Little Rock Catholic defense pitches shutout in second half to get past West Memphis

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Tommy Land 

LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock Catholic Rockets pitched a shutout in the second half in a 37-16 victory over West Memphis. 

The ninth-ranked Rockets (5-0, 4-0 6A-East Conference) outscored the Blue Devils (4-1, 3-1) 23-0 by holding West Memphis to 2 first downs and 1 total yard in offense and recovered a fumble. (West Memphis lost 31 yards when a bad snap on punt resulted in a safety). On offense, the Rockets scored on three of their four possessions and had nine of their 20 first downs in the second half. 

“There wasn’t a whole lot of adjustments,” said Catholic head coach John Fogleman. “We did some things we hadn’t planned on like the quarterback runs on the opening drive.”

West Memphis head coach Robert Hooks said, “They came out and got after us. We missed a lot of tackles, and we turned the ball over and once they got on top of us, we started to get our heads down.”

Trailing 16-14 at halftime, the Rockets opened the second half with a 12-play, 77-yard drive that saw quarterback Sam Sanders handle the ball for eight plays (3-of-4 passes for 18 yards and 4 rushes for 26 yards), which ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Keeton on a swing pass at the 6:19 mark. Will Aaron’s extra point was good and the Rockets were up 21-16.

For the game, Sanders had 74 yards rushing and scored 2 touchdowns. He completed 10-of-17 passes for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“Sam’s a baller,” said Fogleman. “He’s a competitor. He doesn’t like to lose. He does a good job leading.”

After both teams exchanged punts, West Memphis’ Jarrell Shephard fumbled on an end around and Cole Eichler recovered at the Rockets’ 32-yard line with 1:23 left in the third quarter. Nine plays later, with the ball on the West Memphis 3, Sanders took the snap, started to his left and cut back for a touchdown with 7:10 left in the game. Aaron’s extra point made it 28-16.

Four plays later with West Memphis lining up to punt from its 31, a bad snap forced Shephard to chase the ball into the end zone where he tossed it out of the end zone for a safety making it 30-16 with 4:56 to play.

The Rockets kept the ball for nine plays before Sanders threw a 28-yard strike to Brooks Ward with 55 seconds left on third and 12 to ice the game. Aaron’s kick made it 37-16.

For the game, Catholic had 323 yards in total offense. Ward caught 4 passes for 103 yards and 2 touchdowns. West Memphis had 226 yards was led by Keland Mills, who had 68 yards rushing on 15 carries and completed 6-of-20 passes for 121 yards. Dylan Greer caught 2 passes for 90 yards including a 40-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

“He wasn’t quite as comfortable,” said Fogleman on his team’s defensive effort against Mills in the second half. “In the first half, he got to sit back there and make those throws.”

West Memphis opened with a 3-0 lead at the 8:01 mark of the first quarter when Edgar Gudino made a 28-yards field goal.

After both teams punted, Sanders connected on a 21-yards pass to Ward at the 2:58 mark of the first quarter to put the Rockets’ ahead 7-3 after Aaron made the extra point.

After a West Memphis punt, Sanders scored from a yard out at the end of the quarter. Aaron’s kick was good and the Rockets were up 14-3.

West Memphis closed to 14-10 on a 40-yard pass from Mills to Greer at the 9:27 mark and Gudino’s kick.

Gudino added field goals of 31 and 30 yards to put the Blue Devils ahead 16-14 at halftime.

Hooks was less than thrilled with what he saw in the second half.

“I’m very disappointed because we looked like losers in the second half with a lot of bickering and guys trying to do other people’s jobs instead of their own,” said Hooks. “It’s one thing to lose but we didn’t lose the right way.”