Arkansas Razorbacks commits Grayson Wilson, Marcus Wimberly put on show in 4A-4 clash

And more notes from around Arkansas high school footall

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Football fans who came to Simmons Bank Stadium at Mustang Mountain focused on two future Arkansas Razorbacks and were not disappointed. 

In a game won by Central Arkansas Christian (3-0) 50-45 over Bauxite (1-2), CAC junior quarterback Grayson Wilson, a Hogs commit, completed 31-of-44 passes for 374 yards and 6 touchdowns and ran for 89 yards on 10 carries with 1 touchdown. 

“I was confident in our offense in going down the field,” said first-year CAC head coach Ryan Howard. “They knew we could do it. He bounced back from last week where he made a bunch of mistakes and made some great decisions tonight. He’s a tough, tough dude. He made the right reads, ran hard. We’re going to go as well as he goes.” 

Bauxite’s Marcus Wimberly who is also a junior, lined up at wide receiver and running back, caught 6 passes for 80 yards and caught a touchdown. He rushed 10 times for 77 yards and had a 37-yard run that set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Perry to Tony Fox in the second quarter. With his team down 42-39 in the fourth quarter, he threw a 52-yard touchdown pass off a double pass to Fox with 5:33 left that put the Miners up 45-42.

CAC's Grayson Wilson (Photo by Tommy Land)

“Marcus is a fantastic football player,” said Bauxite head coach Caleb Perry. “He’s a coach on the field and he plays every possession. We try to rely on him as much as we can. He was a little sick in the first half. He went in and came back fresh in the second half. Obviously, you have to take care of Marcus when he’s on the field. He can score a touchdown at any moment.”

However, in the end, it was Wilson, who made the last scoring play. Facing third and goal from the 1, Wilson, who was under pressure, flipped the ball to Tyler Blakely for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:28 left. He completed thew two-point conversion to Jackson Hampton to make it 50-45.

Given that Bauxite used a trick play to take the lead, Howard was pleased with the way his team rebounded, especially when it forced Bauxite to turn the ball over on downs at the CAC 45 with 16 seconds left.

“Defensively, coming off a trick play on fourth down, they kept their heads up,” said Howard. “We just did our job and went to the right spot and when you do that you’re going to make plays.”

"Both players were proud of the way their teams played and feel better days are ahead," Wimberly said. 

“We got a lot of great guys around us. All I can do is play to the best of my abilities. Grayson said their game plan was around me. He played his tail off. It was a tough game. We went in knowing it was going to be a tough game. We came in and played our tails off and that’s all we can ask for.”

Bauxite's Marcus Wimberly (Photo by Tommy Land)

Wilson, whose team is now undefeated after having a losing season last year, was pumped. 

“It’s real exciting. Every week we go in thinking we’re 0-0 with something to prove. We try to play our best for the Lord and put him first. Last year we were really young. We’re building good chemistry together and have a good future,” he said.

--Jeff Halpern 

Little Rock Christian rebounds from loss

Little Rock Christian had a night to forget last week against Shiloh Christian, but had a short memory and bounced back strong to defeat Lake Hamilton 42-14 in Thursday’s kickoff game for Week 2.

The Warriors were up 35-0 early in the third quarter that enforced the sportsmanship rule before the Wolves were able to put any points on the board. The win was especially crucial because, unlike last year, the Warriors start off 6A-West play 1-0 as opposed to last season when the Wolves bested them.

Head coach Eric Cohu knew his team would face some challenges on the defensive line, but he did not foresee Shiloh Christian rushing for over 400 yards. With a major emphasis on that unit playing against Lake Hamiliton’s Wing T offense, the Warriors played with four down linemen as opposed to their standard three front.

“We lost all of our d-linemen from last year so we knew that was an issue and Shiloh exposed that,” Cohu said. “We had to revamp everything, but the plus with Lake Hamilton is we knew what they were going to do because we had two weeks of film.

“Against Wing T and flexbone teams it is just a different game and Lake Hamilton does a great job with their Wing T, so we had to adjust. The main thing is our defense stayed focused this week and they really wanted to redeem themselves.”

The most notable move was adding three–year starting offensive lineman Andrew Lord to the defensive line rotation, along with freshman Skeet Boshears, who also starts on the offensive front. Another freshman, D.J. Williams, was moved up from the junior high team, but broke his arm early in the summer and finally had the opportunity to play an extensive amount of snaps Thursday night.

“We really do not like to use offensive lineman on both sides, but that worked out for us,” Cohu said. “Now that we have D.J. back we have some potential answers, but we have to take it week-by-week.”

Senior Zach Jordan was another that Cohu mentioned has stepped up after previously contributing at linebacker.

“We have such a great linebacking corps so we moved him to d-line because of our shortage there,” Cohu said. “He is undersized, but he plays hard and has already been through the fire pretty quick by seeing Benton (in the benefit game), Shiloh and Lake Hamilton.”

Offensively, the Warriors executed much better in the passing game. Against Shiloh Christian, senior quarterback Walker White looked pretty good throwing the ball, but just did not appear to be on the same page as his receivers as he completed just 15 of his 35 passes.

There were some stalled drives at the beginning of Thursday’s game, but everything went right after White connected with Cade Bowman for a 52-yard score late in the first half. White hooked up with Bowman once more in the third quarter to put the Warriors up 35-0 and enforce the mercy rule. White ended the night 13-of-22 for 320 yards and four total touchdowns.

“We missed some things at first, but we did not get panicky,” Cohu said. “One thing that we are trying to convince the whole team is that we have got to be able to play from behind and through adversity.

“You are never going to execute 100 percent, you are never going to be ahead every game and so it is key that we stay poised and focused on the game plan.”

--Kyle Sutherland 

Rogers QB Williams shakes off injury to torch Farmington

Although Rogers was able to get the outcome they expected Friday night, it didn’t come without a few hiccups and a brief scary moment when starting quarterback Dane Williams came hobbling off the field in the second quarter.

The Class 7A Mounties (3-0) overcame 13 penalties that accounted for 128 yards, but still managed to rack up 432 yards of total offense in a 38-3 win over Class 5A Farmington (1-2) at Cardinal Stadium.

The Rogers sideline held its collective breath when Williams took a shot in the second quarter but has able to make his way to the sideline. He sat out one possession, as starting wide receiver Jeff Regan was moved to quarterback.

“When Dane gets hurt, we don’t just lose him, but we lose one of our receivers – our backup quarterback is one of our better receivers – so it’s kind of like a two-fold deal there,” Rogers Head Coach Chad Harbison said.

Rogers QB Dane Williams passed for more than 300 yards Friday night. (Photo by Steve Andrews)

But with the Mounties up just 7-3, Williams returned on the next drive and immediately hit Regan on a 42-yard bomb, which seemed to turn around the momentum of the entire game. He then hit Braxton Lindsey on a 25-yard connection, before following that with another 11-yard strike to Lindsey, who made a diving catch in the end zone.

“When I got hurt, it was more of just like a shock thing, but I knew I could still move on it,” said Williams, who has been dealing with some soreness to his patella tendon. “I know my guys count on me, as much as I count of them, so I knew I just had to get back out there.”

Williams finished the game with 289 yards through the air on 11 of 18 completion, with three touchdowns.

After starting at safety his sophomore season, Williams switched over to offense last season and has progressively become on of the better quarterbacks in the 7A-West. His old defensive mentality likely helped him battle through some of the pain Friday night.

“I’m just real proud of Dane, because he was playing with some pain, man,” Harbison said. “He sucked it up right there and came back in the game and made some really good throws at key times. And when you’re not 100 percent, it changes the timing and changes some things out there.

“He’s a warrior, he didn’t want to come out of the game. It’s always great to have your quarterback also be one of your toughest players.”

Been dealing with some knee injuries in the past with his patella tendon.

I think Coach Harb has really just helped me in the offseason, just really learning how to prepare for each game. That’s really helped a lot.

When we are healthy, I don’t think anyone is beating us. Right now, I still think we can put it on anyone.