By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LITTLE ROCK -- Osceola's run defense forced East Poinsett County to abandon its ground game last Friday, so Brandon Fortenberry started throwing the football around.
The senior quarterback guided the Warriors (5-3, 3-2 3AAA) to a crucial 40-32 victory over Osceola on Friday by throwing for 521 yards and five touchdowns while completing 25 of 50 passes. East Poinsett's victory, its third straight, almost wraps up a playoff berth.
Fortenberry is the youngest son of former Forrest City football and basketball coach John Fortenberry, who now coaches at Paris High School.
''It was a big game for us to win because we want to get back to the playoffs,'' Fortenberry said.
Fortenberry, The Associated Press High School Player of the Week, rushed for a 3-yard touchdown to put the Warriors up for good with 11:17 left in the game. Osceola held first-year coach Mark Courtney's EPC offense to six rushing yards for the game.
''As good as Osceola was, we had no hope running the ball,'' Courtney said. ''We ran the ball about 20 times, but we had no luck against them."
Fortenberry's previous best game was a 240-yard performance and he averaged 26 passes a game before last week. The three-year starter, who now has 2,011 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, gave all the credit to his teammates.
"The 240-yard game was great, but Friday was by far the best game of his career," John Fortenberry said of his son. "I'm very proud of his accomplishments this season."
Courtney put the game on Fortenberry's arm and in the hands of receivers Marcus Monk and P.J. Lacy. Monk, who towers over defenders with is 6-foot-6 frame, caught 14 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns, while Lacy gained 152 yards and scored two touchdowns on seven receptions.
''Marcus made the greatest high school catch I've ever seen on Friday,'' Courtney said. ''Brandon threw a fade route and when the cornerback stopped, Marcus jumped over him without touching him to catch the ball.''
Monk, a junior, passed the 1,000-yard mark and now has 53 receptions for 1,006 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also has five rushing touchdowns, while Lacy has 31 catches for 676 yards and nine touchdowns.
''We were just trying to get the ball into our athletes' hands, our receivers, and let them do the work,'' Fortenberry said. ''They caught the ball and did the rest. The line and running backs also did a great job blocking.''
Courtney said his running backs, Marc Smith and Jeohn Johnson, don't run often enough because of Fortenberry's arm, but they pass protect as well as linemen Bradley Vickers, Jared Wyatt, Johnny Gomez, Jeremy Knapp and Eric Evans.
EPC can seal its playoff spot with a win this week at Trumann (5-3, 3-2) or in the final game against Piggott (0-7, 0-5).
*Earl Young, Searcy, scored four touchdowns and gained 168 yards on 16 carries, plus an interception in a 37-27 win over Jonesboro.
*Kyle Payne, West Memphis, rushed for 189 yards on 15 carries and scored twice in 39-0 victory against Mountain Home.
*Chris Vaughn, Barton, threw two TD passes, ran for a touchdown and had a 75-yard interception return in 54-0 win over Marvell.
CROSS COUNTRY
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- At the first-ever AAAAA-East Conference Cross Country Meet Monday, the two-year-old Forrest City Lady Mustang team finished fourth.
The event, which drew teams from five of the eight conference schools, was held at Cabot's Rolling Hills Country Club in a steady drizzle.
In Cross Country, it takes five people to make a complete team but runners can participate as individual entrys.
Like golf, the lowest individual scores (finish placement) becomes the winning scores after each individual place finish are added together. The perfect score would be 15 points, a 1-2-3-4-5 finish.
The girls run a designated 2 1/2 mile course while the boys run a 3-mile course.
Mountain Home won both the girls and boys events as well as taking the individual honors.
The Mountain Home Lady Bombers finished 1,2,3 to tally 25 points for the win while the Cabot Lady Panthers finished second with 38 points and the Searcy Lady Lions finished third with 80 points. Forrest City's five Lady Mustangs was fourth with 140 points.
Tasha Batt led the quintet with a 23rd place finish while Krystal Long ran 27th and Leigh Anna Taylor was 28th. Betsy Stone ran 30th while Randal Ross, in only her second meet of the season, finished 32nd.
Forrest City was the youngest team of the five schools represented.
"Everyone else has been running cross country for several years," said Forrest City Coach Lewis Etheridge. "We are only in our second season, but we have made some progress."
Etheridge said, based on talking with other schools, the Forrest City program "is about where it needs to be right now."
Usually, Etheridge said, it takes from 3-to-5 years to establish a cross country program.
"We ran more meets this year than we did a year ago and the kids have done well," Etheridge said. "We have two freshmen and three sophomores on the girls' team and if we can keep them together we should be a very good team in a year or two."
Forrest City had only two boys running cross country this year -- Kyle Ervin and Ricky Beard.
Monday, Ervin finished 24th while Beard failed to finish the race due to severe leg cramps.
Mountain Home took the boys' individual honors while Cabot placed second.
Forrest City will run at the overall state cross country meet on Saturday, Nov. 9, at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, which will feature all classifications state-wide.
The boys will run at 9:30 a.m. and the girls will run at 10 a.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Hughes Junior Blue Devils will play for the 3AA Conference title tonight.
On Friday, the senior Blue Devils will take another step toward that same goal.
In a rare Tuesday junior high football game, the Junior Blue Devils will host unbeaten Marked Tree beginning at 7 p.m.
The Junior Indians are 7-0 for the year while the Junior Blue Devils are 7-1.
The winner takes it all.
Hughes is coming off a 30-0 win over Turrell a week ago.
Marked Tree shut down the Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots in the second half last Thursday to stay unbeaten.
On Thursday, the Forrest City Blue Mustangs will host Wynne in their season-ending game while the White Mustangs will travel to Blytheville.
The Blue Mustangs finished third in the AAAAA-East.
On Friday, Forrest City makes the trip to Mountain Home, while Hughes will host Turrell.
The senior Blue Devils are 7-1 for the year and unbeaten in the 3AA Conference along with Marked Tree.
The two will meet on Nov. 8, at Marked Tree in the conference championship-deciding game.
Palestine-Wheatley will host Marked Tree as the school celebrates its annual Senior Night.
Kickoff for the high school games is 7:30 p.m.
* LOCAL SPORTS
MEN'S FALL SOFTBALL
Monday's Scores
Gym 2000 20, M&T Paving 5
Young Guns 10, Morgan 8
Section 8 Youth 23, Wynne 7
Barnes Timber 24, Marion 1
CO-ED SOFTBALL
Tuesday, October 29
Wynne Cinema vs Butler Building, 7 p.m.
Boar's Head vs T Rodgers Const., 8 p.m.
YOUTH FLAG FOOTBALL
Monday's Scores
Vikings 12, Bears 0
Lions 18, Tigers 6
JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL
Tuesday, October 29
Marked Tree at Hughes, 7 p.m.
Thursday, October 31
Salem at Palestine-Wheatley
Wynne at FCity Blue
FCity White at Blytheville
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Friday, October 28
AAAAA-East Conference
Forrest City at Mountain Home
Searcy at Blytheville
Cabot at Jonesboro
West Memphis at Jacksonville
3AA Conference
Marked Tree at Palestine-Wheatley
Turrell at Hughes
Rector at Parkin
Salem at Earle
Walnut Ridge at Cross County