West Memphis dominates, proves Class 6A bona fides

West Memphis running back Rodney Doby (right) tries to elude a Little Rock Central defender Tuesday during the Blue Devils’ 35-0 victory over the Tigers at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. For more photos, visit arkansasonline.com/galleries.
West Memphis running back Rodney Doby (right) tries to elude a Little Rock Central defender Tuesday during the Blue Devils’ 35-0 victory over the Tigers at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. For more photos, visit arkansasonline.com/galleries.

West Memphis exerted itself against Little Rock Central on Tuesday night.

The Blue Devils shut out the Tigers 35-0 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, piling up 468 yards in the process.

Junior quarterback Owens McConnell completed 14 of 25 passes for 198 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown.

"We knew he could do it," West Memphis Coach Billy Elmore said. "He sat behind Michael Troxler last year. Having him come through the way he did, he needed that confidence boost. He hit some good balls for us, and the receivers made some plays."

Senior running back Latavian Thomas finished with 136 yards on 17 carries. Classmates Devin Olloway, Jimmie Phillips and Jatavius Tucker each caught a touchdown pass for the Blue Devils, who led 14-0 at halftime.

West Memphis (1-0), the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's No. 4 team in Class 6A, advanced to the Class 6A semifinals last season, losing at eventual state champion Greenwood. In his fifth season at the Crittenden County school, Elmore believes his program is among the best in Class 6A.

"You look at 6A football in general and there's certain teams who have a chance to win it every year," Elmore said. "I think we're in that mix now. We've established ourselves there. It comes down to who plays well on any given night.

"We're where we want to be, but we have to take that next step. We got beat by the obvious best team in the state last year. My philosophy as a head coach is to win the big one. Our kids buy into that."

It was a rocky start for first-year Little Rock Central Coach Kent Laster's team. The Tigers (0-1) struggled to move the ball, finishing with 141 yards.

"Put the film on, learn from every play," said Laster, who was hired in April to replace the retired Ellis "Scooter" Register. "We made a lot of mistakes. We need to clean it up. Even from just having to call timeouts because of not lining up."

Rodney Doby, a senior, scored from a yard out to give West Memphis a 6-0 lead with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter. Murphy Arnett's point-after attempt failed.

West Memphis forced a Central three-and-out, then went 61 yards in 11 plays to score its second touchdown.

McConnell's 24-yard pass to Olloway set up McConnell's 1-yard touchdown run with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter. Olloway caught a two-point conversion pass from McConnell to make it 14-0 West Memphis.

Central had an opportunity to get on the scoreboard late in the second quarter, but Gunn's pass as time expired in the half was intercepted by Olloway at the Blue Devils 4.

The Blue Devils extended their lead to 21-0 with 9:51 left in the third quarter as McConnell found a wide-open Olloway along the right sideline for a 39-yard touchdown.

With 5:05 remaining in the third quarter, McConnell picked up his second touchdown pass of the game, this one for 18 yards to Tucker to make it 28-0. McConnell's 53-yard touchdown pass to Phillips made it 35-0.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Little Rock Central’s Logan Haymon is tackled by West Memphis’ Allen Henry during Tuesday night’s game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Sports on 08/22/2018

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