FORT SMITH -- The defending Class 7A state champions looked the part Friday night at Mayo-Thompson Stadium.
North Little Rock got its running game going early and often and didn't look back after that in a 40-3 victory against Fort Smith Northside in a 7A-Central Conference matchup.
North Little Rock 40, Fort Smith Northside 3
North Little Rock 14 26 0 0 — 40
North 0 0 0 3 — 3
First Quarter
NLR — Cotton 1 run (Lee kick), 7:08
NLR — Day 5 run (Lee kick), 3:05
Second Quarter
NLR — Thomas 29 run (Lee kick), 10:12
NLR — Thomas 1 run (kick failed), 6:45
NLR — Adaway 3 run (pass failed), 3:14
NLR — Martin 15 pass from Cotton (Lee kick), :54
Fourth Quarter
North — FG Hernandez 24, 8:15
"We are playing pretty well right now," North Little Rock coach Jamie Mitchell said. "This was a team win. Northside is a good football team. This is a quality win because it isn't easy to come here and get a win."
Oscar Adaway, Brandon Thomas and Tyler Day set the tone on the ground for the Charging Wildcats, scoring four of the team's six first-half touchdowns.
"I've been coaching for 29 years," Mitchell said. "Thomas, Day and Adaway are three of the best I've ever had. And to have them all at one time, it is just amazing. But without the offensive front, they couldn't make these plays. We played well upfront."
Adaway finished with six carries for 94 yards with a touchdown. Thomas added 88 yards on the ground with two scores on 10 carries, while Day had 58 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown.
North Little Rock (8-0, 5-0) was able to jump out to a big 40-0 lead heading into the break with an explosive second quarter on offense.
Thomas scored the initial two touchdowns of the quarter from 29 and 1 yards away to take a 27-0 lead after a failed extra-point kick.
Adaway then used a 3-yard touchdown to push the lead out to 33-0 after a failed two-point conversion pass.
North Little Rock quarterback Kareame Cotton found senior tight end Andrew Martin for a score to close out the first-half scoring. The 18-yard touchdown pass extended the lead out to 40-0 with 54 seconds left before the break.
"They are a good football team, and they do a good job," Northside coach Mike Falleur said. "But I'm disappointed in the way we played. They had something to do with that. But we didn't do the basic things right."
Northside (5-3, 2-3) was limited to four first downs and 39 offensive yards on 24 first-half plays. North Little Rock had 347 offensive yards on 39 plays before the break.
"I thought our defense set the tone for us," Mitchell said. "We got some short fields and some three-and-outs. I'm proud of that side of the ball."
North Little Rock took advantage of two Northside fumbles and turned both of those into scoring drives.
The Grizzlies' best opportunity to score in the first half was after an interception by Elijah Tabut. That set up a drive at the opposing 40 after a 30-yard interception return. But Northside fumbled the ball on the initial play of the possession early in the first quarter.
"You can't do that against a good team," Falleur said. "We know that. We just got to go back to work. We have two big games in front of us still."
After throwing the interception on the opening drive, North Little Rock was able to score touchdowns on its next six drives of the first half.
The Charging Wildcats were able to jump out to a 14-0 advantage in the initial quarter of the game with a 1-yard touchdown from Cotton and a 5-yard run from Day.
Northside was able to put points on the board on its ninth drive of the game in the fourth quarter when Henry Hernandez kicked a 24-yard field goal.
Northside was led by quarterback Derrick Wise, who finished with 13 carries for 73 yards on the ground for the Grizzlies.
"We hang our hat on stopping the run and running the football," Mitchell said. "It is tough to hold back Wise because he is a good athlete. But I thought we played physical and really attacked the line of scrimmage."
Sports on 10/20/2018