by Mark Rico
Sports Editor
CONWAY — The Conway Wampus Cats were able to unleash their full offensive arsenal in their surprisingly easy blowout of Little Rock Central during a second round 7-A playoff game while delivering one of the most exciting plays of the season in the process.
In an otherwise forgettable 49-20 victory over the Tigers on Friday night at John McConnell Stadium, Bohanon got free momentarily on a third down play, outleaped two defenders and then managed to barely keep one of his feet inbounds before falling out of the back of end zone for a spectacular 16-yard TD catch that drew ooohs and aahs from the John McConnell Stadium crowd.
Bohanon’s acrobatic touchdown grab extended Conway’s lead to 14-0 early in the first quarter and from that point forward, Central never stood a chance.
But junior Jamaal Bethune was the man of the hour, rushing for 279 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries – with scoring runs of 75, 78 and 31 yards – for the Wampus Cats, who will now advance to the state semi-finals against No. 1 Bryant on Friday night.
The two teams faced off just three weeks ago in a conference match-up with Bryant winning in a shootout 70-33.
Offensive coordinator Mark Kelley, who stepped into the head coaching duties for Keith Fimple (personal business) on Friday praised the fast paced Conway offense.
“We knew they had a really good front so we tried to spread the ball around and not depend on one guy.” Kelley said. “Big night for the running game, we made some big plays and it was nice to see a lot of guys getting involved. When you have athletes like Jamaal, Bryce and Manny (Smith) it’s good to just get them the ball in space because anything can happen.”
Bohanon also hauled in a 56-yard TD pass on Conway’s first possession of the contest, while Boogie Carr also caught 19-yard pass and then scored again on on 10-yard run in the final quarter.
Senior quarterback Ben Weese got several of his offensive teammates imvolved as he completed 17 of 31 passes, throwing for 288 yards and three touchdowns for the Wampus Cats.
Conway (9-3) played its best game of the season, manhandling Central (4-5) behind an offense that finished with 568 yards, 280 through the air.
The defense was solid, too, holding Central to 265 total yards and harassing Tiger senior quarterback Lawson Gunn into four sacks. The Wampus Cats scored on four of their first-half possessions to take a 27-7 lead at halftime.
“Our mentality was to come out and finish this game no matter what.” Bethune said. “Playing without Coach (Fimple) we had the same mindset. Not to lose focus and just be one point better than Central. My offensive line did a good job of opening up holes for me to run through.”
UT-Martin commit Samuel Franklin rushed for 98 yards pn 26 carries for Central. Gunn went 19-of-32 passing for 203 yards with a pair of touchdown runs.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 