports on 10/10/2015

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