The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 26

Benton goes to the air to beat Northwood Benton Tiger. An exhausted Benton head coach Mitch Downey praised the Falcons saying, "They gave us fits. When we did put ourselves into 'i. -J Mi crowd. On the next play, junior tailback Kendrick Bradley burst up the gut and dashed past the Tiger secondary on his way to a 48 yard TD run with 2:34 remaining in the first half.

Michael Black's conversion pass to Jemario Casey gave the Falcons a surprising 8-2 half-time lead. The Falcons lead lasted until Jackson, giving starting quarterback Curtis Byrd a breather, entered the game and threw the tying touchdown pass. Ferry Saxton kicked the tie-breaking FAT. Northwood travels to Haughton next Friday, while the Tigers play host to the Parkway Panthers in a Bossier Parish battle. Conway, who combined for 167 of the 205 yards the Tigers gained on the ground against the Northwood defense.

Northwood head coach Chuck Dupree opened his second season at the helm with a clever game plan of shortening the game offensively by controlling the clock and trusting his stunting defense to cause turnovers and create positive field position. The strategy almost worked as the Falcons came within an eyelash of pulling off the upset. After a defensive first quarter of hard hits, quarterback sacks and a battle for field position, things started happening offensively in T. WASHINGTON 32, FAIR PARK 28 ootdus By Chip Layton Special to The Times It has been said there are three things that can happen when you pass and two of them are bad. Hut that leaves one thing that is good vciy good.

Just ask Benton head coach Milch Downey, who saw sophomore quarterback Matt Jackson throw a touchdown pass to Bruce Branch on a crossing route covering 20 yards willi 2:25 left in the third quarter to lead Benton to a 9-8 season-opening victory on Friday night. Ilie winning touchdown pass was Jackson's first pass as a Griffins get past Dealing By Teddy Turman Special to The Times STONEWALL Plain Dealing High School squeaked into the 2X2 high school playoffs on the strength of a 5-5 season, with one of those wins compliments of an upset victory over Class 2A foe North DeSoto. The Griffins avenged that defeat on Friday night will) an l.S-2 win on their home turf to 0en the 2003 season. Bolh teams failed to mount serious bids until the second quarter. I lain Dealing drove near the (iriffins end zone only to fumble the ball into the anus of a North DeSoto player for a touchback.

The resulting drive had the (iriffins grounding out 80 yards for the only touchdown of the first half. The score was came on quarterback James Brokenberry run on a first-and-goal from the 9. Tie score held up as the deciding one in the contest. Ilie game was the head coaching debut at North DeSoto for Andrew Ilargroder. Hie first-year coach, struggling with who to start at quarterback, decided to rotate his two top signal callers Jonathan Creech and James Brokenberry each play.

"We are just trying to feel out the system." said Ilargroder. "I've always liked using two quarterbacks. If you sir something the defense is doing, you can talk about it more to your signal callers while they are on "the sidelines. We will probably stay with two quarterbacks all year." The (irilfins scored the second touchdown of the game deep into the third period on a 4-yard run by sophomore Jarred Walker. Ilie Griffins lost a fumbled snap on their own 25 just before the end of the third quarter but the Lions could not capitalize on the good field position.

Alter stopping Plain Dealing on downs, the (iriffins made a miscue of their own when a fumbled ball rolled into the end zone, and Brokenberry was unable to advance it out of the end zone. 'Die play resulted in a safety and what would end up being the only points that the Lions would be able to put up on the scoreboard. lj rt L.com Click on Prep Football each week for scores and more images from the games. Your opinion Who will win District 2-5A Airline, West Monroe. Byrd, Ouachita or Captain Shreve? Cast your vote on 8hreveporttlmes.com Look online for prep polls and fan forums.

Chiefs stop Wildcats By David West Louisiana Gannett News NATCHITOCHES It might have been easy for the Natchitoches Central Chiefs to be a little giddy after Friday night's 48-20 win over Ieesville. After all, the Chiefs' first team offense scored touchdowns on all seven possessions and sophomore quarterback Stevenson Jones appears to give them the passing game the squad has been lacking for years. And the starting defense gave up just one Wampus Cat score and forced an early turnover that set the tempo for the remainder of the game. But NCHS head coach Mike Cieslak was still cautionary. "We have work to do, but it's still early in the year," he said.

"I was pleased. It was a good start. I can't wait to look at the film but we are on the right track." Jones should have had a perfect night passing. He completed seven of 10 passes for 112 yards but he had three passes dropped. Jones scored two touchdowns on runs of 4 and 10 yards.

He also caught a pass from receiver Blaine demons to keep a drive moving. "We have improved at quarterback. Stevenson is a special athlete," said Cieslak. "And our offensive line is pretty powerful. It wears people out." Junior running back Brian Young also showed some power getting 123 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns for the Chiefs (1-0).

Jones scored on the Chiefs' third play after picking up a Lecsville fumble with 9:30 to go in the first quarter. After the Wampus Cats went three and out, Natchitoches Central took over at the Leesville 42 after a short punt. A 24-yard pass from Jones to Patrick Berryman set up a nine-yard Young run for a touchdown with 5:46 left in the opening quarter. "It was just a mismatch tonight and that was what I was afraid of," said Leesville coach Kevin Magee, hose team is 0-1. open victory have capes and an 'S' on their chests, but I'm not sure he didn't," Gatlin said.

But Sanders had plenty of help. The Rebels swarmed Harper for six sacks on the Panthers' first five possessions. Parkway had minus 7 yards of total offense in the first half. SPRINGHILL 21, HAYNESVILLE 14: At Haynesville, three touchdowns in the second quarter did the trick for Springhill at home as the Lumberjacks made it three victories in a row against rival Haynesville. Daniel Cooper had two of those scores, bulling in from 1 and 3 yards with a 6 yard run by Rod Auberry in between.

It was the season opener for both teams, and it was full of mistakes as the teams each had four turnovers. Springhill was also penalized nine times for 60 yards. Terenzio Tell scored both of the Tors' touchdowns. He opened things up with a 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter and finished off the game's scoring with an 8-yarder in the fourth. Auberry led all rushers with 97 yards on 20 carries.

MANY 42, MARKSVILLE 36: Brandon Sweet scored from 14 yards out in the fourth quarter to bring the Tigers from behind in the fourth quarter. Many led 27-6 before Marksville stormed back to take a 28-27 lead. L0GANSP0RT 42, JOAQUIN, Texas 0: The trip across the river into Louisiana was an unpleasant one for the visitors, as the Tigers rolled. It was 35-0 by halftime for Logansport, which got 128 yards of passing from Kendrick Hill and 135 yards on the ground by Stephen Wilson. Wilson had scoring runs of 6, 2 and 4 yards.

The Tigers defense held Joaquin to 117 yards of total offense. Hill opened the scoring with a 48-yard pass to Derrick Gray. LAKEVIEW 21, ST. MARY 12: Damei Bates passed for 162 yards and scored on the ground and through the air on Friday at home. The Gators scored all their points in the first quarter and held on despite 14 penalties for 98 yards in losses.

shreuepo the second quarter for both teams. Benton opened the scoring at the 6:59 mark scoring a safety after Benton's Chase Lyles blocked a Falcons punt that rolled out of the Northwood end zone, giving Benton a 2-0 advantage. Thanks to a gutsy coaching call by Dupree, the Benton lead did not last long. On Northwood's next possession facing fourth-and-four from niidfield. Dupree called for a fake punt.

Upback Cartrail Carey look the snap and bulled through the left side of the surprised Benton front, gaining the first down and firing up the big Northwood home Tla OwensLouisiana Gannett News Airline's Cordaro Green runs for yardage during the Vikings' 49-6 rout of Tioga on Friday in Tioga. yards on the ground. Tioga was penalized only twice for 15 yards, but turned the ball over three times and had only 143-yards of total offense. good things tonight." Not as many as Ruston, and for the 14th lime in 16 season openers between the two, it was the Bearcats who went home with a win. "This (Ruston) team, I would say, has a little bit more team speed than last year," Suggs said, "but I was impressed with last year's team.

Tiey just got in a rut." After Ruston took the opener at home last year, the Bearcats stumbled to a 4-7 season and a first-round Class 5A playoff loss while Byrd advanced to the state quarterfinal round. Downey position to do something good, we would hurt ourselves. We struggled the whole game, but found the grit to win. The whole defense played well. The 1 igers overcame a sli first half and came from behind to defeat the Falcons behind the running of Demond Wheatley, Ix'inond Wheatley and Fddie Late interception seals victory for BTW.

By Pesky Hill Special to The Times Johnny Clinton stayed at home on defense and it paid off for Booker T. Washington. Clinton's pass interception with 20 seconds remaining sealed an exciting 32-28 non-district victory for the Lions over Fair Park Friday night at Independence Stadium. It was the season opener for the 3A Lions and the 4A Indians. Both teams dropped down in classification this year.

Fair Park quarterback Justin Marshall marched the Indians from niidfield to the 9 yard line in the waning minutes. However, Marshall scampered to his left and had to throw across his body where Clinton was waiting. Ilie Lions rallied from a 6-0 halftime deficit on the arm of quarterback Kinsinon Lincaster. I.ancastcr was 13 of 24 for 183 yards and three touchdowns. "We were decent." BTW coach Corey Parham said.

"We scored on all five possessions of the second half. It was a typical first game with a lot of mistakes on both sides." Lincaster got excellent help from receivers James McNairy and Tre Veals, who had five catches apiece. Kevin Jones' 73-yard kickoff return for a touchdown highlighted the Indians evening. DcAndre Williams was the workhorse for Coach 1 lusher Calhoun's crew with 95 yards on 10 carries. I Ie rushed for one touchdown and caught a pass for a TD.

Marshall completed 9 of 16 tosses for 128 yards through the air. The game was delayed almost 15 minutes in the third quarter following a skirmish between several players from both teams. Warren finished with 93 yards on three carries and two touchdowns. He only attempted one pass, but completed it for a 50-yard touchdown to Cordaro Green in the second half. "After they knocked us back on our heels in the first quarter, we lost all of our steam." said Tioga coach Marvin Hall.

"We just never could generate any kind of attack after that first quarter blitz." Warren struck first for the Vikings, ending a 54-yard four play drive with a 33 yard dash on an option play. Alex Curry kicked the first of his seven extra points to make the score 7-0 with 10:16 left in the oKning im-riod. After the first of seven Toga punts, Dawson got into the act on the second play of the series with a 62-yard blitz over left tackle. Tie PAT made the score 14-0 with 7:12 remaining in the quarter. Tie Vikings stopped the Indians again and began their only sustained drive of the game, marching 4 1 yards in nine plays Dawson capped the though we were down by a couple of touchdowns at the end, we never quit." Suggs was unhappy with two fourth-down penalties which kept Ruston touchdown drives alive, but he got 10 points from turnovers created by his own team both fumbles recovered by Taylor.

The second came at 10:16 of the fourth when he recovered a Damein Roane fumble at the 29. Byrd was unable to move the ball, but a 46-yard field goal by Pete Dupee kept the Jackets motivated. The motivation paid off at 3:29 of the fourth when Jefferson broke Lots BOOKER Shan Bevel The times Booker T. Washington's Tre Veals tries to evade Independence Stadium. Veals played a big part in a Fair Park defender during Friday's game at the Lions' victory with five catches.

3' Cowboys with road Louisiana Gannett News and Staff Reports EUNICE Chris Lee passed for 151 yards and three touchdowns while James Richardson rushed for 103 yards and the fouth Cowboys score as Southwood opened the season with a 28-13 victory over host Eunice. Southwood took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on U-e passes of 18 yards to Daniel Smalley and 31 to Marty Humphrey. Frankie Gatson caught the other U'c scoring toss, a 31-yarder in the third. Humphrey finished with four catches for 67 yards. WEST MONROE 28, PARKWAY 0: At West Monroe, what started out not so well got better quickly for West Monroe.

On the strength of a smothering defense and running of quarterback Ben Soignier and fullback Frank Gooden. the Rebels brushed off a shaky start to coast to a season-opening 280 win over Parkway Friday night at Rebels Stadium. After the defense snuffed out an early Parkway threat. Gordon and Soignier kick-started the offense in a 22-point second quarter. Soignier scored all three touchdowns on 1-, 45- and 7-yard runs.

Linebacker Luke Sanders, back after missing most of last season with a knee injury, contributed two points to the outburst by blocking a Parkway punt out of the Panthers' end zone. Sanders credited one of his teammates with an assist on the play. "Me and Mack Dampier had something working," Sanders said. "He opened the gap for me. It was just as much him as me." A play earlier, it was mostly Sanders.

The 224-pound senior sprang through the air to sack Parkway quarterback Jared Harper at the 6-yard line. Sanders impressed Parkway coach Jim Gathn. "We tried to tell the kids they didn't Airline runs over Tioga, 49-6 By Tim Harrison Louisiana Gannett News TIOGA 'Ilie Airline Vikings crushed the home-standing Tioga Indians 4iMj Friday, scoring six times on plays of 33 or more yards in the season's owning game. Paced by fullback Calvin Dawson and quarterback Iravis Warren, the lkings erupted for 35 first half points, including 28 in the first quarter, before handing over the controls to reserves in the second half. "We broke some Dawson big plays early and it just kind of snowballed." said Airline coach Mike Greene.

"It seemed like eveiy time we touched the ball we were making a big play." Dawson wound up as the game's leading ball carrier, rushing 17 times for 141 yards and three touchdowns. 1 Ie scored on runs of 62, 1 and 34 yards. drive with a one-yard dive. Cuiry's PAT witli 2:43 on the clock gave the Vikings a 21-0 lead. Toga's only score came late in the second quarter after Airline had compiled a 350 lead.

Ilie score was set up by a 30-yard kickoff return by Brandon Odom, Tioga's leading rusher with 22 yards, which put the ball on the Indian 33 yard line. From there the Indians drove 67 yards in 14 plays, with Jeremy Bunting hitting tight end Ryan 1 lamilton with a five-yard pass for the score with 1:04 left in the half. Bunting completed 10 of 22 passes in the game and was intercepted once. A bad snap prevented the Indians from adding the extra point. With Dawson on the sidelines in the second half, slotback Cordaro Bradford took over the running chores for the Vikings.

Bradford compiled 117 yards on 12 carries, which included a 60-yard scoring dash in the third quarter. Airline finished the game with 410 through the Ruston defense and sailed down the far sideline for his second score, a 48-yard run that made it 28-17. Byrd might have had another scoring opportunity after forcing the Bearcats to punt on their next possession, but a muffed punt by Brent Smith gave the ball back to Ruston. Tie speedy Smith had been a thorn in the Bearcats' side most of the night, gaining 68 yards on 14 carries. "We're not playing very well right now.

We've got some young players," Suggs said. "But we did some Ruston: Yellow Jackets' second-half rally falls short Continued from 1C Though Byrd fell behind by three touchdowns by halftime, the Yellow Jackets did not go quietly. They struck almost as quickly in the second half as Ruston had in the first, with Detrick Taylor picking up a I.udwig fumble his only mistake on the first drive of the third quarter and returning it to the 22. Seconds later, Tezeray Jefferson went in from two yards out to make it 21-7. "We took advantage of a couple of their turnovers and never quit," Byrd coach Mike Suggs said.

"Even.