By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LITTLE ROCK -- Friday night at Comet Stadium in Little Rock, it was Little Rock Mills playing the role of giant killers and not the Forrest City Mustangs.
For the second straight year, Mills put away the Mustangs, who entered the game in a tie for first in the league standings.
Last year at Sam Smith, the Comets won 27-21. Friday, it was 14-6.
For as good as Forrest City played in the 21-20 win over Jonesboro the week before, they played equally as badly against Mills in the AAAAA-East loss.
The bleeding started on the opening kickoff which bounced off a Mustang player and was recovered by Alex Neville to give Mills a first down at the Mustangs' 39.
Four plays later, the Comets scored from four yards out. They missed the point after try but led 6-0 with 10:39 showing in the first quarter.
The Mustangs answered on the next possession going 74 yards to tie the game at 6-6 when senior quarterback Justin Edwards connected with Jesse Ballard for a 29-yard scoring strike with 6:24 left in the period. The extra point attempt failed.
Senior fullback Theodis Haggins carried on the first six plays of the drive and had 41 of the 74 yards.
The Mustangs had a chance to take the lead late in the second quarter, but Mills' Ivory Houston intercepted Edwards' pass in the endzone on the last play of the first half to preserve the 6-6 tie at the break.
Houston would later catch another pass, this time a nine-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter. The Comets tacked on the two-point conversion and led 14-6.
The Mustangs had the football for only four offensive plays in the third quarter which netted only 10 yards. Mills ran 20 offensive plays in the quarter.
Forrest City's last gasp try at points ended late in the fourth when Edwards' fourth and four pass fell incomplete from the Mills 29-yard line.
Haggins led the Mustangs with 71 yards on 15 carries while Farod Jackson led Mills with 133 yards on 21 carries.
Forrest City slips to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference with Cabot coming to town Friday night.
Mills improves to 2-3 for the year and 1-1 in the league.
Ray Dixon led the Mustangs with seven tackles and had 15 yards on four carries.
The Mustangs finished with 204 total offensive yards (92 on the ground and 112 through the air) while Mills finished with 254 total yards, 226 of that coming on the ground.
Friday marked the final conference matchup between the two schools.
Mills, along with Sylvan Hills, is dropping down to Class AAAA after this season and out of the AAAAA-east.
It is expected that the East conference will pick up Searcy and Mountain Home as replacements.
In four meetings since 1998, Forrest City is 2-2 against the Comets.
The Mustangs won in 1998 and 1999 while Mills has won the last two conference games.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Palestine-Wheatley had three backs with 100-plus yards Friday night in a 35-0 home win over Walnut Ridge in 3AA Conference play.
The Patriots are off to their best start (4-1) since the 1997 season.
Ray Gardner led the Patriots with 144 yards on 11 carries and scored twice. Brandon Roberts had 127 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown and Chris Siler had 107 yards on eight carries.
Gardner also led the Patriots with 10 tackles while Michael Thomas had two interceptions in the second half.
Teddy Matthews got the Patriots rolling with an interception return for a touchdown in the opening quarter.
P-W quarterback Clyde Kennedy added to the 8-0 lead with a five-yard scamper early in the second period for a 14-0 lead.
Gardner's first score came late in the second quarter which, coupled with the two-point conversion, put the Patriots in front 22-0 at he half.
"We still have a lot to work on, even though we just took a 35-0 win," said P-W Coach Terry Farmer. "If the playoffs started this week, we would be in trouble. The kids have practiced hard and played hard, but we're still making far too many mistakes on the field."
Quinton Mason had a touchdown run called back in the third quarter following a Walnut Ridge fumble, but Gardner got the points back when he ran 46 yards with 26 seconds left in the period to put the Patriots in front 28-0. Roberts made it 35-0 with a touchdown run with 4:07 left in the game.
Palestine-Wheatley, Earle and Marked Tree are all 2-0 in the conference.
P-W and Marked Tree will play Friday night at Patriot Stadium.
Hughes 20, Lonoke 14
Hughes started slowly against the Lonoke Jackrabbits Friday night at Blue Devil Stadium, but finished strong, picking up a 20-14 6AAA conference win.
Hughes looked as if they would take the early lead after a big run by Andre Walker to the Lonoke 19 early in the first period.
A penalty brought the play back and the Blue Devils ended the possession by punting.
Neither team scored in the first period.
Robert Davis ran for two touchdowns, a one-yarder and a 55-yarder while Jermaine Davis added a 40-yard touchdown run for the Blue Devils.
Hughes improves to 3-2 for the year and stands at 1-1 in the league.
Lonoke slips to 3-2 for the year and 0-1 in the conference.
Hughes has an open date this week.
* PREP FOOTBALL
High School
Friday's Scores
AAAAA-East
LR Mills 14, Forrest City 6
Cabot 28, West Memphis 21 OT
Sylvan Hills 21, Blytheville 8
Jacksonville 14, Jonesboro 0
6AAA Conference
Dumas 49, DeWitt 20
Hughes 20, Lonoke 14
PB Dollarway 55, England 0
3AA Conference
Earle 18, Cross County 0
Marked Tree 42, Salem 7
Palestine-Wheatley 35, Walnut Ridge 0
Rector 38, Parkin 16
Nonconference
Hayti, Mo., 34, Turrell 6
AAAAA-East Conference Conf. O/all
Cabot 2-0 4-1
Sylvan Hills 2-0 3-2
Forrest City 1-1 3-2
Jacksonville 1-1 2-3
LR Mills 1-1 2-3
West Memphis 1-1 2-3
Jonesboro 0-2 2-3
Blytheville 0-2 0-5
Friday, October 5
Cabot at Forrest City
Blytheville at Jacksonville
Jonesboro at Sylvan Hills
LR Mills at West Memphis
6AAA Conference Conf. O/all
PB Dollarway 2-0 4-1
Brinkley 1-0 4-1
England 1-1 3-2
Hughes 1-1 3-2
Dumas 1-1 1-4
Lonoke 0-1 3-2
DeWitt 0-2 1-4
Friday, October 5
Dumas at Brinkley
PB Dollarway at DeWitt
England at Lonoke
Hughes - Open
3AA Conference Conf. O/all
Palestine-Wheatley 2-0 4-1
Earle 2-0 3-2
Marked Tree 2-0 2-3
Walnut Ridge 1-1 2-3
Rector 1-1 1-3
Salem 0-2 1-4
Cross County 0-2 0-4
Parkin 0-2 0-5
Friday, October 5
Marked Tree at Palestine-Wheatley
Cross County at Rector
Parkin at Earle
Salem at Walnut Ridge
* CITY LEAGUES
Men's Adult Softball
Monday, October 1
Miller Insurance vs SSA, 6 p.m.
Barnes Timber vs Boar's Head, 7 p.m.
M&T Paving vs Young Guns, 8 p.m.
Youth Flag Football
Monday, October 1
Lions vs Vikings, 6 p.m.
Tigers vs Bears, 7 p.m.
Indians vs Razorbacks, 8 p.m.