By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs scored 35 of their 49 points in the second quarter on the way to a 49-14 whipping of the Mountain Home Bombers Friday in AAAAA-East Conference football action at Sam Smith Stadium.
They played most of the second half under the league's "mercy rule" in which the game clock run continuously after a team takes a 35-point lead.
Forrest City improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference and greatly improved their chances at making the postseason cut -- provided they can defeat West Memphis in Thursday's conference final.
Mountain Home falls to 1-8 and 1-5 and is officially eliminated from postseason contention.
The Bombers will close out their season by hosting the Searcy Lions Friday.
Should the Mustangs defeat West Memphis (4-2) and Searcy (3-3) defeats Mountain Home, it would create a three-way tie with the Mustangs for the third and fourth playoff spots from the AAAAA-East. Cabot and Jonesboro have already locked up playoff berths.
In the case of a three-way tie, the two teams with the most points (based on 13 points awarded for each conference victory by 13 points or more) would go head-to-head for the two playoff berths.
That would be Forrest City and West Memphis. And a win over West Memphis would put the Mustangs in the playoffs wearing the league's third seed.
Friday night, Mountain Home got out of the blocks quicker that the Mustangs, forcing a turnover on downs and fumbles that were recovered by Evan VanDolah and Tyson Belk.
Belk's 34-yard touchdown run with 2:26 to play and Trakker Young's PAT kick put the Bombers up 7-0.
It stayed that way to start the second quarter.
Forrest City recovered a fumbled Mountain Home snap at its own 41 and then drove 59 yards on eight plays to tie the contest at 7-7 when Mustang quarterback Ben Horton scored on a 1-yard keeper. John Scott Carroll's PAT kick knotted the game.
Terrance Ware's 34-yard scamper with 6:55 left in the quarter and Carroll's kick broke the tie, putting the Mustangs in front 14-7. From that point, things went from bad to worse for the Bombers.
After being pinned at their own 2-yard line on the kickoff, a bad pitch on the option was recovered in the Bomber's end zone by Forrest City for a touchdown. The kick made it 21-7.
Mountain Home tried to stay in the contest on the strength of a 79-yard touchdown run by VanDolah on the option keeper. Young's kick made it 21-14.
That was as close as the Bombers would get as fullback Andrew Embry raced 62-yards for a touchdown and a 27-14 cushion.
Another Mountain Home fumble led to the Mustangs' next score when Sinclair scored and Embry added the 2-point conversion for a 35-14 halftime lead.
Forrest City iced its win and reached the mercy rule with two big scoring runs in the third quarter. Embry scored his second touchdown on a 45-yard run and Tae Chism put the Mustangs final score on the board with a 46-yard score.
With the JV Mustang team on the field, Forrest City had a chance to add another touchdown late after driving to the Mountain Home 6-yard line, led by the running of Michael Rollins.
Rather than running up the score, the Mustangs chose to take a knee.
"There was nothing to gain in adding another seven points onto the scoreboard," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis. "Mountain Home was already beaten, physically and mentally. Our kids understood that."
Forrest City had 404 yards of total offense while the Bombers managed 197.
The Mustangs racked up 385 yards rushing on 40 attempts and were 1-of-1 passing for 18 yards.
Embry led the Mustangs offense with 146 yards on six carries and scored twice while Ware carried nine times for 85 yards and one touchdown. Chism added 72 yards on five carries and a touchdown while Sinclair added a touchdown and finished with 36 yards. Rollins had 26 yards on four carries in the fourth.
Should the Mustangs finish third headed into the playoffs, they would play at either Fort Smith Southside or Fayetteville in a first-round matchup.
Finishing fourth would put the Mustangs at Quigley Stadium for a first-round playoff game against Little Rock Central.
Thursday night's game against West Memphis kicks off at 7:30 p.m., at Sam Smith Stadium.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MARKED TREE -- Palestine-Wheatley wasn't exactly given the red carpet treatment Friday at Marked Tree when the Patriots had four touchdowns called back on four consecutive plays late in their 43-14 win over the Indians.
Four times, the Patriots scored on short runs and four times they were whistled for penalties that negated the touchdowns.
Good thing the Patriots had a big lead which wasn't in jeopardy.
The victory over Marked Tree leaves the Patriots locked in a three-way tie for the 3AA Conference lead with Hughes and Cross County.
All three teams are 7-1 in he league and all three teams have locked up a Class AA playoff berth. All that remains to be decided is the seeding.
Hughes defeated Turrell Friday 49-12 while Cross County downed Walnut Ridge 36-9.
Earle, Salem and Marked Tree are locked in a three-way battle for the league's fourth playoff spot.
Rashun Barnes got the Patriots rolling Friday with a 46-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter and added the two-point play for an 8-0 lead. he then made it 14-0 on a 66-yard scoring run midway through the period.
Antonio Leak's three-yard scoring run in the second quarter and the two point play by his brother, Fred, pushed the P-W lead to 22-0.
Fred Leak added a 15-yard TD run in the third and Johnathan Wheeler's two-point pass to Brad Barton left it 30-0 Patriots.
Marked Tree avoided the shutout with a touchdown late in the third before the Patriots would add two more scores -- a three-yard run by Barton and the PAT kick by Antonio Leak and a one-yard touchdown run by freshman back Ricky Thorn.
Barton led the Patriots with 150 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown while Barnes finished with 77 yards on three carries and another 70 yards receiving and two touchdowns.
Barnes has 748 rushing yards for the season but topped the 1,000 all-purpose yard plateau against the Indians.
*Two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter iced Cross County's 36-9 win over Walnut Ridge in high school football action Friday night.
Kendole Boykin scored the Thunderbirds' first touchdown with 5:17 left in the first quarter on a 17-yard run as Cross County led 6-0. Both teams scored twice in the second quarter as Cross County led 22-9 at halftime. In the second quarter, Walnut Ridge scored on a 22-yard field goal by Adam Lassiter and a 10-yard run by Shae Bellah. Cross County's Aaron Bowles scored the Thunderbirds first touchdown of the half and Rolandas Hill added a 7-yard run with 51 seconds left in the half. Bowles added both two-point conversion runs.
Bowles scored on a 26-yard run with 6:42 left in the game and Robby Morlock added a 10-yard score with 3:17 left to cap the game's final scoring. Bowles led Cross County (7-2, 7-1 3AA-North) with 165 yards on 13 carries.
Walnut Ridge (3-6, 3-5) was led by Jeremy George with 27 yards on seven carries.
As a team, Cross County held Walnut Ridge to under 70 yards rushing.
*The Hughes Blue Devils continued their quest toward the Class AA playoffs by handing Turrell a 49-12 whipping Friday.
The Blue Devils, 7-2 overall and tied with Palestine-Wheatley and Cross County for the 3AA Conference lead, will close out the regular season Friday when they host Marked Tree.
A year ago, the Blue Devils' only conference loss came against the Indians on the final playing date.
Should Hughes end in a three-way tie, the Blue Devils will more than likely carry the No. 2 seed into the playoffs -- the same as a year ago, when the team reached the quarterfinals of the playoffs.