By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE -- The Forrest City Mustangs did everything right Friday night at Jacksonville.
Forrest City threw the ball only four times Friday night, but a good passing game wasn't necessary as the Mustangs rushed for 341 yards in a 27-7 AAAAA-East victory over host Jacksonville at Jan Crow Stadium.
Mired in an 0-3 conference start, the Mustangs have now won two straight league games to climb back into the postseason hunt.
The win puts the Mustangs into a three-way tie for third place in the standings with Jacksonville and Searcy. The Mustangs could get into the playoffs by winning out. They close out the season at home with Mountain Home Friday and West Memphis on Nov. 7, in the annual Cotton Bale game.
"We started strong and finished strong," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis.
It was just Forrest City's third win at Jacksonville in the past 13 years. The Mustangs won at Jacksonville in 1991 and 1997.
Forrest City (4-4, 2-3) ran the ball 57 times, with nine different players contributing to the ground game.
Three of the nine backs ran for more than 70 yards each.
Andrew Embry finished with 77 yards on seven carries, including a 48-yard run on the Mustangs' first possession to cap a 66-yard, three-minute drive and help Forrest City take a 7-0 lead with 8:57 to play in the opening quarter.
Tae Chism, who had 75 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, added a five-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds left in the first quarter, on Forrest City's next possession, finishing a 12-play drive that followed a Jacksonville punt.
"I really felt after Chism's touchdown and we went up 14-0, that whatever wind Jacksonville had, they lost," Willis said. "They've been struggling lately and I thought jumping on them early was the chance we needed."
Chevelle Wilson made it a 20-0 cushion with 4:54 left in the third quarter when he scored on a reverse play, converting a second and 21 into the touchdown run from 26 yards out.
Chism's second touchdown came on Forrest City's final, and longest, drive.
Leading 20-0, the Mustangs covered 99 yards in 12 plays with Chism scoring from the Jacksonville one-yard line with 3:17 left in the game.
Jacksonville's Bretrick Miles returned the kickoff 95 yards for the Red Devils' only points.
The Red Devils (4-4, 2-3) finished with 148 total yards of offense and turned the ball over three times, including two by Miles.
One of the turnovers came after Jacksonville had moved to the Mustangs one-yard line following a fumbled punt by Forrest City in the second quarter.
Forrest City's Jeremy Holmes recovered a fumbled snap to keep the Mustangs ahead 14-0.
Following a second fumble recovery by Holmes, Forrest City pushed the lead to 20-0.
Wilson added an interception on Jacksonville's next possession, and Forrest City later stopped the Red Devils on fourth-and goal before starting its 99-yard drive.
Forrest City's David Machen had a touchdown-saving tackle in the fourth, stopping a Red Devil receiver at the three.
The Mustangs picked up 15 first downs compared to just six for the Red Devils.
"It was a solid effort for us and a game we needed to win," Willis said. "It puts us in a position to get into postseason but we need to focus on Mountain Home. They have been moving the ball well. We can't get ahead of ourselves. We have to take care of the business at hand."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Hughes Blue Devils got their 13 points in a win over Earle and the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots could have won with their ninth-graders Friday night.
Throw in Cross County's win over Salem, and nothing has changed in the 3AA Conference.
The Blue Devils, Patriots and Thunderbirds remain knotted in a three-way tie for first place as the league heads into the final two games of the season.
Hughes got their 13 points (awarded for each conference win by 13 points or more) in a 15-point win over Earle, a 33-18 final.
That keeps Hughes in the points standings lead with 78.
The Patriots hosted Parkin and the rout was on after only one play.
Palestine-Wheatley scored 13 touchdowns, using nine different players, added a safety and hit six point after attempts to dismantle Parkin 87-0.
Cross County continued their newfound momentum and secured a playoff berth with their 46-6 win over Salem.
At Hughes, Ayodele Ogunsakin ran for 270 yards and scored three touchdowns leading the Blue Devils (6-2, 6-1) past Earle.
Ogunsakin had third-quarter scoring runs of 80 and 90 yards.
The senior tailback averaged more than 16 yards per carry on 16 rushing attempts.
Andre Walker finished with 114 yards on 126 carries and scored on a 17-yard run.
Hughes led 13-0 at the half and 27-12 going into the final quarter.
Hughes' only conference loss came against Palestine-Wheatley.
At Palestine-Wheatley, the Patriots led 74-0 at the half but had only 93 yards of total offense.
Palestine-Wheatley's average start during the game came at the Parkin 20-yard line -- and many time, inside the five.
Parkin crossed midfield only twice in the game.
The Patriots rolled up 352 rushing yards to put the team well over 3,000 rushing yards for the season.
Brad Barton and Rashun Barnes led the scoring for the Patriots, as each scored twice. Barton, who needed just 60 rushing yards coming into the game to get to 1,000 yards for the year, finished with 88 yards on three carriers.
Barnes finished with 65 yards on two carriers.
Brothers Dustin and Douglas Taylor each scored touchdowns, Fred Leak ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown pass to his brother, Antonio Leak, Jonathan Wheeler scored while Ryan Halbert added a safety.
Orlando Bell, Brad Zamora and Adam Kennedy each scored touchdowns for the Patriots.
Parkin was held to a minus 105 yards of total offense.
Parkin, which resumed football in 2000, has been shut out six times this season and has only scored 14 total points in eight games.
The Tigers have been outscored 403-to-14.
The 87 points scored by the Patriots gives Palestine-Wheatley 366 points scored this season for an average of 45 points per game.
Cross County recorded its first homecoming victory in five years Friday night, as the Thunderbirds' defense forced seven Salem turnovers en route to a 46-6 win.
Running back Rolandis Hill started the scoring spree with touchdown runs of 5, 11 and 7 yards for an 18-0 Cross County lead.
Salem (4-4, 4-3) answered back with a 20-yard touchdown pass to slice the lead to 18-6, but on the next play from scrimmage, Cross County's Kendall Boykin dashed 52 yards into the end zone, also adding the conversion run for a 26-6 lead.
Still in the second quarter, CCHS quarterback Aaron Bowles bombed his only completion of the night to Kory Ward for a 68-yard TD pass. Hill again added the conversion run for a 34-6 Cross County lead.
With four minutes left before the halftime break, Boykin sprinted 24 yards for the touchdown, stretching the lead to 40-6.
After five fumble recoveries and an interception, the Thunderbirds' defense struck again to close out the evening's scoring, as Ward picked off a pass and dashed 35 yards for a touchdown.
Boykin paced Cross County's rushing attack with eight carries for 173 yards, while Hill added 56 yards on five carries. Bowles was 1-of-4 through the air for 68 yards and a TD.
Salem was held to 56 yards rushing and 122 passing by Cross County, which boosted its record to 6-2 overall, 6-1 in league play.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- At the first-ever AAAAA-East Conference Cross Country Meet one year ago, the Forrest City Lady Mustang team finished fourth.
Today, Forrest City has a chance at repeating that effort or bettering that effort when the conference members meet at Cabot's Rolling Hills Country Club.
In Cross Country, it takes five people to make a complete team but runners can participate as individual entries.
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, or 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.
Head coach Lewis Etheridge said the Mustang team hasn't been able to run that many meets this season, but says the team is about where he thought they would be when it comes to finishing times.
In only their third season, the Forrest City program has 10 runners -- eight girls and two boys.
Only one -- junior Krystal Long -- has been with the program since the beginning.
Freshmen Melanie Cook, Alyssa Aldridge, Keri Shepherd and Randi Gibson joined sophomores Randal Ross, Leigh Anna Taylor and junior Betsy Stone.
Sophomores Zack Jones and Thomas Broussard are both first-timers to the cross country team.
The conference meet began at approximately 3:30 p.m. today.
"I'm sticking with my original goal, to finish in the top 15 at the state meet this year," Etheridge said. "Everyone else in the conference has been running cross country for several years. We are only in our third season, but we have made a lot of 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.
The Forrest City Mustang Junior Varsity football team will try to close out the season undefeated tonight.
The JV Mustangs (4-0-1) travel to Jonesboro for their season-ending game against the JV Hurricane squad.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
Forrest City owns JV victories over Wynne, Brinkley, West Memphis and has a tie against Wynne.
"We have a good group of sophomores and juniors," Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis said. "They've worked and played hard all season."
The Forrest City youth flag football league will be in action tonight at the Sports Complex on Field 8, beginning at 6 p.m., when the Bears take on the Tigers.