By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
A missed two-point conversion and a penalty-marred touchdown proved to be more than the Forrest City Mustangs could overcome Friday during Senior Night at Sam Smith Stadium.
Jacksonville took advantage of the Forrest City errors to hold off the Mustangs 16-14 and then got some unexpected help from Searcy who defeated Jonesboro.
Jacksonville's win combined with Searcy's victory, puts the Red Devils back into the thick of the AAAAA-East Conference playoff hunt.
Jacksonville improves to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the AAAAA-East.
Searcy's 17-7 win over Jonesboro helped open the playoff door wider for the Red Devils, who have West Memphis and Cabot left on the conference schedule.
A possible first-round matchup against Little Rock Central looms ahead for the Red Devils, should they make the playoff cut.
Jacksonville opened a 16-0 lead and then held on for the two-point win after Levar Neely intercepted a Forrest City pass with 2:52 to play in the game to stop Forrest City's final drive.
"We should have won this one. We just made the same old mistakes that we have been making," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis.
Staying with the ground game, the Red Devils used backs Eugene Cherry and Terrod Hatcher to pick up a key first down at the Forrest City 17 yard line with just over a minute left. Quarterback Daniel Hubbard took two knees to run out the clock.
Jacksonville ran for 226 yards with sophomore Justin Akins leading the way with 116 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown. Hatcher finished with 69 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown.
Akins put Jacksonville on the board with a 70-yard touchdown run with 4:29 to play in the first quarter. Hubbard's two-point pass to Norvel Gabriel was good for an 8-0 lead.
A Forrest City mistake in the second quarter led to Jacksonville's second touchdown when the Red Devils recovered a fumble at the Mustang 22. Hatcher's 17-yard scoring run with 9:37 to play and Hubbard's two-point pass to Marcus King gave the Devils a 16-0 lead.
Forrest City had a touchdown called back with 6:22 to play in the first half due to a holding penalty and was forced to punt. Neely fumbled the catch and the Mustangs recovered at the Jacksonville 17. Five plays latter, quarterback Marcus Fair sneaked in from the one and then passed complete to Richard Flenoy for the two-point play slicing Jacksonville's lead to 16-8 at the half.
Forrest City scored with 3;20 to play in the third quarter when Fair hit Preston Echols for a 90-yard touchdown pass. Larry Bean's two-point try was short leaving Jacksonville holding the 16-14 lead.
Forrest City falls to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
Forrest City was held to just 66 rushing yards but had 138 passing yards against the Red Devils. Eric Walker led the Mustangs with 28 yards while Ben Wright had 18 and senior back Terrance Ware finished with just 12 yards.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Move over Barton. Stand aside Harding Academy.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots are one win away from being the outright 6AA Conference champs.
The Patriots, ranked third in Class AA, took another step toward claiming the league title on Friday by disposing of Clarendon 46-16 at Patriot Field.
The victory keeps the Patriots unbeaten in conference play at 7-0 with one league game left to play -- against Hughes on Nov. 5. The Patriots, 7-1 overall, have an open date this week.
A season-ending win over Hughes will give the Patriots the outright conference title and a No. 1 seed into the Class AA state playoffs.
A Hughes win by the right point margin, could leave the conference in a season-ending mess.
Palestine-Wheatley, Hughes and Cross County ended the regular conference season a year ago locked in a three-way tie for first. All three teams finished with 8-1 league marks. Hughes and the Patriots both got as far as the Class AA quarterfinals before bowing out.
While Palestine-Wheatley was putting Clarendon to rest Friday, Hughes was having their way against Des Arc, rolling to a 20-7 victory.
Hughes will face Clarendon this week before entertaining Palestine-Wheatley.
At Hughes, Des Arc led 7-6 at the half, but the second half belonged to the Blue Devils who took the lead for good when Marcus Washington returned the kickoff 82 yards and then added a 22-yard scoring run midway through the third.
The Hughes defense tacked on a safety to make the final.
Washington finished with 178 yards rushing.
Clifton Smith got the Blue Devils on the scoreboard in the second quarter after the eagles had taken a 7-0 lead in the first.
The win helps Hughes improve to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the 6AA Conference which keeps them in a second place tie with Harding Academy.
*Over the past three seasons, Palestine-Wheatley has won 21 regular season games while losing just nine. Over the same stretch, Hughes is 21-8.
*Hughes cracked the Class AA polls over the weekend, coming in at No. 10.
JACKSONVILLE -- Katie Beineke hammered down 18 kills and had 5 blocks while Rachel Allison had 11 kills and 9 digs to lead Jonesboro High to a 3-game sweep of Jacksonville and the AAAAA-East conference tournament championship on Saturday.
Ann Sullivan had 8 digs and 6 kills and Meridith Moore and Stephanie Moore had 13 and 12 digs, respectively, as the lady Hurricane won 25-17, 25-12, 25-13.
Chelsey Reeves added 29 assists.
Sullivan, Beineke, Allison, Moore and Reeves were selected to the all-tournament team.
Jonesboro begins Class AAAAA state tournament play Thursday at 4 p.m. at Cabot.