CLASS 7A PLAYOFFS : Rebels grind away, take down Rockets
Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008
FORT SMITH — Little Rock Catholic appeared in good shape after holding Daniel McGee to 14 yards rushing in the first half.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, they still had two quarters left.
McGee broke free for two long touchdown runs in the second half to lead Fort Smith Southside to a 28-17 victory over Catholic in the second round of the Class 7 A state playoffs. The Rebels (9-2 ) advanced to the semifinals and will host Springdale Har-Ber, which defeated Cabot 21-17 on Friday.
Catholic trailed only 7-3 at halftime while holding Southside’s highly-touted running game to two sizable gains. The Rebels got rolling in the second half, and McGee led the way with touchdown runs of 43 and 57 yards. On both scores, McGee thrilled the home crowd with twisting, turning runs through the Catholic defense.
McGee finished with 182 yards rushing on 21 carries for Southside, which defeated Catholic for the second time this season.
“We played pretty good defense in the first half, but we couldn’t keep it up,” Catholic Coach Scooter Register said. “We knew McGee was a great back and we just couldn’t tackle him in the second half.”
Catholic (7-5 ) scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter after the outcome had been decided, but the Rockets missed two earlier scoring chances that could have made for a closer game.
Catholic fumbled at the Southside 1 in the first quarter and Evan Meyers recovered for the Rebels. In the third quarter, Paul Drake caught a 37-yard pass but fumbled while stretching for the goal line and Southside recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
Southside began slowly in the first half after receiving a firstround bye last week, but the Rebels dominated the second half, beginning with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Trent Welbern to Spencer Tooley. Two touchdown runs by McGee in the fourth quarter padded the Rebels’ lead to 28-3.
“Our offensive staff did a great job of making adjustments to get our running game going in the second half,” Southside Coach Jeff Williams said. “McGee had another great night, obviously. He doesn’t look smooth sometimes when he gets people one-on-one out in the open, but he gets it done.”
Three of Southside’s four first downs in the first half came on one drive to stake the Rebels to a 7-3 lead. Welbern started the drive with a 17-yard completion to Tooley. David Adair then ran for 36 yards before Anthony Warren followed with another 36-yard run for a touchdown.
Catholic then shut down Southside’s running game the rest of the half, limiting the Rebels to 24 yards and 32 passing. McGee took a screen pass for 20 yards on only his second catch of the year, but the Rockets again held on downs.
Southside had trouble containing quarterback Taylor Bartlett, but the Rockets managed only a 23-yard field goal by Andrew Naeyaert in the first half. Catholic was in Southside territory when David Norris dropped Thomas Gring for a 4-yard loss on third down. David Berry provided another big play when he sacked Bartlett for a 9-yard loss on Catholic’s next series.
Southside forced consecutive three-and-outs to begin the second half, and Tooley had a 24-yard touchdown catch to increase the Rebels’ lead to 14-3.
“Catholic does a lot of different things and I thought our defense played real well,” Williams said. “They’ve got some very talented receivers and a good quarterback, and our guys did a great job of tackling.”
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
