Little Rock Central registered some significant sack time in Friday's 37-14 nonconference victory over Bentonville West.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD: Full results + recaps, photos and more]
Senior Marlo Thompson scored two touchdowns, Jason Ronnel kicked three field goals and the Tigers defense came up with eight sacks in a game that Central (2-0) turned into a rout midway through the third quarter at Quigley-Cox Stadium.
"We thought we might be able to get a few sacks," Central Coach Ellis Register said. "Our defense is really quick. I thought our defense provided the turning point in the second half."
Friday's victory was No. 800 for Central, which has been playing football since 1904.
Bentonville West (0-2) was playing its second game ever.
West finished with 140 total yards, but 125 of that came in the opening quarter. The Wolverines were held to a negative 7 yards rushing and negative 14 yards in the final two quarters. West was forced to punt 10 times.
"You can make excuses all you want," Bentonville West Coach Bryan Pratt said. "We had a chance. We made some plays. If you look at the first quarter, we won the first quarter. We were playing good, but then we didn't make the plays we needed to make. You can put them in the right spot, but if they don't man up and make the plays, you're going to be in a tough situation."
Bentonville West sophomore Jadon Jackson turned in an impressive first quarter.
Jackson intercepted Central quarterback's Jacob Howard first pass and caught a 25-yard scoring pass from Will Jarrett with 1:20 left in the first quarter to give the Wolverines a 7-3 advantage.
Jackson finished with seven catches for 89 yards, 75 of which came in the first quarter.
"I thought he played really well," Pratt said. "He's our guy. We want to get the ball in his hands."
Central's defense turned up the pressure in the final three quarters, with senior defensive lineman Malik Allen involved in at least four of the Tigers' eight sacks.
The Tigers scored on their final three possessions of the first half and took the lead for good when senior Terrance Jones took a screen pass from Howard for a 63-yard touchdown down the right sideline. The two-play drive gave Central a 10-7 lead with 8:31 left in the second quarter.
Senior Corlan Taylor capped a 46-yard, eight-play drive with a 3-yard run at the 3:23 mark. Ronnel booted a 45-yard field goal with :08 left in the half. The senior kicker also hit from 20 and 34.
Thompson scored on two long plays in the third quarter, running in from the 36 with 5:16 left and returning a punt 55 yards with 1:29 left.
Central was up 37-7 and drove inside the West 10 when Wolverines junior linebacker Sebastian Caniglia collected a loose ball and ran 92 yards for the game's final score.
Central finished with 408 total yards, getting 248 yards on the ground and 160 yards through the air.
But the Tigers turned the ball over four times for the second consecutive week.
"We got to work on that," Register said. "It concerns me a lot because it's contagious. Turnovers are contagious. ... You can't have turnovers in big ballgames."
Sports on 09/10/2016