LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 43, ROGERS HERITAGE 15
ROGERS — Little Rock Central used a fast start to pick up the first victory of the Kent Laster era Friday night.
The Tigers (1-1) jumped outtoa21-0leadenroutetoa 43-15 victory over Rogers Heritage behind the two-quarterback system of sophomore Lawson Gunn and senior Demarcus Yancy.
Central rolled up more than 500 yards of total offense, and Yancy rushed for three touchdowns out of the Wildcat formation. Gunn threw for 193 yards and a score.
Laster was pleased with plenty of things he saw after his team was shut out in a season-opening loss to West Memphis. But he also said his team must clean up some second-half mistakes.
“We’ve been using both quarterbacks,” Laster said. “We do have a two-quarterback system. I think both of them have qualities that can help us either running or throwing. They can do a little of both. We’ve just gotta keep mixing it up.
“We had explosive plays, which we really didn’t have in week one. We’ve just got to continue to get more explosive plays in the passing game and running the ball. That last turnover, the quarterback just didn’t see the ball off the snap, just not being real sharp at the end. We had the ball at the goal-line and didn’t put it in. That was another score possibly.”
Central scored on its first three possessions with a mix of runs and passes.
Yancy finished off a pair of drives with short touchdown runs sandwiched around Gunn’s 63-yard scoring strike to junior Antoine Westbrook.
Gunn’s long touchdown pass came after the Tigers’ defense held on fourth and 5, tackling Heritage running back Brett Lemmond for a 6-yard loss.
Heritage (0-2) got on the board on a safety when the Tigers snapped the ball over the punter’s head and out of the end zone midway through the second quarter. The War Eagles then took advantage of a short field thanks to the free kick and scored their first touchdown of the season on quarterback Zach Brown’s 1-yard keeper to get within 21-8. The try for two points failed.
But Central added two more first-half scores to lead 36-8 at halftime.
[HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Click here for more scores, recaps and photos]