North Little Rock is running back to the Class 7A state championship game.
Junior running back Brandon Thomas rushed for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns on 22 carries to lead the Charging Wildcats in a 48-17 rout of Bentonville West on Friday night at Charging Wildcat Stadium in North Little Rock.
Thomas sparked a North Little Rock running attack that finished with 488 yards. The 7A-Central Conference's No. 1 seed had 58 running plays and averaged 8.4 yards per carry.
"We don't mind being blue-collar. We don't mind being the not-cool offense," North Little Rock Coach Jamie Mitchell said. "Everybody wants to be Spread and throw it around. That's not us. We're committed to the run game, good, bad or ugly. We've won a bunch of games with it.
"Hopefully, we can get one more."
North Little Rock (12-0), which has won 25 consecutive games, will face 7A-Central rival Bryant in the state championship game at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The Charging Wildcats defeated Bryant 34-28 on Oct. 26 in the teams' first meeting in North Little Rock.
Of North Little Rock's 58 running plays Friday, none were bigger than a fourth-down play in a one-score situation.
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On fourth and 1 at its own 29 with 8:10 left in the second quarter and leading 21-14, North Little Rock turned to Thomas, who ran 71 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown, giving the Charging Wildcats a 28-14 advantage.
There was never any hesitation on Mitchell's part as to whether the Charging Wildcats were going to go for it.
"It's just what we do. We believe we can get a yard on anybody," Mitchell said. "Fortunately, it turned into a touchdown for us. We just wanted a first down. But we're built for those situations."
Bentonville West Coach Bryan Pratt praised North Little Rock's running game Friday.
"They're extremely physical," Pratt said. "Their running backs run unbelievably hard. We didn't do a very good job tackling."
North Little Rock took a 7-0 lead with 9:29 left in the first quarter on sophomore quarterback Kareame Cotton's 41-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Dennin Carroll.
The Wolverines responded, as senior quarterback Will Jarrett found senior wide receiver Tucker Swoboda for a 17-yard touchdown reception that tied the game at 7-7 with 7:53 left in the first quarter.
North Little Rock extended its lead to 21-7 with 2:14 left in the quarter with scoring runs of 39 yards by Thomas and 11 by senior fullback Tyler Day.
Bentonville West pulled within 21-14 with 10:22 left in the second quarter as Jarrett threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jadon Jackson on fourth and goal.
Senior Blake McDoulett's 29-yard field goal pulled the Wolverines within 28-17 with 3:26 left in the first half.
North Little Rock stretched its lead to 34-17 with 44 seconds before halftime on senior running back Oscar Adaway's 14-yard touchdown run.
In the second half, North Little Rock added a 6-yard touchdown run by Thomas and a 1-yard scoring run by Adaway.
Jarrett passed for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Wolverines.
Bentonville West (7-5) advanced to the state semifinals in its third season. The Wolverines defeated Conway last Friday in the Class 7A quarterfinals for their first playoff victory.
"For our senior class to go from not even having a school to a semifinal berth in three years is pretty special," Pratt said.
As for North Little Rock, it will be in its third consecutive state championship game. The Charging Wildcats defeated Bentonville in last year's title game, a year after losing to Fayetteville.
Mitchell believes this year's title game features the two best teams in Class 7A.
"It's a toss-up," said Mitchell of North Little Rock and Bryant.
"It's two really good football teams. It doesn't always work out this way. But I believe you've got the two best 7A teams playing."
Sports on 11/24/2018