Little Rock Catholic is still alive for the final playoff spot in the 7A-Central Conference, thanks to sophomore running back Samy Johnson.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]
Johnson rushed for 357 yards and 5 touchdowns on 21 carries in the Rockets' 70-56 victory over Little Rock Central on Thursday night at Quigley Stadium.
"We needed every yard and every point," Catholic Coach John Fogleman said.
The Rockets (3-7, 2-5) need Fort Smith Southside to lose to Fort Smith Northside today to advance to the Class 7A playoffs. Catholic defeated Southside 45-28 on Oct. 21 at War Memorial Stadium. Either Catholic or Southside will be the No. 6 seed from the 7A-Central in the Class 7A playoffs and will play at the No. 3 seed from the 7A-West Conference on Nov. 11.
A playoff game for the Rockets, Fogleman said, would be beneficial considering the team's youth and the way they've played over the past five weeks since a 41-27 loss to Bryant on Sept. 29.
"You get another week of practice," Fogleman said. "You get the experience of having a trip in a playoff game. You get to play a team in the West. The older guys played Southside last year in the playoffs, Northside the year before that and Har-Ber the year before that.
"You get to the playoffs, it's a one-game season."
Meanwhile, Johnson, who has rushed for 1,772 yards and 18 touchdowns this season, was the difference for the Rockets. Johnson had scoring runs of 57, 21, 75, 3 and 84 yards. He also caught four passes for 32 yards.
Catholic led 35-0 with 11:55 left in the second quarter. Senior Orlando Henley returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, then Johnson had touchdown runs of 57, 21 and 75 yards later in the quarter to make it 28-0. Junior Luke Schildknecht had a 5-yard run on the Rockets' first play of the second quarter to make it 35-0.
Central pulled within 35-21 by halftime, but Johnson's 3-yard run with 29 seconds left in the third quarter made it 42-28.
Catholic extended its lead to 56-35 with 9:36 left on senior quarterback Taylor Price's 19-yard pass to junior tight end Adam Shepherd. But the Tigers responded with Josh Cole's 50-yard touchdown pass to Kivi Murry that cut the lead to 56-42 with 8:36 remaining.
The Rockets pushed the lead to 70-42 with 1:41 left on Price's 32-yard pass to Shepherd and Johnson's 84-yard run, which he tight-roped the Catholic sideline to the end zone.
Schildknecht rushed for 74 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries. Price passed for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns while Shepherd caught 6 passes for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Central (3-7, 0-7) was led by Cole, who replaced starting quarterback Jacob Howard (turf toe) in the second quarter. Cole passed for 324 yards and 3 touchdowns. Murry led the Tigers' receivers with 6 receptions for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Tigers started 3-0 this season, but went winless in the 7A-Central. While they attempted to come back in the final three quarters, a 35-point deficit was too much for the Tigers to overcome, Coach Ellis "Scooter" Register said.
"It was like 28-0 before we took a breath," Register said. "It was hard to recover from that."
Sports on 11/04/2016