By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Playing for the first time since the 2001 season, Forrest City took No. 6 ranked and undefeated Sylvan Hills to the brink Friday night at Sam Smith Stadium.
The Mustangs couldn't pick up the win but they did gain a lot of respect -- holding the Bears scoreless through four quarters to force overtime in the AAAAA-East Conference game.
Sylvan Hills opted to take the ball first in the overtime and scored on the third of four plays when Arthur Cooley bowled his way into the endzone from a yard out. Forrest City blocked the extra point kick but it didn't matter.
After being hit with a delay penalty before the first play and a holding call on the first play, Marcus Fair's second down pass was intercepted in the back of the endzone as the Forrest City quarterback was aiming for tight end LaCody Braddock.
That sealed the win.
It was Fair's second interception of the night.
The Bears improve to 7-0 for the year and 4-0 in the conference while the Mustangs slip to 2-5 and 1-3.
It was the first overtime game for Forrest City since the 1997 season when the Mustangs held off Jacksonville 20-17.
Sylvan Hills had their chances in regulation but missed two field goals and failed to score inside the five twice as the Mustangs put together a pair of goal-line defensive stands.
The Bears dodged three more bullets when they were able to recover three muffed center-to-quarterback exchanges.
The Mustangs managed just 80 total yards -- 65 rushing and 15 passing.
Sylvan Hills finished with 226 total yards -- 134 of that through the air and only 82 on the ground.
The Bears ran 10 more offensive plays than the Mustangs.
Hezekiah Smith led the Bears with 40 yards on five carries while Kaming Kareem added 30 yards on eight carries. Jerome Hart tacked on 24 rushing yards.
Sylvan Hills completed 13-of-18 passing attempts.
Fullback Ben Wright led the Mustangs with 31 rushing yards on five carries. Senior tailback Terrance Ware, the Mustangs' leading back this season, was held to just 21 rushing yards on 19 carries. Seven of those carries netted zero yards while seven carries netted minus yardage.
The Bears missed a 32-yard field goal with 3:41 to play in the first half and then missed a 42-yard effort early in the fourth quarter.
The first field goal attempt was set up when Sylvan Hills' T.J. Shelton recovered a Forrest City fumble at the Mustangs 27.
The Bears got close again late in the second quarter when they set up shop at the Forrest City 37 with 1:56 to play.
Moving to the Forrest City five on a 32-yard pass play from quarterback Ulysses Robinson to Kareem, the Bears took the ball to the Mustang one-yard line where Robinson fumbled on the fourth down play with 23 seconds left and Forrest City took over to end the scoring threat.
The Mustangs stopped the Bears with 4:13 to play in the game with another defensive stand near the goal.
The Mustangs missed a golden opportunity to score in regulation when Fair, looking to pass, failed to see his senior receiver John Scott Carroll, who was standing wide open at the goal line with 39 seconds to play in the game. Instead, Fair threw incomplete to the other side of the field.
Sylvan Hills' Kevin Hubbard intercepted the next pass and pitched back to Kareem with 19 seconds left.
The Bears took a knee to run out the clock to get to overtime.
The Mustangs will host Jacksonville Friday night.
In other AAAAA-East games played Friday, West Memphis defeated Jonesboro; Cabot downed Mountain Home and Jacksonville defeated Searcy.
BARTON -- Composer Don Henley once wrote, "In a New York minute everything can change."
At Barton Friday, it was more like 5:05, but in a heartbeat the Barton Bears went from holding a two touchdown lead to finding themselves in a 22-22 tie against the Hughes Blue Devils.
The Bears eventually lost 30-28 in overtime to the visiting Hughes Blue Devils. It was the second consecutive loss for the Bears, who fell to Palestine-Wheatley a week earlier 19-6.
If the 30-28 final sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Back in 1998, Hughes snapped Barton's 111 regular season national game winning streak with a 30-28 victory.
It appeared as though the Bears had the game safely tucked away when Nathan Young scored on a 21-yard run with 5:55 to play in the final quarter.
The Blue Devils had driven to the Barton 14 before a stubborn Bear defense forced Hughes to turn the ball over on downs.
The Bears' scoring march covered 86 yards and ran 7:05 off the game clock.
Forty-five seconds later, Blue Devils tailback Marcus Washington scampered 62 yards for a touchdown closing the gap to 22-14 following the successful two-point conversion run by quarterback Johnny Payton.
Lightning struck quickly.
With 3:46 to play the Bears fumbled the ball away and nose guard Cameron Jackson picked up the loose pigskin and carried it in from 11 yards out.
Payton hit Kerrick Scofield for the two-point conversion that knotted the game at 22-22.
With injured Barton running back Dannie Thomas on the sidelines and quarterback Chris Willis apparently playing at less than 100 percent, after being hit hard in the Palestine-Wheatley game, the Bears lacked the quick strike capability. They were eventually forced to punt the ball away.
Drew Haynes gave the Bears one last glimmer of hope in regulation when he picked off Payton's pass.
Barton opted to go first on defense and it took the Blue Devils just three plays to punch the ball in as Payton got the score on a quarterback sneak. Payton hit Clifton Smith for the two-point pass conversion which turned out to be the winning points.
Barton's Chad Coleman pulled the Bears to within two points when he bulled his way into the end zone from three yards out. Ryan Ishmael made a valiant effort on the two-point conversion but the Blue Devils stuffed the middle of the field and Ishmael's effort came up a yard short.
Barton scored the first two times their offense got their hands on the football. Willis scored on an 89-yard run on the Bears' first play from scrimmage. The two-point conversion failed.
The second score capped off a 92-yard drive that took 5:28 to complete. Ishmael pounded the ball in from three yards out.
Hughes scored their first of two fumble recovery touchdowns with 4:14 to play in the half. Washington ran the ball in from 11 yards out. Barton blocked the extra point try.
Barton led 14-6 at the half. The teams played a scoreless third quarter.
Hughes, 5-2 and 4-1, will host Des Arc Friday while Barton travels to Marvell.
*The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots totaled 625 offensive yards Friday in a 44-13 win over Des Arc.
The Patriots, ranked third in Class AA, improved to 6-1 for the year and 6-0 in the 6AA Conference.
The 6-1 overall mark equals the team's best-ever season start from a year ago and the 6-0 conference mark betters last year's record at this point in the year. Through seven games last year, the Patriots were 6-1 and 5-1.
Friday's win over Des Arc has the Patriots in control of the 6AA Conference with Clarendon and Hughes remaining on the season schedule.
Antonio Leak scored two touchdowns for the Patriots while running for 171 yards on 19 carries.
His brother, quarterback Fred Leak, scored one touchdown and finished with 147 yards on 10 carries while completing 7-of-10 passes for 155 yards and two more touchdowns.
Brad Barton ran for 61 yards on four carries and caught a 78-yard touchdown pass.
Most of the offensive fireworks came in the second half after Palestine-Wheatley led just 12-6 at the half.
The Patriots went up by two touchdowns in the third quarter and Des Arc never threatened again.
With the Eagles putting eight men on the line defensively most of the game, the Patriots used their speed running sweeps to both the left and right of the line.