LR Central trips up Blue Devils

By Billy Woods

WM School District

A number of factors weighed heavily in West Memphis' 17-12 loss to Little Rock Central last Friday night at Hamilton-Shultz Field.

First, the Blue Devil coaching staff saw it on video all week and prepared for it, but Central's defense loaded up the box and brought five and sometimes six rushers and the West Memphis offense just couldn't pick it up.

The result?

Eight Blue Devil offensive plays went for lost yardage.

"We couldn't handle the pressure they were bringing on us," said Blue Devil head coach Billy Elmore. "Obviously we'll see that again this season. We'll have to make adjustments on it. We knew they did that. We just couldn't pick it up."

Second, the Blue Devil aerial game, which could have forced the Tigers to abandon the onslaught of rushers, was too inaccurate all night.

So much so that Elmore played three quarterbacks. Between starter Amaurius Stinnett, junior Michael Troxler and senior David Kohl, the quarterbacks combined to complete only 9 of 27 passes for 186 yards with two interceptions.

"Offensively, we just didn't do a good job of execution all night," Elmore added.

Finally, the game actually boiled down to a 14-point swing in the first quarter.

After Central's cannon-legged placekicker Jason Ronnel gave his team a 3-0 lead with a 42-yard field goal, the Blue Devils came charging back and were poised to take not only the lead, but control of the game.

Stinnett hit junior Steven Stone for a 66-yard pass that put the Blue Devils in business at the Tigers' 2.

But on the first play, senior running back Martavious Thomas and Stinnett couldn't make connection and Central's Marvin Ashford scooped up the fumble and ran 95 yards for a touchdown.

Instead of being up 7-3 at halftime, the Blue Devils (2-1) trailed 7-3.

"That's how it goes," Elmore said. "Obviously, we didn't execute that the way we wanted to. You'd think with the ball on the (2-yard line) first and goal we score a touchdown. But that was a 14-point swing. That was what really did us in."

All the while, however, the Blue Devil defense dug in deep and shut out the the Tiger offense. It allowed a mere 48 yards rushing at halftime and limited junior transfer quarterback Jacob Howard to only 74 passing yards.

"The defense played well," Elmore stated. "I liked the way we attacked and hit all night."

Adding further to the hole the Blue Devils found themselves in was an 80-yard touchdown drive by the Tigers to open the second half. It increased their margin to 17-0.

The Blue Devil defense, however, bailed out the offense when safety Anthony Hite intercepted a Howard pass and returned it 35 yards for a pick six with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

The PAT was blocked.

Central (3-0) and head coach Ellis "Scooter" Register gave the WM a gift in the fourth quarter when he gambled on fourth and one from his own 37 and 7:04 still to play.

Oscar Adaway was stopped at the line of scrimmage and the Blue Devils had themselves a short field, not to mention gained momentum.

"That was a bone-head call by the coach on fourth down," Register said. "That could have lost the game for us. (Blue Devil defensive coordinator) Butch Gray, who was my defensive coordinator when I was coach at El Dorado, knew what we were going to do. We should have punted."

Troxler found some rhythm with his throws on the most important possession of the night and he found Stone in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass with 5:25 to play.

Again, though, the Blue Devils were unsuccessful on the conversion, this time on a two-point attempt.

Hite, without a doubt the Blue Devils' MVP on defense, picked up a Central fumble and the hosts had one last shot at the Tigers with 44 seconds to play.

But on fourth down from near mid-field, Troxler lofted a pass, hoping for Jonathan Craig to run under it, but Central's Avont Harris intercepted to dash all West Memphis hopes.

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